Frank 'Cooch' Coutelle Graham Greene as Walter Crow Horse Fred Ward as Jack Milton Fred Thompson as William Dawes Sheila Tousey as Maggie Eagle Bear Ted Thin Elk as Grandpa Sam Reaches John Trudell as Jimmy Looks Twice Julius Drum as Richard Yellow Hawk Sarah Brave as Grandma Maisy Blue Legs Allan R.J. Joseph as Leo Fast Elk Sylvan Pumpkin Seed as Hobart Patrick Massett as FBI Agent Mackey Rex Linn as FBI Agent Brian A. O'Meara as FBI Agent Production Filming The film was shot primarily on location in South Dakota. Specific sets included the Pine Ridge Reservation, which was dubbed the Bear Creek Reservation. Other filming locations used were in the Washington, D.C. area for the opening sequences. The film employed many Indian actors, some of whose screen roles mirror their real lives. The actor John Trudell, who played an Indian activist suspected of murder in the film inspired by the real-life events surrounding Leonard Peltier, is in fact an Indian activist, as well as a poet and singer. Chief Ted Thin Elk, who played an honored Lakota medicine man, was a Lakota elder himself. Badlands National Park and Wounded Knee in South Dakota were also used as backdrop locations for the real-life incidents which took place during the 1970s. Filming was done with the support of the Oglala Sioux people, who trusted Apted and Fusco to express their story. Soundtrack The original motion picture soundtrack for Thunderheart was released by the Intrada Records music label on November 24, 1992. The score for the film was composed by James Horner, while original songs written by musical artists Bruce Springsteen, Ali Olmo, and Sonny Lemaire, among others, were used in-between dialogue shots throughout the film. Jim Henrikson edited the film's music. Marketing Novel A paperback novel published by HarperCollins titled Thunderheart based on John Fusco's screenplay, was released on May 28, 1992. The book dramatizes the fictionalized events of the Wounded Knee Incident, as depicted in the film. It expands on the ideas of how an FBI agent's assignment to uncover the truth behind violence on an Indian reservation leads to a wide-range conspiracy. Reception Critical response Rotten Tomatoes reported that 89% of 18 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 6.47 out of 10. Following its cinematic release in 1992, Thunderheart received two nominations from the Political Film Society Awards in the