Sacred Ground (film)

Sacred Ground is a 1983 American Western film directed by Charles B. Pierce and starring Tim McIntire, L. Q. Jones and Jack Elam. The film was shot in several outdoor locations in Oregon.

Plot
Set in the year 1861, Matt Colter, a mountain man is traveling across the great divide with his young Native bride, Little Doe. They cross paths with a Paiute party, a beautiful young woman Wannetta watches the mountain man and his pretty Native bride. Ostracized by the white and Native community, they are forced to leave and find a new home. They come across a trading post, where the owner warns Matt about his traveling through Paiute country.

The couple travel more and after crossing the river they come across the ruins of a cabin. Matt and Little Doe rebuild the cabin and make it their home. Seasons change and Matt affectionately pats his wife tummy as Little Doe is expecting. Little Doe finds bone remains and later tells Matt that the shelter they rebuilt, the cabin, that unbeknownst to them, is on sacred Paiute burial ground. Little Doe tells Matt that the spirits of the ground surround her and her unborn child.

One day a Paiute party call on Matt and yell. Due to a language barrier, they are unable to communicate. As Matt retreats back into the cabin he notices that Little Doe goes into labor. The Paiutes attack the couple by destroying the cabin with little Doe inside. In labor, Little Doe is fatally injured and Matt pulls her out of the destroyed cabin. Matt carries his wife to the river as the Paiute warriors look on. Many Paiute women are crossing the river to bury their own dead near the destroyed cabin. As the Paiute party lift their dead onto the scaffolds, the pray and sing. The beautiful woman who lost her child holds up her dead baby's cradleboard onto the scaffold. Matt is helping Little Doe deliver their child as she dies. Suddenly the young baby cries as the Paiutes leave their sacred burial ground.

Matt leaves with his newborn baby and meets up with a lone mountain man who tells him he needs to feed the child. Wannetta has recently had a child but it had died. Matt and the crazy mountain man kidnap her to use as a wet nurse. She nurses and bonds with the baby. The Paiute war party later places a signal for Wannetta to kill the mountain man's horse so they will be forced to travel on foot. She does not and she and the child are later kidnapped by the Paiute war party.

Wannetta is later banished from the tribe as she disobeyed them for not killing the horse. She is stripped of her furs and told to leave. Both women and men yell and throw rocks at her. Determined to find his son, Colter seeks the help of his friend, mountain man Lum Witcher.

Cast

 * Tim McIntire as Matt Colter
 * L. Q. Jones as Tolbert Coleman
 * Jack Elam as Lum Witcher
 * Mindi Miller as Wannetta
 * Elroy Phil Casados as Prairie Fox
 * Serene Hedin as Little Doe
 * Lefty Wild Eagle as Medicine Man
 * Larry Kenoras as Brave Beaver
 * Vernon Foster as Wounded Leg
 * Franklin Fritz as Baby Colter
 * Danny Wilson as Lone Brave
 * Ben Mitchell as Warriors
 * Jerald Jackson, Jr. as Warriors
 * Ronnie Wilson as Warriors
 * Aaron Wright as Warriors
 * Randy Sheppard as Warriors
 * Donald Wilson as Warriors
 * Thurman Parrish as Warriors
 * Lesile Anderson as Warriors
 * Fernando Herrera as Warriors
 * Darin Wright as Warriors
 * Arnold Gallagher as Warriors
 * Cora Lee Joe as Native Woman
 * Della Wilson as Native Woman
 * Marjorie Jackson as Native Woman
 * Natalie Jackson as Native Woman
 * Mary Sheppard as Native Woman
 * Bergie Jackson as Native Woman
 * Glenda Foster as Native Woman
 * Laura Hecocta as Native Woman
 * Adeline Jackson as Native Woman

DVD details

 * Release date: January 1, 2003
 * Full Screen
 * Region: 1
 * Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
 * Audio tracks: English
 * Subtitles: English
 * Running time: 100 minutes