Hostiles (2017)
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A weary U.S. Army officer must escort a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family across a harsh landscape in 1892.
The story
In the New Mexico Territory in 1892, a U.S. Army Captain named Joseph Blocker is ordered by President Harrison to escort the cancer-stricken Cheyenne war chief, Yellow Hawk, and four members of his family back to their tribal lands in Montana. Blocker, who is old and weary, initially refuses the task because he and Yellow Hawk are old enemies from the Great Sioux War of 1876. However, under the threat of a court-martial and the loss of his pension, he accepts the mission. He sets out with a small detail of soldiers, and during their journey, they encounter a traumatized woman, Rosalee Quaid, whose family was recently killed by a Comanche war party.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1892, Captain Joseph Blocker is forced to escort the dying Cheyenne leader Yellow Hawk and his family to Montana. Along the way, they encounter Rosalee Quaid, a woman whose family was slaughtered by Comanches. She joins the group for protection. The journey is plagued by violence: they are ambushed by the Comanches, and several members of the escort are injured or killed. Blocker eventually discovers that Yellow Hawk and his son, Black Hawk, took independent action to eliminate the Comanche threat. At Fort Winslow, the group faces further complications, including the presence of a criminal soldier, Philip Wills, who eventually kills several others before being stopped. Amidst the escalating tensions and the deteriorating health of Yellow Hawk, Blocker and the chief find a moment of mutual respect. Upon reaching Montana, a land dispute leads to a final shootout where several members of the party are killed. In the aftermath, Rosalee takes the orphaned son of Black Hawk, and Blocker ultimately finds a sense of peace as the journey concludes.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 133
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Cheyenne
- Directors
- Scott Cooper
- Writers
- Scott Cooper · screenplay; Donald E. Stewart · story
- Cast and characters
- Christian Bale · Capt. Joseph J. Blocker; Rosamund Pike · Rosalee Quaid; Wes Studi · Chief Yellow Hawk; Jesse Plemons · Lt. Rudy Kidder; Adam Beach · Black Hawk; Rory Cochrane · 1st Sgt. Thomas Metz; Ben Foster · Sgt. Philip Wills; Timothée Chalamet · Pvt. Philippe Dejardin
- Genres
- Western; drama
- Themes
- war; reconciliation
- Setting
- The American West (New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana) in 1892.
- Premise and plot tags
- Western; Historical Drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- a decades old manuscript (the eighties) by the late screenwriter Donald E. Stewart
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was praised for its visuals and performances, though some critics found the script lacking in depth.
- Reported review scores
- PostTrak · score: 72% · scale: positive score
- Production trivia
- Hostiles marks Scott Wilson's final film before his death in 2018.; The film's score was composed by Max Richter.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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