This is a delightful low-budget film centering around young male-teenager and family moving from town to town because of father's constant jail-transfers. The disruption to the family-unit as they yet again settle in new town,new school,new job for mom,house the car ect.... Encounter with wise and mysterious native Indian help both,each respectively acheive their goal's, gainging spiritual inner-strength and renknewed determination to conquer the odd's. Top performances by billed-lead's RUSSELL MEANS,JASON WILES and Superman's former co-star MARGOT KIDDER. Top story and direction to those credited for this film,RECOMMENDED VIEWING!
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adriank118 December 1999
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Havan_IronOak26 May 2002While I'm always a sucker for a "Hallmark moment", many folks will find this film a bit too "Disney" for their tastes.
The film does have some interesting angles and is eminently watchable if a bit too "after-school special" in spots.
The idea of a spirit guide in the persona of Jim Thorpe was a nice touch and the coincidental parallels between Thorpe's fall from grace and that of Greg Cima's incarcerated father were consistently interesting.
I also enjoyed seeing Jason Wiles as a high school student in this after seeing his later performances as Officer Boscorelli in "Third Watch" -
mack-159 February 1999Young people today find themselves in situations much like the young man in the movie. There are many ways to be discriminated against by various groups to keep one from realizing their dreams. Guardian Angels (or ghosts) appear, or make themselves known at appropriate times during times of need or when prayed for. Windrunner is an excellent example of this type of guidance from a spiritual source. I would very much like to see this movie again and share it with others.
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j.fesel1 November 1999Always when I watch this film, I feel inspired and uplifted - the scenery is totally realistic and cut out of the middle of life - and the message is straight from heart, soul and spirit.
It's a magic film - directed by a superior power! -
I watched this movie recently and it was a pleasant surprise. I had never heard of it, and that's coming from someone who is a huge movie fan and has been to a lot of movies. For those that have not seen it, I would recommend getting the DVD to watch. Worth the price. Very inexpensive. The movie is basically in the mold of The Karate Kid. A High School football player moves to a new town: Kanab Utah. His father is in Jail there and the family moved there to be near the father. The townspeople look down upon families who have someone in jail. The star is an actor named Jason Wiles. Amanda Peterson is a love interest and her character's father is also in Jail. It causes both of them grief and sorrow. On a unique note, Jason Wile's character is trained for football by the ghost of the great 20th century athlete and Native American Jim Thorpe. It was nice to learn some history about Jim Thorpe and one gem was he was coached by Pop Warner! Russell Means is the actor who plays Jim Thorpe. I thought he was fabulous in the role and probably stood out more than anyone in the movie. The movie was filmed in Kanab, Utah and the scenery was beautiful. Rocky cliffs, and beautiful moonlit streams,... many movies have been filmed here dating close to 100 years. Margot kidder plays the star's mother, Bruce Weitz of Hill Street Blues fame is great as the Football coach and gives a great speech at halftime of the championship game. Jake Busey is good as the foil of Jason Wile's character. Max Casella, of Doogie Howser fame, plays the friend of the star. Incidentally, Max played opposite Amanda Peterson in a funny Doogie Howser episode where he went on a date with her and she was temporarily blind and when she regained her sight she did not want to date him, lol. There is also a mystical, white wild horse that our hero needs to catch to help Jim Thorpe get to his Spirit world to be with his people. The part Amanda Peterson plays is that of a high school girl who has pain because her father is in Jail and the townspeople, students look down on her because of this. She has some nice scenes with Wiles, especially one where he takes her at night to see this wild horse in the cliffs and running through the stream in the moonlight. The musical score for this movie is very good. This movie is definitely worth a watch. Probably needed some star power in the lead role if it was going to be a box office success. I think it ended up being a t.v. movie. Maybe a Matt Damon or Ben Affleck could have provided that star power but they were really just beginning their adult careers at this time, too. Jason Wiles was good, just not a star. I don't know how much money was spent making this movie, but the scenery is so good it looks great. One mistake I thought was made was how Jason Wiles was used by the football coach. However, I don't want to give that away for people who have not seen it. The Football scenes are pretty good. Obviously sometimes Hollywoodized. For fans of Amanda Peterson, it won't be lost on you that this was the last thing she did in Hollywood. At times you may think about that and get a little sad. Interesting in this she was 22 playing an 18 year old as opposed to most of her movies she always seemed to be playing someone older than her age. The movie had the potential to be really good, but just could not quite get there. But it is pretty good and worth a watch for the beautiful scenery alone.
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CriticsVoiceVideo7 March 2021This is such a heart warming family movie. Full of wisdom, heart, and inspiration. Amanda Peterson is fantastic, as always, in her last onscreen appearance, which is sad.