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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: New Line Home Video
Salesrank: 11733
Released: June 7, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.93 |
| Used Price: $2.04 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
An inspirational story about a young Native American boxer who overcomes challenges as he fights his way to a spot on the US Olympic boxing team.Running Time: 97 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794043818226 Manufacturer No: N8182
Description of Black Cloud:
Black Cloud is the impressive directorial debut of veteran actor Rick Schroder, who also wrote the drama's insightful script and takes a small part as an unrepentant villain. The story concerns a Navajo boxer named Black Cloud (Eddie Spears), an angry young man from a violent, chaotic family and a proud warrior burdened by a general grudge against white people. Invited to compete for a slot in the U.S. Olympic boxing team, Black Cloud initially rebuffs the idea but is encouraged to reconsider by his manager and mentor (Russell Means). Meanwhile, Black Cloud delivers a well-deserved beating to a rodeo circuit creep (Schroder), which gets him into hot water with the law, and the Navajo woman he loves (Julia Jones) puts distance between them until he can figure out his priorities. As coming-of-age stories go, Black Cloud is persuasive and moving, yet it should be no surprise that Schroder's greatest strength as a filmmaker is drawing very fine performances from his cast. Means, so wonderful in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, is again a solid figure of strength and love, while Spears does a beautiful job of capturing a man ready to trade rage for wisdom. Schroder delivers on tough action sequences--rodeo riding, boxing--like a pro who's seen it all, too. --Tom Keogh
Black Cloud Reviews:
colorful contemporary 
2008-04-24 - wish it had more interaction with the wonderful characters beautiful landscapes less fighting.but that is what the movie was about.........
Very Groovy 
2007-12-03 - My entire family is passing this video through their homes. My children and I enjoyed it upon its arrival to our home as well =)
A Must Buy
2007-11-28 - When I read customer reviews about this film, I had mixed feelings about whether I should take the time to even watch it. So when I made up my mind to order it, I had to rent it to see if I'd made the right choice. I'm glad I did, because this film touched me.
Here's this young twenty-something year old Black Cloud who is trying to live a good life. He's a up and coming boxer who has this great girl and tries to make a honest and meaningful perspective on his life. Then he finds out that his veins flow the blood of white men who, from his point view, are the bain of existence because of what his people have suffered under the white man's reign. That's where self-destruction takes Black Cloud on an emotional rollercoaster, and he begins to make decisions that he'll eventually regret.
Losing himself in what he has learned to be his doomed heritage, Black Cloud turns his back on everything that he once stood for. He quits boxing, breaks up with the love of his life, Sammie, and hangs with the crowd that were once losers in his eyes.
With a drunk for a father, and noone else to turn to, he finally seeks advice about his mixed blood heritage from his grandfather who spiritually and emotionally guides him to the truth.
As Black Cloud comes to terms with who he really is and accepts it, he begins to slowly pull his life back together.
It definitelely wasn't what I expected. This film is much more to the eye when really studied. You'd definitely have to watch it more than once to get where its coming from. For a film that had a budget of just under a million dollars, I thought it was brilliant. The cinematography just made me want to be in the film myself. It was capturing and cast a new light on Native American acting.
Good job, Mr. Schroeder!
P.S. I'm hoping there will be a Black Cloud 2. I would like to know more about how Black Cloud copes with obstacles in the boxing world and what effects it may have on his relationship with Sammie. And they never really said if Jimmy died or not, only that he was touch and go (didn't look like he was going to make it).
Eddie Spears is an actor who brings grave emotion to his character and can't wait to see more of his work.
GREAT RED HOPE
2007-08-23 - This story was well played by a stellar Native American cast. Considering Native Americans have not been employed to play Native AMericans until the last few years, it was so encouraging to see this movie! It had a good plot, good camera work and throughly entertaining.
Disappointing
2007-08-13 - I like Eddie Spears, so I really wanted to like this movie. Unfortunately, he played a character almost identical to that of Shane in Dreamkeeper (2003).
Actually, Black Cloud shares several plot lines with Dreamkeeper: the absence of a positive father figure in the young man's life; a girlfriend whose father isn't too pleased that his daughter is hanging out with Shane/Black Cloud; the wise grandfather who dies in his sleep when his grandson finally gets the message what it means to be an American Indian; the young man (sort of) coming to terms with his father before riding off on a horse.
Rick Schroeder hinted at many, if not most of the problems on Indian reservations. However, this movie would have been better if he had chosen one main theme, explored it more and developed the relationships between the characters better.
I just hope Eddie Spears won't remain stuck in the role of "angry young American Indian"!
