TV REVIEWS : Geronimo Profile on A

This Geronimo fellow is everywhere these days. He showed up recently in a made-for-TNT movie, then at movie theaters across the nation in the big-budget film “Geronimo: An American Legend.” Now he shows up on the A&E; cable network’s “The Real West” series in a documentary called “Geronimo: The Last Renegade” (at 5 and 9 tonight).

That Geronimo. He’s everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. That’s how it must have seemed to the Mexican Army, then to the U.S. Army as they pursued the Chiricahua Apache and his followers all over Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico for most of 35 years.

Narrated by Kenny Rogers, Geronimo’s story is one of incredible courage and fortitude in the face of the relentless march of the invading forces in his land. He was a huge symbol to Native Americans; it was even believed he had mystical powers.

As recounted here, Geronimo had his first run-in with invaders when his village was attacked by Mexican soldiers about 1850 and his mother and his wife were killed. That was followed by more than three decades of clashes with U.S. forces before his final surrender in September, 1886. He then spent several years in a prison in Alabama before living out his years at Ft. Sill, Okla.

In his later years, Geronimo became something of an entrepreneur, trading on his fame. He was an exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. Earlier, he rode at the head of Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural parade in 1901. He died of pneumonia at Ft. Sill on Feb. 17, 1909. He was thought to be 80 years old.

An amazing life, and interestingly told in “Geronimo: The Last Renegade.” The documentary uses a lot of color footage of the rugged country where he lived and makes good use of black-and-white photos of Geronimo (you’d be surprised how many pictures of him survive).

If you want the facts of Geronimo’s life, this documentary will probably do. If you want the passion of his life, you might have to go to the movies.