Riel is a 1979

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

about

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

leader

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian. Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Cor ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 184.

Plot

(Cloutier) leads the Red River and

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

s against the

Canadian government The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes ministers of the Crown ( ...

's expansionist ideas. * The first was a successful rebellion in which created the Province of Manitoba and a later more violent and unsuccessful one in Saskatchewan in 1885 which led to his capture, trial and eventual execution

Cast

* Raymond Cloutier as

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage and television. His accolades included an Academy Aw ...

as Prime Minister John A. Macdonald * Roger Blay as Gabriel Dumont *

Maury Chaykin Maury Alan Chaykin (July 27, 1949 – July 27, 2010) was an American-Canadian actor. Described as "one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian cinema," he was best known for his portrayal of Rex Stout's detective Nero Wolfe on the televi ...

as Howard *

Barry Morse Herbert "Barry" Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008) was a British-Canadian actor, writer, and director. He was known for playing Lt. Philip Gerard, the principal antagonist of the American television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–67), as ...

as MacTavish *

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...

as Major Crozier * Dave Thomas as Militia Captain *

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

as The Barker *

Don Harron Donald Hugh Harron, (September 19, 1924 – January 17, 2015) was a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author, playwright, and composer. Harron is best remembered by American audiences as a member of the cast of the long-running co ...

as Donald Smith *

Chris Wiggins Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was a Canadian actor. Career Wiggins was born January 13, 1931, in Blackpool, England. He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada ...

as General Middleton * John Neville as General Wolseley *

Lloyd Bochner Lloyd Wolfe Bochner (July 29, 1924 – October 29, 2005) was a Canadian film, TV and voice actor. He appeared in many Canadian and Hollywood productions between the 1950s and 1990s, including the films '' Point Blank'' (1967), '' The Detecti ...

as Dr. Schultz * James Bradford as Captain Bra * Brenda Donohue as Mrs. Schultz *

Marcel Sabourin Marcel Sabourin, OC (born March 25, 1935) is a Canadian actor and writer from Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof"Sabourin, Marcel" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 20, 2015. He is most noted for his role as Abel Gagné, the centra ...

as Joseph-Noël Ritchot * Gary Reineke as Thomas Scott * Fern Henry as Maguerite Riel * Tony Robinow as Lemieux

Filming

* Shot at

Cinespace Film Studios Cinespace Film Studios is a group of film studio facilities in the US and Canada. It was founded in 1988 by Greek-Canadian Nick Mirkopoulos. The studio started with a facility in Vaughan, a suburb of Toronto, which had been in operation since the ...

in Kleinburg, Ontario, with additional photography at

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. * The production utilized the local community to fulfill extra roles and stunt riders. Community members like Jim Naish, and others, earned a spot with his shooting and riding abilities.

References

External links

* Canadian biographical drama films CBC Television original films Canadian war drama films English-language Canadian films 1970s biographical drama films Films shot in Toronto Films set in the 1880s British Empire war films 1979 television films 1979 films Métis film Red River Rebellion North-West Rebellion Biographical films about rebels 1979 Western (genre) films Cultural depictions of Louis Riel Films directed by George Bloomfield Canadian drama television films 1970s Canadian films 1970s English-language films English-language biographical drama films English-language Western (genre) films {{1970s-Western-film-stub