Russell Means could make a supporting character seem worth a film of his own. His quiet authority is reason enough to seek out The Last of the Mohicans, though its script gives him less attention than he deserves.
Fi1m perspective
As Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Russell Means makes us want the film to stay with him a little longer. His quiet authority suits Michael Mann’s solemn adventure, with its insistence that love and danger deserve to be taken seriously. We were frustrated by how little space the central romance left him, because Chingachgook seemed worth getting to know beyond what the script allowed. Wes Studi’s Magua prompts the same wish for more attention. Mann makes an absorbing film, but he has supporting actors who could sustain more of it.
Means began acting in his early fifties, with that film as his screen debut. Across the film and television work that followed in the 1990s and 2000s, he was frequently cast as a Native American elder, chief or shaman. It is easy to see the attraction for a director: he could supply authority without making a performance feel loud. The risk is that the casting does too much of the writing’s work, leaving him to seem important without giving him enough to do.
Natural Born Killers (1994) gives him the small but pivotal role credited as Old Indian, under Oliver Stone’s direction. It is a less rewarding film, though the committed performances and restless editing make it worth considering. Stone is so determined to explain our fascination with celebrity killers that there is little chance to think for ourselves. Means’s presence is an asset, but there is only so much any performer can do when the dialogue keeps delivering lectures. Approach it for the actors and the cutting, with patience for the repeated lessons.
His later work included voicing Powhatan in Pocahontas (1995) and playing the title role in Pathfinder (2007). The recurring elder and chief parts tell us what filmmakers sought from him, rather less about what else he might have done. We need not make grand claims for unseen possibilities to regret how little attention Chingachgook receives. Begin with The Last of the Mohicans, and save some attention for the people outside the central romance.
Biography
Russell Means was an Oglala Sioux actor and activist. Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement and a leading figure in the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. He began acting in the early 1990s.
Means made his film debut as Chingachgook in The Last of the Mohicans (1992). He appeared as the Old Indian in Natural Born Killers (1994) and voiced Powhatan in the Disney animated features Pocahontas (1995) and its sequel (1998). He took further roles in films and television series including Pathfinder (2007) and Banshee (2013). Means died in 2012.
