May 02, 2007

Brando supported Indians

'Brando':  Mercurial FlickersBrando does best when it focuses on Brando’s other interests. To its immense credit, the film contextualizes his decision to turn back the Oscar for The Godfather, beyond the sensational moment at the 1973 ceremony that has become so familiar. Sacheen Littlefeather, whom Brando infamously sent to read his statement in support of the American Indian Movement, recalls the outrage of the evening ("Meanwhile, backstage,” she says, “John Wayne had to be restrained by several big men from coming onto the stage and dragging me off"). Alongside her, Russell Means, AIM’s first national director, underlines the importance of Brando’s gesture, as well as his decision to go to Wounded Knee the day after the Oscars, during the Oglala Sioux’s occupation. At last the press—tagging along with Brando—reported from what Means calls “inside” the struggle. “It was probably was the finest for us in the entire 20th century,” says Means. “He saw what we saw and he felt what we felt. He was the only non-Indian who stepped out front with us.”

Brando’s commitment to social and political causes, observes Jane Fonda, was groundbreaking. “When I first became an activist,” she says (wearing a cowboy hat adorned with a little U.S. flag), “There weren’t very many movie stars I could look to as role models. I mean, it’s hard to think of Marlon as a role model for anybody, at least for a woman, but you know, he had taken a very active stand in support of Native Americans and in support of Black Panthers who were in jail… It was to Marlon that I turned to get information and to talk.” In an archival interview, Brando disparages “the ignorance I see concerning the Indian,” as even so-called “scholarly people” and “informed people… know nothing.”

5 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
The problems with that portion of Marlon Brando's ostensible advocacy of Natives and their problems are these: Sacheen Littlefeather was not Native and that was not her actual name. And ownership of the land he ceded to AIM reverted to Brando after only a short period of time. Perhaps the publicity generated by such matters weighed large at the time but they make very few ripples now...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
POSTSCRIPTUM: further consultation has revealed that 'Sacheen Littlefeather' was a minor actress who was Mexican-Caucasian from Salinas, CA, who claimed in her Screen Actors Guild bio to be Apache, Yaqui, and Pueblo. The tipoff is that claiming 'Pueblo' is like saying you are 'Plains', which is a category and not a tribe. Her claim to fame was being chosen Miss American Vampire and includes a few film roles prior to the Oscar telecast in 1972 and a few more thereafter, with her final role as the silent wife to a dying Will Sampson in a short portion of the Chuck Norris feature, FIREWALKERS. When the producer of the Oscar telecast learned that 'Sacheen' intended to read a 15-page statement from Marlon Brando, he told her that if she spoke for more than the 45-seconds allowed, she physically would be removed from the stage by security personnel. While she spoke about Brando's refusal of the Oscar because of his sympathy for Native Americans, backstage John Wayne physically had to be restrained from rushing onstage to remove her himself. When she finished her speech, the attending crowd booed her off the stage. Thereafter, Maria Cruz' film career faded and she blames interference from the FBI as the reason. Today, she does Catholic missionary work in San Francisco...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

The truth about "Sacheen Littlefeather" is fairly well known. I doubt anyone still thinks she was a real Indian.

But give Brando a break. Maybe he didn't have enough time to find a real Indian.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Watch out, Rob! Russell Means and Dennis Banks (and maybe even Carter Camp) are going to be waiting for you out in the parking lot as you to go to your car!
All Best
Russell Bates
'writerfella'

Anonymous said...

Oh my, you didn't get the message "Writerfella", even after more than 30 years! Who cares wether Littlefeather was 100% INDIAN OR NOT? What counts here is the majority's undemocratic ignorance about the suffering....