SYNOPSICS
Silent Tongue (1993) is a English movie. Sam Shepard has directed this movie. Alan Bates,Richard Harris,River Phoenix,Dermot Mulroney are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1993. Silent Tongue (1993) is considered one of the best Drama,Horror,Western movie in India and around the world.
It's 1873, Indian Territory. Talbot Roe is going mad with grief over losing his Indian wife, Awbonnie. In an effort to save him, his father, Prescott Roe, seeks to purchase the dead wife's sister, Velada, from the same travelling carnival he acquired Awbonnie. The girls' father, carnival master Eamon McCree, is willing to do business, but her stepbrother, Reeves, protests, putting an end to the negotiation. Desperate, Prescott kidnaps Velada and promises her the means to be rid of her father in return for comforting Talbot out of his obsession. In Talbot's madness, he guards his wife's corpse, preventing her from passing to the beyond. As a result, Awbonnie's ghost begins haunting and cursing everyone involved in the transaction of selling her as a wife. Meanwhile, Reeves and Eamon search the prairie for Velada. Drunken Eamon several times wants to turn back and leave his daughter to her own devices, but Reeves refuses. At the site of a hunting party of Indians, Eamon panics and loses...
Same Actors
Same Director
Silent Tongue (1993) Reviews
Could be better
Although it's rated as "western" and the story happens during "bang bang times", "Silent Tongue" is much of a supernatural drama than anything else. It was kind of sad watching it just a few days after Richard Harris' death. It's also sad seeing River Phoenix in such good phase of his career considering that now his is (unfortunately) dead. We will always miss Harris and Phoenix. The film itself is not so great. The plot is interesting and I really like the cast, but the movie is a little slow. We always expect something explosive to happen, but nothing really does. The symbolism is nice. There are quite a lot of them in the movie. It's just a matter of paying close attention and let your mind work on them. My rate 6/10
Compelling for Phoenix Fans
River Phoenix was a part of our 2003 All Soul's remembrances, and I'm shocked to find that a decade after his death, he is practically forgotten. Video clerks stared blankly at the mention of his name. (National video store clerks!! Two different chains!) I only located a few of his ensemble films at the major video rental outlets. "Silent Tongue" was among the meager offerings at a grocery store. Others I can't find at all. If "The Thing Called Love" is your only experience of the "adult" River Phoenix, you might not recognize him in "Silent Tongue". He hardly looks the same. This is the film which finally gave us "River Phoenix; the man", and in it, he plays Richard Harris' addle pated son. Sadly his screen time was all too brief. Perhaps he knew his soul was about to be called home, for he finally broke through all the artifice and became the consummate actor we so often heard he was supposed to be, but seldom saw. The film is compelling most often when River is on the screen. Gone is the boyish actions which hardly fit his far-seeing eyes. Gone is the dual self-importance and shyness which often felt false. Here we see a man truly possessed and lost; damned by his own makings. Burdened with something we can't quite understand. It rings of truth. Ugly and brutal, but truth nonetheless, as we were to learn that Halloween morning in 1993. Richard Harris is also excellent as Prescott Roe. His love for his addled son is evident, and the character is both touching and pathetic in trying to protect him. Harris always managed to elevate his fellow actors by a rung or two, but there is nothing he could do to elevate those parts he did not appear in. I find it interesting that he twice played a father to a Phoenix boy son. Father to two wounded men, if only in the land of make-believe. There is a certain symmetry to it. I wonder how the real man thought about it. The Mulroney part is unconvincing for the most part, but it is not the actor's fault. Sheila Tousey is interesting as the ghost and Jeri Arredondo is lovely to look at. I wish both ladies appeared in more films. The scene with Tantoo Cardinal is a waste of her talent and makes little sense to the whole. Since when did a rapist rear their own products to adulthood? Watch the film to see River Phoenix as a man and to finally see his promise fulfilled. It would have been nice if the vehicle were a better one. Although it is flawed, it is worth the watch, if only to get a glimpse of what he would have brought to "Interview with a Vampire" and other roles. With the successes enjoyed by Keanu and Depp so much in evidence, it is hard not to be a little bit bitter, and bemoan the whys. Forgiveness is harder to come by, though the anger has started to dim. This film can go a long way to explain it all to those who are too young to remember who River Phoenix was.
Terrific Euro-Western
Silent Tongue looks and feels like a great lost 60s spaghetti oater crossed with a Japanese ghost story. Richard Harris is excellent (and restrained!) as the father of River Phoenix, who is haunted by the less than ethereal remains of his late wife, a half breed purchased from traveling huckster Alan Bates (over-the-top but enjoyable!). Give playwright Sam Shepard his props for some outstanding direction: this man understands how to frame a shot better than 90% of the Hollywood hacks making big budget crapola. Strongly recommended.
A great movie
This movie is great. Great actors (watch out for Tantoo Cardinal!), great script, photography and *great* score!! If you enjoy slow, atmospheric films like "Picnic at Hanging Rock", you will like this one, too! A soundtrack album and a DVD release would be really appreciated, not only by River Phoenix fans!
Good, thoughtful movie
I find it rather odd that anybody who loves movies would find this movie slow or dull. The characters are wonderful. Complex characters, each contains both virtues and self serving vices; each at times you feel pity for what has happen to them, yet feel pity for what they have done. There is no end, for what the father has done in the name of his son can never have closure. Mixed with top notch acting, a gripping musical score, perfect sound and wonderful cinematography by under rated Jack Conroy this movie works as a feast for the not just the mind but the eyes and ears as well. Hardly a second passed by where I was not entranced by the spirt of this film. Slow to those fail to understand the each moment in time begins a anew, for each moment is this movie changes a character and in turns changes the story. Perhaps a few scenes went on a few seconds too long, and one can find faults here and there regarding all but the greatest works, but in this movie the faults are mainly hidden by the strengths and story which should leave you thinking about the human heart for some time to come.