Bad Medicine

By J.C.

JOURNEY THROUGH ROSEBUD

Directed by TOM CRIES Screenplay by ALBERT RUBEN

Having done the American Indian plenty of dirt over the years, using him either as stock villain or fall guy, Hollywood is trying to set matters right. If Journey Through Rosebud is any indication the Indians were better off being portrayed as blood-crazed savages. At least that left them some dignity.

Rosebud is a condescending attempt to portray the social problems of the contemporary Indian. Danny (Kristoffer Tabori), a draft dodger from San Francisco in flight from the Feds, winds up in Rosebud, S. Dak., in the middle of the Sioux reservation. He decides to stick around and groove on the Indians. The Indians don't much like it.

Had the movie chosen to be about this clash of cultures, then Rosebud might have been hard-edged and fairly exciting. Instead it watches Danny try to make friends with an Indian named Frank (Robert Forster), who is consumed by angst and alcohol. Danny also pays a lot of attention to Frank's ex-wife (Victoria Racimo), a situation that eventually gives Frank an excuse to rack himself up in the final scenes.

Save for the novelty of its setting, the script would not pass muster on day time television. Occasionally Director Tom Gries (Will Penny) turns his camera onto an Indian ritual, but without any discernible insight or feeling. Miss Racimo passes the time being cuddlesome, and Tabori is convincingly offesive as Danny. Robert Forster's performance is proof positive that, all rumors to the contrary, they're still making cigar-store Indians.

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