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Robert Redford went down as one of the greatest actors of his time and wasn't afraid to bounce around from genre to genre.
He did his fair share of Westerns, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which is among the best Westerns of all time. But even he wasn't immune to turning down a role or two.
One of the roles he ultimately turned down went to the legendary Richard Harris, who played the lead role in A Man Called Horse. Producer Sandy Howard initially wanted Redford for the role, but he turned it down to star Jeremiah Johnson, which is a great Western in its own right.
"In 1825, English big game hunter John Morgan (Harris) is captured and enslaved by a Sioux tribe, forced to labor for tribal matriarch Buffalo Cow Head (Judith Anderson) as a common pack animal. Slowly, with the help of fellow slave Batise (Jean Gascon), Morgan learns his captors' language, and then proves his bravery in a battle with a neighboring tribe, earning their respect," reads the synopsis of the film.
'A Man Called Horse' Named Among Greatest Westerns
Timeout Magazine ranked A Man Called Horse No. 38 in its list of the greatest Westerns of all time.
"Richard Harris is remarkably restrained as bored English aristo John Morgan who seeks a very counter-cultural spiritual awakening in the far west of the 1820. He becomes the property of a tribe of Sioux and works his way up the greasy totem-pole from slave to brave. The clash of derring-do narrative with acid-tinged flourishes makes for a giddy ride that’s uneven but mind-blowingly memorable," Timeout Magazine wrote.
"This is ever more so than in the central scene in which Morgan becomes a Sioux during the Sun Vow ritual, which takes on a wildly hallucinogenic edge as the Englishman meets his spirit animal in an ecstasy of pain. It’s a moment that wouldn’t look out of place in a Dario Argento slash-fest and typifies the dreamlike melancholy that makes ‘Horse’ such a pleasure."
A Man Called Horse owns a strong 87% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Related: 1956 Classic, Turned Down by John Wayne, Named One of the Greatest Westerns of All Time
