Plot
The film is about a young man named Talbot Roe (Phoenix), who has gone insane over the death of his wife. Talbot's father, Prescott Roe (Harris) feels his son's pain and wants to find him a new wife. He goes back to the place where he bought Talbot's first wife, from Eamon McCree (Bates). He finds the dead wife's sister (Arredondo), who is a champion horse rider and Mr. McCree's daughter, which makes her only half-Indian. Roe asks McCree if he could have his last daughter for his son, but McCree refuses. Then, Roe kidnaps her and tries to get her to help him, and she takes the deal for gold and four horses. But Talbot is not taking any chances for her. He is too afraid that she will try to take his wife's corpse from him. And for the last few nights, he sees the ghost of his dead wife. She wants him to destroy her corpse, but he refuses.Cast
Delay in release
The film was the last to be released featuring a performance by River Phoenix, who died on October 31, 1993, from a drug overdose. The film's release was delayed, and Phoenix continued to work on ''The Thing Called Love'' (the film he had just completed at the time of his death), which was released before ''Silent Tongue''.Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 38% based on , with a weighted average rating of 4.9/10. Peter Travers from ''Rolling Stone magazine, Rolling Stone'' awarded the film 4/4 stars, calling it "a demanding chunk of Shepard frontier poetry that shuns pretty-boy posturing". Film critics Siskel & Ebert both disliked the film and included it on their Worst of 1994 show; Ebert in particular claimed that "I've seen whole movies that seemed quicker than the last half hour of Silent Tongue" and ridiculed its plot.See also
* List of ghost filmsReferences
External links
* * * * {{Sam Shepard 1994 films 1994 independent films 1990s Western (genre) horror films 1990s ghost films American Western (genre) horror films American independent films American supernatural horror films British independent films Dutch independent films English-language Dutch films English-language French films Films shot in New Mexico French independent films Trimark Pictures films 1990s American films 1990s British films 1990s French films