Racechanging: Drum Beat

Drum Beat

In 1872 President Grant orders MacKay to negotiate with the Modocs of northern California and southern Oregon. On the way he is ambushed by the Modoc renegade Captain Jack.

Toby (Marisa Pavan) is a Modoc woman who MacKay persuades to act as an interpreter in the negogiations. She suffers the fate of all too many ‘good Indians’ in the movies when she is killed by Captain Jack.

The real Toby ‘Winema’ Riddle (1848–1920) was a Modoc woman who served as an interpreter in negotiations between the Modocs tribe and the United States Army during the Modoc War in the early 1870s. She warned the peace commission of a possible Modoc attack, and saved the life of the chairman Alfred B Meacham when the 1873 attack took place.

The makeup

Gordon Bau was the makeup artist..