Line #9 Film/SilentTongue


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/silent_tongue.jpg]]
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3	''Silent Tongue'' is a 1993 American Western horror film written and directed by Creator/SamShepard and and featuring Creator/RichardHarris, Creator/SheilaTousey, Creator/AlanBates, Creator/DermotMulroney and Creator/RiverPhoenix. This was the last film to be released featuring a performance by River Phoenix.
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5	Silent Tongue (Creator/TantooCardinal) is a mute Kiowa who is raped by Eamon [=McCree=] (Bates), the owner of the Kickapoo Traveling Medicine Show. Eamon attempts to make up for his crime by marrying her, hoping for forgiveness. Instead, Silent Tongue enacts a bitter retribution through her two daughters, Awbonnie (Tousey) and Velada (Jeri Arredondo). Awbonnie, as the film begins, has already died, but her grieving husband Talbot (Phoenix) refuses to let her go, dragging around her corpse. To assuage Talbot, his father Prescott (Harris) sets out to purchase Velada from Eamon, thinking that only Awbonnie's sister can replace her in Talbot's eyes. But Velada's half-brother Reeves (Mulroney) protests the attempted transaction. As a result, Prescott kidnaps Velada and flees, with not only Reeves and Eamon chasing him, but also Awbonnie's ghost.
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7	!!Tropes:
8	* TheAlcoholic: Eamon [=McCree=] is perpetually drunk on the tonic he peddles in his MedicineShow. when his son Reeves drags him out into the desert in search of Velada, he forced to dry out and complains that the tonic is not like a woman: he can't just leave it behind.
9	* AlcoholicParent: Eamon [=McCree=] is a drunk who was terrible parent to his three children: including selling one of his daughters to Prescott Roe to be married to Prescott's son.
10	* AndStarring: The opening credits with "And Tantoo Cardinal as Silent Tongue".
11	* BrutalBirdOfPrey: Awbonnie's ghost summons an eagle that attacks Prescott, Talbot and Velada.
12	* CirclingVultures: The film opens with Talbot shooing buzzards away from Awbonnie's body.
13	* DeathByChildbirth: Awbonnie died in childbirth [[PosthumousCharacter before the film begins]] and the child died with her.
14	* ExcessiveMourning: Talbot Roe is going mad with grief over losing his Indian wife, Awbonnie: staying by her body and refusing to eat or sleep.
15	* HarmfulToMinors: As a young boy, Reeves was forced to watch his father rape Silent Tongue.
16	* MedicineShow: Eamon [=McCree=] is the owner of the Kickapoo Traveling Medicine Show.
17	* MissingMom: Silent Tongue ran away from Eamon; leaving her two daughters in the care of of their [[AlcoholicParent drunken father]].
18	* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: Ends with Prescott and Talbot walking towards the horizon on the seemingly endless prairie; gradually diminishing into specks before the screen fades to black.
19	* PosthumousCharacter: Awbonnie [[DeathByChildbirth died in childbirth]] before the events of the movie. She appears as a corpse and a ghost.
20	* ProducePelting: The MedicineShow is run out of town by a pack of unappreciative townsfolk pelting them with stones.
21	* QuietingTheUnquietDead: Prescott finally lays Awbonnie's ghost to rest by burning her body, which is what Awbennie had wanted and what Talbot was refusing to do.
22	* ReplacementGoldfish: Talbot Roe is going mad with grief over losing his Indian wife, Awbonnie. In an effort to save him, his father, Prescott Roe, seeks to purchase the dead wife's sister, Velada, from the same travelling carnival he acquired Awbonnie. The girls' father, carnival master Eamon [=McCree=], is willing to do business, but her stepbrother, Reeves, protests, putting an end to the negotiation. Desperate, Prescott kidnaps Velada and promises her the means to be rid of her father in return for comforting Talbot out of his obsession.
23	* TheSavageIndian: Played with. Although the ending implies that Eamon is about to suffer a [[ColdBloodedTorture very nasty fate]] at the hands of the Kiowa, he probably [[AssholeVictim deserves everything he is going to get]] for what he did to one of their number. Notably, they allow Reeves--who has done nothing to harm them--to leave unhindered.
24	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Takes its name from Eamon's runaway wife who--although her shadow looms large over the events--only appears in flashback. [[spoiler:And very briefly as Eamon is taken to meet his fate.]]
25	* TheSpeechless: The title character cannot speak because she had her tongue cut out for lying to the headman.
26	* TongueTrauma: The title character had her tongue cut out for lying to the headman.
27	* SuicideDare: Awbonnie's ghost dares Talbot to kill himself so he can join her. For several moments it looks like Talbot is about to [[AteHisGun eat his gun]], but at the last second, he flips the gun over and fires at the ghost: to no effect, obviously. It is not clear if this was an attempt at PsychicAssistedSuicide or just mind games.
28	* TwoFaced: Awbonnie's ghost has white 'T' painted on her face. One side of the 'T', her face is youthful and beautiful, and on the other it is twisted, withered and sagging.
29	* UnfinishedBusiness: Awbonnie's spirit cannot move on because Talbot refuses to dispose of her body correctly i.e. by burning it. Her efforts to make him do so become more violent as time goes on.
30	* VengefulGhost: Awbonnie's ghost will not rest until Talbot disposes her body correctly. As she never liked Talbot to begin with, her efforts to make him do so become increasingly more violent. She also directs her fury at his father Prescott, whom she blames equally for her plight.
31	* WeirdWest: Mad with grief after the death of his Kiowa wife, Talbot awaits death under a tree with her body beside him. She begins to haunt him because he won't burn her.
32	* WhatADrag: When Awbonnie's ghost rides off with his horse, Prescott grabs the saddle in an attempt to stop it and gets dragged along beside the horse.
33	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Reeves abandons his father Eamon to his fate at the hands of {{The Savage Indian}}s and rides off to keep searching for his half-sister Velada. He isn't seen again and it remains unknown if he manages to find her.
34	* YouWouldntShootMe: When they are tracking Prescott and Velada across the desert, Eamon pulls a gun on Reeves and demands he takes them back to the MedicineShow. Reeves just looks at his father with contempt and declares "You ain't got the sand".

Context Film / SilentTongue