Smith! 1969

Smith! 1969

Smith! (1969)

Smith! Has a lot of things going for it.  It has Vectren legendary western actor Glen Ford in his only Disney outing as Smith. Smith, who has only 1 name like Bono, Madonna, or Blade, is a rancher who happens to love the native American people. He is always doing things for them, like cooking them meals, letting them take his cattle, giving them jobs and letting convicted murderers hide out on his land. The whole plot revolves around the suspected murder of a white man killed by Gabriel Jimmyboy played by actor Frank Ramírez.

The movie has several has several actual native Americans from the Indian Actors Workshop of Hollywood as the community of people who love Smith. This includes actor Chief Dan George as  wise Ol' Antoine. It has Disney actress Nancy Olsen as Smith’s wife and Super Disney Antagonist Keenan Hawk Wynn as the Sheriff who opposes Smith. And it also has Disney super Fuzz James Westerfield appearing in yet another Disney film as a cop. Christopher Shea plays Smith’s son Alfie, who voiced Linus in several of the Charlie Brown specials.

It has a great theme and messege against prejudice and racism especially towards the native American people.  My wife remarked that even in modern times their still playing cowboy and Indians.  These negative qualities of human nature never seem to die.

Even though this film has several good things going for it, one thing seems to sink it for me. The film is Boring. It doesn’t matter what else it has as the story while interesting in itself is just  rather D U L L. B O R I N F G. It was hard to sit through because I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. The most exciting thing was the theme song telling about how awesome Smith was. The conclusion to the film was very Disney and another scene that was a major plot point was sentimental hogwash. 

Still it is amazing to watch a G rated film that would probably appeal more to adults then to kids. It is the example of what a real adult film should be, about adult themes without putting crap in it that would be inappropriate for kids. Still probably better then what passes for some Disney stuff today.  For the hard core Disney enthusiast this is one for the Disney Watching Bucket List.  But there are better Disney and Glen Ford movies out there to watch.