Johnny Firecloud (1975) review

JOHNNY FIRECLOUD 1975

Victor Mohica (Johnny Firecloud), Ralph Meeker (Colby), David Canary (Jesse), Christina Hart (June), Frank DeKova (White Eagle), Sacheen Littlefeather (Nenya), Richard Kennedy (Ned), George 'Buck' Flower (Wade), John Goff (Newt)

Directed by William Allen Castleman

"How long is it since we hung an injun?"

The Short Version: There's no time to pass the peace pipe around in this high caliber racist revenge picture that follows in the footsteps of other similar flicks like BORN LOSERS (1967) and WALKING TALL (1973). This country fried DEATH WISH sees a Native American Vietnam vet doing a savage war dance on the town big wheel bigot, Colby and his five cronies who terrorize, rape and murder his people. Political statements typical of the era creep in on a few occasions, but racial slurs, degradation, floggings, and gruesome violence drown them out every time. The strangely compelling verbal stand-off of the final scene may end up confusing some considering everything that's transpired before it.

***WARNING! This review contains images of nudity***


Johnny Firecloud returns home from his tour in Vietnam only to be harassed by the police and humiliated and hated by the local town cretins led by the brutal, racist rancher, Colby; a man who holds the entire town and the law in his money pocket. The bigoted Colby hates Johnny for having a relationship with his daughter, and upon his return home, racial tensions boil over into a miasma of rape, sadistic violence, death and revenge.

Seeing David F. Friedman's name among the credits immediately lets you know what you are about to see is going to be anything but subtle.

The same man who produced numerous nudies, several Herschell Gordon Lewis movies, the awful SHE FREAK (1967) and the controversial ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS (1974) got behind this savage tale of Red Man Revenge. JOHNNY FIRECLOUD is in the tradition of WALKING TALL (1973) with a dash of BORN LOSERS (1967), two major league box office champions of the Drive In days.


Noticeably glossier than the usual Friedman film, the $220,000 budget gets some extra mileage out of its scope photography, a script peppered with good and gritty 70s style dialog, and some good gore effects. Among the gruesome highlights is a man being NAVAJO JOE'd, a scalping, death by bag of rattlesnakes, another has dynamite strapped between his legs, and one poor sap buried up to his head for the vultures to pluck out his eyes. Beneath the surface, and almost lost amidst all the hate-speech and depravity, is a slight message regarding American Indians that was a heady topic during the early 1970s.

At least since the late 1960s, tensions with Native Americans had swelled right along with all the other chaos going on during that defining decade. Not even taking into consideration the bloody turmoil and countless corpses that resulted from the centuries long American Indian Wars, racial tension reached dangerous levels in the early part of the 1970s. Racism was a major topic of contention during this time and throughout the 70s including a few news-making cases of racially fueled hate crimes.


The American Indian was also the subject of a number of movies and TV commercials. One of the most (in)famous examples of this was the 1971 'Keep America Beautiful' commercial with Iron Eyes Cody; which featured the image of tears running down his face amidst Americans polluting the environment with trash, bustling cars and also thick, black smoke emanating from an ominously chocking display of factories.

JOHNNY FIRECLOUD does little to temper animosity with its scenes of extreme prejudices and sadism. It also shows which side of the fence it's on (message movie vs. exploitation picture) by not featuring any actual Indians among its principal cast.

However, there are a moment or two where a flicker of a political statement arises, but then descends the waves of bigotry and moral perversion. In its slight defense, the ending is surprising in its philosophical civility, when it's expected to go balls out topping its bloody banana split with a viscera flavored cherry. Also surprising, the script takes a serious look at homosexuality during a time when it was fashionable to poke fun of it.

Sasheen Littlefeather about to get "railroaded".

In keeping with its controversial subject matter, the filmmakers even brought activist Sacheen Littlefeather on board in a supporting role. She gained a good deal of notoriety for accepting Brando's THE GODFATHER (1972) Oscar on his behalf along with a 15 page speech written by him. This speech protested the treatment of the American Indian in movies and television, including the 70 some odd day standoff at Wounded Knee that began in late February, 1973. Incidentally, the site of this stand-off was the locale of a previous massacre that took place in 1890.

Whether this film came along at the "right" time is debatable. 20th Century Fox was on board as distributor, but according to Friedman, only in overseas markets (the opening card is the famous Fox logo). Possibly with everything going on at the time, they were a bit nervous to make waves. Aside from the ending, the entire picture is awash in feelings of hatred. Even the advertisements were steeped in as much negativity as possible to get people into theaters. So screamed the poster artwork, "Redskins no longer bite the dust... they just eat dirt!"

Revenge movies have always been popular, and the 70s saw more than their fair share of them. As stated above, this one occasionally strives for something more than just blatant exploitation thrills although the frequent nudity (such as the gratuitous scene shown at right), ethnic degradation and gory shenanigans (courtesy of Joe Blasco) aim to keep the picture squarely within the Drive In and sleaze pit realm. That's not a bad thing, mind you. There's also a great group of exploitation thespians and even a couple big names not normally associated with this sort of picture.

The cast is good much of the time, but mostly when the performances call for heated, and or insensitive conflict; of which there's quite a lot of yelling, screaming and gritting of teeth.

Victor Mohica, a big, strapping man of Puerto Rican descent, gets some great tough guy lines here and hammers home the post Vietnam anxiety with his slasher style rampage during the finale when he goes suitably apeshit after the wave of injustices he suffers through.

Some viewers may recognize his face from numerous TV shows and possibly from VICTORY AT ENTEBBE, one of two 'Entebbe' movies from 1976.

One of Mohica's best moments here is when he gets his hands on Colby and strings him up in his barn. Dangling barely off the ground, Firecloud dick punches him and lashes him with a whip resulting in Colby flinching in pain while trying to keep from hanging himself! It's actually a satisfyingly hilarious scene, and if not interrupted by a shotgun toting hillbilly, we'd of likely seen more dick punching and back lashing followed up with more of Meeker's head turning red from the ever tightening rope around his neck.


Speaking of Ralph Meeker, he will likely always be best known for KISS ME DEADLY (1955), but trash fans will know him best from the likes of FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) and a brief bit in WITHOUT WARNING (1980). Like many once big name actors, he found a home in a trash barrel towards the end of his career.

He plays quite the bigoted sadist here as Colby, a rich rancher who holds the town in the palm of his hand. Meeker (like the film itself) plays the character much like those seen in countless westerns, and does a damn good job, too. Colby works outside the law and uses his money to keep the civic authorities comfortably in his shirt pocket.

Speaking of westerns, anybody who's ever watched BONANZA has probably seen David Canary on the show in the role of Candy, a ranch foreman. His character was something of a replacement after Pernell Roberts departed the show in 1965. Canary appeared in a handful of seasons, left the show, then came back again till the end after Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) passed away in 1972. His role of the sheriff in JOHNNY FIRECLOUD is possibly the best out of the bunch given how strong the character is scripted for a movie of this sort.

David Canary has a heated exchange with Richard Kennedy after stopping a brutal barroom brawl.

According to Friedman (in an incredibly energetic and fun commentary track), Meeker wanted to play the sheriff, but Canary pulls off the character extremely well. Struggling with maintaining his homosexuality as a closely kept secret, Sheriff Jesse begrudgingly asks "How high?" when Colby tells him to jump. The sheriff shares an uneasy bond with Firecloud since both men were in the army, although Jesse was dishonorably discharged for his sexual orientation. It's this portion of the script that rises above the bountiful exploitation trappings that dominate the bulk of the movie.

With the participation of Sasheen Little-feather, viewers may think the filmmakers were going for some sort of political statement. If that was the intention, it gets lost amidst all the hate-mongering and speeches of standing against the abuse of power.

Littlefeather's performance is incredibly bland during her few minutes of dialog. The rest of her role involves her being raped and brutalized by five men in a disturbing sequence where her painfully obvious breast enlargement puts in a more memorable performance. Above you'll see exploitation perennial, George 'Buck' gettin ready to fuck in a grim gang rape scene.


This scene could have been a powerful scene in more capable hands for a movie that was gunning for a serious look at the Native American plight during this time period. Instead we get delirious camerawork that zips and zooms over a child scribbled assemblage of the alphabet, a poster that says "See the scenic wonders of your United States"(!) and closes out on a close up of Abraham Lincoln. It's still a disturbing sequence, embracing the trashiness of the whole affair captured by a cameraman who may or not have put back a few beers prior to shooting it.

Richard Kennedy (the guy laughing in the ten gallon hat at far right)

One of the villains is Richard Kennedy, whom 70s exploitation fans will instantly recognize from the first two ILSA movies. He was the General who liked being pissed on in the first and the comic relief doctor from the second who ended up unknowingly eating a human eyeball (as opposed to a sheep's eye) and having a male slave boy sent to "entertain" him. Kennedy had a (un)healthy career in trashy movies during the 70s, much like this next fellow.

Exploitation regular, John Goff (left) and an almost unrecognizable, beardless George 'Buck' Flower (right)

Another ILSA alumni is George 'Buck' Flower. He was a Nazi doctor in the first, and a Syphilis infested peasant in the second.

Flower has been in dozens of Drive In flicks including numerous horror pictures and 'Danger In Dixie' style movies. This is made all the more surprising that he also had supporting roles in family fare such as ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE (1976). One of his best remembered roles was as the recurring character of Boomer in the family classic series, THE WILDERNESS FAMILY (1975)!


Even more shocking is that in JOHNNY FIRECLOUD, Flower actually had a bag full of snakes placed on his head (not the rattlers seen in close up); you see one of the slithery reptiles escaping the bag as Firecloud affixes it around his body.

The score is nothing to write home about, which is basically the only major blotch on the movie. Nothing spectacular, just typical 70s beats and WaWa sounds. Outside of a couple pieces, it never quite fits the onscreen action. A suitable score would have added an extra dimension to the film.

I first saw JOHNNY FIRECLOUD via the old Prism big box tape. It's been available on other VHS labels, too, including one that sold the film as REVENGE OF JOHNNY FIRECLOUD with artwork not in the movie.

At times, this brutal tale of Injun Justice shows signs of violent exuberance, occasionally engaging, but mostly a typical entry in the revenge flick sweepstakes. Recommended, but some might be left wondering what happened during the contemplative final scene. Possibly there was hope for JOHNNY FIRECLOUD 2?

This review is representative of the Something Weird DVD paired with BUMMER (1973)

Cult Film Faves Not On DVD: The Only Way Home (1972) review

THE ONLY WAY HOME 1972

Bo Hopkins (Orval), Steve Sandor (Billy Joe), Beth Brickell (Marcia), G.D. Spradlin (Phillip)

Directed by G.D. Spradlin

"You wanna be nothin' in a small country town the rest of your life, dontcha?!"

The Short Version: This obscure, hard to find 70s Drive In suspense drama stars Bo Hopkins and Steve Sandor as two destitute young men who want for a better life. One of them is a bit crazy carrying with him a lot of mental baggage that leads to violence and kidnapping and results in a downbeat ending typical of the decade. With shades of THE BOYS NEXT DOOR (1985), this is a quaint, somber little thriller with little in the way of extreme violence. The performances sell this one, and for some Drive In fans, that will be enough to enjoy this Southern Fried tale of desire, avarice and death.


Having lost his job as a gas station attendant in a small Oklahoma town, Orval makes friends with a young biker named Billy Joe in a local bar. The two become friends and decide to travel to California together, but not before stopping by Orval's uncle's house to borrow some money. Discovering his relative is out on a contracting job, Billie Joe plots a robbery to which Orval begrudgingly accepts. Neither man pull it off and carry on down the road. Meanwhile, Phillip and Marcia, a couple on vacation and struggling with marital issues, get a flat tire on the road. While her husband walks back to town for help, Orval and Billie Joe happen along. Upon his return, Billie Joe notices a wad of cash held by Phillip and after making a condescending remark, Billie Joe beats him with a tire iron. Leaving him for dead, the two hellraisers take off in Phillip's car taking his wife with them back to Orval's house where things take a turn for the worse.

This is yet another obscure 70s Drive In picture, one of dozens of semi-rural psycho-terrorizes-captives movies that proliferated throughout the decade. A fair number of similar movies became cult items; unfortunately, this wasn't one of them despite some fine performances and a reasonably decent script. While certain areas are fleshed out unusually well, other areas are left with some question marks. In the end, it doesn't much matter as the film isn't grim enough to cater to the diehard trash crowd looking for raw violence for kicks. It's mildly brutal in places, and has a double shock ending, but the PG rating--movies could get away with a lot on a PG during this time--never lets the proceedings stray too far outside the safety zone. Still, fans of the main cast and country fried Drive In fare are gonna wanna see it. It also brought to mind Penelope Spheeris' THE BOYS NEXT DOOR (1985) on more than a few occasions.

Famed character actor, G.D. Spradlin takes the directors chair for this one. You may remember him from his roles in upscale movies like THE GODFATHER PART 2 (1974), the massively successful television mini series event RICH MAN, POOR MAN (1976) and APOCALYPSE NOW (1979). He also had a brief role in an episode of GOMER PYLE USMC as Colonel Drischoll where Gomer is put in the kitchen and unexpectedly serves a brilliant Deep South home-cooked meal specially for the Colonel which saves the day. Spradlin also featured in the stuff we REALLY love like his role of the determined sheriff in HELL'S ANGELS '69 (also with Sandor), the gruesome excess of the gore western THE HUNTING PARTY (1971) and the rare 'Killer Animal' TV movie from 1978, MANEATERS ARE LOOSE!


His movie doesn't break any new ground, and, aside from some expletives and some salacious subject matter, this could play safely on television. The performances and certain character nuances keep things engaging. Before going into the leads themselves, it's worth noting for exploitation fans that John King III, that PSYCHO FROM TEXAS (1974) himself, was the assistant camera operator here and even pops up in the bar scene around 71 minutes in. John King also played a deceptive biker in the awful and awfully entertaining BLACK ANGELS (1970).

Bo Hopkins (THE WILD BUNCH, TENTACLES, A SMALL TOWN IN TEXAS) has always been good in everything I've seen him in. He brings a natural flow to his roles that make you forget you're watching a movie when he's onscreen.

Inexplicably losing his job, we learn Orval has moved from one employer to the next having difficulty holding down a 9 to 5'er. He wants more for himself and while having a beer in a bar, meets up with Billie Joe, another down on his luck guy looking for money in all the wrong places. While Orval goes along with his new-found friends tactics, he isn't quite as gung ho about killing people, or even robbery for that matter.


Billie Joe (played by Steve Sandor) is the most interesting of the two. We learn little about his past outside of his mentioning trouble with the police keeping him from escaping his lowly existence. He, too, wants out of his dead end life, but doesn't seem to want to work for it, preferring the easier, more dangerous way out. In a curious character trait, we learn Billie Joe likes the music of Beethoven!

The 'changing of the tire' scene is the turning point for the two leads. Billie Joe sees the wad of cash in Phillip's hand and when the man offers them a dollar for their trouble, the camera cuts to Billie, who obviously thinks he could fork over a few more bucks.

The setting off moment is when Phillip tells Billie to make sure he's putting the tire on right. Angry and evidently disturbed, our intrepid Beethoven biker wails on Phillip with a tire iron presumably killing him. It's here where we see Orval displaying violent tendencies when pushed in that direction, although he is the sane, level-headed member of this two man travelin' band.

Once they've returned to Orval's uncle's house, all hot and sweaty, Billie Joe gets turned on ogling Marcia and decides to rape her, keeping Orval at bay with Phillip's gun. Orval exits, but finds out later that Billie Joe didn't rape Marcia seeing how he's impotent!

This leads to another scene that results in a violent eruption from Billy Joe after Marcia, seeing him cleaning his bike, asks him, "Is something wrong with it?" Billie imagines an empty bed while a female voiceover laughs loudly. Then we see him in bed with a past girlfriend asking what's wrong with him.

Steve Sandor balances just the right amount of sorrow with the psychotic. In a few scenes he successfully evokes audience sympathy through mere facial expressions alone. The following year, Sandor would play an equally disturbed, but more heroic figure in the likewise obscure THE NO MERCY MAN (1973). Sandor acted in a handful of movies and was a familiar face on television programs, but never seemed to attain the level of notoriety of some of his exploitation/Drive In movie colleagues, which was a true shame.

"I don't even know your name."

With two fairly well drawn leads this leaves us with the third kink in the chain of this twisted love triangle, the wife, Marcia. The opening scene shows her walking outside of her comfy, well to do home in some suburban neighborhood.

This contrasts sharply with the lives led by our two young anti-protagonists. Marcia's had a rocky marriage and in the scenes of their travels to make it to some remote lake, we see their sex life is a major subject of contention. Phillip is anxious for intimacy, but Marcia seems a bit cold towards the proposition.

Later in the film, she tries to escape and Orval catches her. The two embrace and this leads to a sexual dalliance in a creek bed. Despite obviously playing psychological head games with her captors earlier, it would seem Marcia is caught in the moment and welcomes the act.

Afterward, she claims Orval was able to give her her first orgasm! This leads to a bizarre relationship that takes place over the course of the time that Billie Joe is in town getting things in order; him thinking Orval will have taken care of the woman by the time he returns; never expecting him to have taken care of her in an entirely different way.

The two plan to take off together starting a new life in California; Marcia apparently having forgotten about her husband whom she doesn't even know is really dead or not.

Back in town, Billy Joe is given one truly poignant instance of humanity when one of his younger friends enters a bar to tell him the police are looking for him.

Realizing there's no way out, he hands over his prized baseball cards that his friend wanted so much at the start of the picture. Billie Joe gets up and exits the establishment believing it will be the last time he will see his buddy.

I won't go into the ending as you may, or may not guess how it will all go, but there's a double twist during the final minutes. One of the shock moments coincides, and reflects visually with the way the film opens--the idyllic comfortability of suburbanites versus the struggle to make a living of the lower class establishment.

Even if it never pushes the envelope as much as it easily could have, the film finishes on a strong note, and possibly that may have been Spradlin's intention to avoid the sleazy excess of so many other movies of the time period.


It's not an imperative addition to your collection, but lovers of 70s Drive In movies will be the audience most appreciative of this one. In its favor there's some stand out performances, some nice aerial photographic shots and a typically 70s road movie style score with songs that extrapolate and convey what transpires onscreen whether through character actions, or their emotions. It's not on DVD, and, sadly, likely won't be any time soon.