Indian Comics Irregular #110

Earlier this year, Disney released the family film "Hidalgo." This
old-style adventure stars Viggo Mortensen ("Lord of the Rings") as
Frank Hopkins, a true-life figure who lived at the end of the 19th
century. In the Detroit Free Press (3/5/04), Terry Lawson summarized
the movie's premise:

In "Hidalgo," Hopkins is a one-time cavalry messenger, Pony Express
rider and buffalo hunter who is reduced to playing himself in
Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West shows and who is haunted by the
slaughter at Wounded Knee, for which he assumes some responsibility
as the rider who unwittingly delivered the cavalry attack order.
Adding to his guilt is his secret: His mother is American Indian.

The combination of regret and trauma has led Hopkins to drink and
despair, but he gets a shot at redemption when he is approached by
horse-lover Rau Rasmussen (Victor Talmadge) and invited to compete
in the Ocean of Fire, a 3,000-mile endurance race across the
Arabian desert that is something of an advertisement for the
superiority of purebred Arabian stallions.

One problem: "Hidalgo" is based entirely on Hopkins's claims.
There's no evidence any of it really happened. As Bill Muller
explained in the Arizona Republic (3/5/04):

The movie, ostensibly a true story, has well-documented credibility
problems. A History Channel documentary paints Hopkins as a big
fibber (as does an Outside Magazine article, "Liar, Liar, Chaps on
Fire"). So far, researchers have failed to find any trace of an
Ocean of Fire race, a record of Hopkins riding with Buffalo Bill or
any of his other tall tales.

No biggie to base a movie on fiction, except that Disney is selling
it as a true story. The film opens with the subtitle: "Based on
the Life of Frank T. Hopkins," though the story apparently is drawn
wholesale from Hopkins' memoirs, with a lot of "artistic"
flourishes.

As the Billings Gazette reported (2/29/04), scholars have argued over
Hopkins's fanciful tale. Critics have charged that he "made it all up
while digging subway tunnels beneath Philadelphia":

"The man was a pathological liar," said Vine Deloria Jr., a noted
Native historian and author of "Custer Died for Your Sins."

In the New York Times (3/25/04), a British writer who has lived in
Saudi Arabia for two-plus decades said, "Peddling this movie as a
true story is an example of the imperial nature of Hollywood's
arrogance." But screenwriter John Fusco didn't see it:

Mr. Fusco, speaking from his farm in Vermont, where he raises
mustangs, said he was perplexed by the dust-up in Saudi Arabia. He
views "Hidalgo," he said, as a story about a man who wins a
personal victory--instead of one for his government--in a foreign
land.

"A movie is just a movie," Mr. Fusco said.

But is it? Then why did Fusco work so hard to make his "Dreamkeeper"
(ICI #106) faithful to the Native legends it portrayed? Why not just
make up the legends if "a movie is just a movie"?

Should Fusco and Disney not have produced "Hidalgo"? No one's saying
that. In the Gazette article, Juti Winchester, curator of Wyoming's
Buffalo Bill Museum, suggested how they could've done it:

It would start in the 1920s, with a tired, downtrodden Pennsylvania
tunnel digger taking a break from his labor to lean on his shovel
and dream of another life, a life filled with adventure.

"Now that would be a true story."

For more on "Hidalgo," visit
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/hidalgo.htm .

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics