Admirable film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Considering the story, the title of the picture was a little overwrought, don't you think? There really weren't any legends to speak of here. Richard Widmark's character, Red Dillon, who did die at the end of the story was actually a pretty repulsive character after starting out the movie as a good guy. At least he came across that way for taking in Ute Indian Thomas Black Bull (Frederic Forrest) when he was only nineteen and directionless. But things turned sour when Red tried to run a hustle with Tom taking dives at rodeo bronc riding events to set up larger bets with his unsuspecting cowboy pals. It made Red's early advice to Tom (see my summary line) somewhat contradictory, since it was really Red who was in the relationship all for himself.I've seen and heard it in two older Westerns, but this is the only relatively modern one in which a character uses the term 'red ni--er'. That was when competitive bronc rider Tex Walker (John Gruber) slandered Black Bull for passing on a drink at a local watering hole. Another film I can recall in which the term came up was in 1960's "The Unforgiven" with Burt Lancaster and Audie Murphy; it was used twice in entirely inflammatory situations. Even here, the comment earned a physical response from Red Dillon, who put the abusive Tex down on his butt.As far as the bronc riding goes, I was impressed with the way the horse went down on Tom in one of his final rides. It looked pretty dramatic and I was wondering how they staged it, so I went back and it looked like stock footage was used from an actual event to match up with the action on screen. It was most likely a real accident filmed at a rodeo and spliced into the picture to make it look like Tom got hurt. In any case, that spill looked awful nasty.Say, here's something that got my attention. You don't see anything like this today, but old timers like myself will remember when gas stations gave away premiums for buying their product. I can't say I ever got a salad bowl for a three dollar fill-up myself, but those kind of giveaways were out there back in the day. Now the gas goes for three bucks a gallon and you can't afford the fill up.For his part Frederic Forrest came across kind of stiff in his first significant movie role. Not having a Native American background, he pulled off the part of a Ute Indian relatively well without resorting to stereotype, which must have put him in good stead for the role of vicious Kiowa Indian Blue Duck in 1989's 'Lonesome Dove' series. I thought his character Black Bull in this story could have been a bit more animated on the rodeo circuit, someone should have thought of handing him a Red Bull.

When the Legends Die is a powerful, moving story of an orphaned Ute Indian who goes on to become Tom Black Bull, a champion bronc rider. Raised in the old ways, Tom is given a white man's name and must adopt the language and ways of the white man to live in that world. Bitter about the role he has been forced into, Tom finds fulfillment doing one thing, busting horses, riding them to death, in the rodeo. The movie has Richard Widmark in the role of Red, the man who befriends Tom and acts as his manager. Red is a drunk who eventually dies in the story, which is about where the movie ends. The real story is completely ignored, the dark side of Tom Black Bull who develops a reputation as a killer of horses in the rodeo arenas. Oh well, you should read the book, this movie doesn't come close to doing the story justice.

Over the years I have always enjoyed the great acting of Richard Widmark and remember his crazy laugh while he pushed a lady in a wheel chair down a flight of stairs in a 1940's film called,"Kiss of Death",'47, which started his career. In this picture, Richard Widmark,(Red Dillon),"Madigan",'68 plays a rough and tough character from the West who lives and dies for the love of showing off his great skills with horses. Red Dillon becomes great friends with Frederic Forrest,('Killer',Tom Black Bull),"The Two Jakes",'90, who is a Native American and is a great horse lover and wins big prizes in Rodeo's through out the West. If you love this type of film, you can't miss this great Classic film and the great performance of Richard Widmark.

Widmark plays the drunken, former rodeo rider to perfection, & Frederick Forrest does admirably as the put upon young bull rider. I felt most of the other players were of the Grade B variety, as was this production in many ways. Not as good as "J.W. Coop".