Broken Arrow (1950)

Tom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches.

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Elliott Arnold (novel), Albert Maltz (screenplay),

Stars:

James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Stewart	...	Tom Jeffords
Jeff Chandler	...	Cochise
Debra Paget	...	Sonseeahray ('Morningstar')
Basil Ruysdael	...	Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard
Will Geer	...	Ben Slade, Rancher
Joyce Mackenzie	...	Terry, Scatfly Proprietress (as Joyce MacKenzie)
Arthur Hunnicutt	...	Milt Duffield, Mail Superintendent

Storyline

By 1870, there has been 10 years of cruel war between settlers and Cochise's Apaches. Ex-soldier Tom Jeffords saves the life of an Apache boy and starts to wonder if Indians are human, after all; soon, he determines to use this chance to make himself an ambassador. Against all odds, his solitary mission into Cochise's stronghold opens a dialogue. Opportunely, the president sends General Howard with orders to conclude peace. But even with Jeffords' luck, the deep grievance and hatred on both sides make tragic failure all too likely...

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Plot Keywords:

apache | peace | settler | mail | 1870s | 

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Taglines:

Of this motion picture the screen can be proud... Today... Tomorrow... A generation from now...

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Apache languages

Release Date:

August 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

La flèche brisée

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Screenwriter Albert Maltz did not receive a credit when the film was released because he was blacklisted. Instead, the script was credited to Michael Blankfort.

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Goofs

When General Oliver is beginning to pick himself off the ground after the Apache attack on the military wagon train, the first shot shows the ground to be mostly desert sand, with very little vegetation. But when the scene jumps to a long shot of the General getting up the ground around him is almost entirely covered with green vegetation, showing scarcely any sand at all.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[opening narration]
Tom Jeffords: This is the story of a land, of the people who lived on it in the year 1870, and of a man whose name was Cochise. He was an Indian - leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. I was involved in the story and what I have to tell happened exactly as you'll see it - the only change will be that when the Apaches speak, they will speak in our language. What took place is part of the history of Arizona and it began for me here where you see me riding.

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Connections

Followed by The Battle at Apache Pass (1952)

User Reviews

Poetic,elegiac,wonderful.

The movie is in the past conditional,because we know the real end of the story and Delmer Daves who had been studying the Indians ways for a long time did not try to fool the audience:"broken arrow" is not a nice "peace and love" movie:there are plenty of death,violence and hatred here ,more than in the average western.As Cochise says,living in peace is more difficult than waging war.But Jeffords and him become legendary figures whom we can still meet today everywhere in the world,peace on earth and good will to men .Thus his story becomes universal.

There's a wistful,not to say very sad side:Delmer Daves is like John Lennon singing "imagine" or Neil Young singing "Pocahontas" (I wish I was a trapper/I would give a thousand pelts/To sleep with Pocahontas/And find out how she felt/In the morning in the fields of green/in the home land we've never seen):he does know that all these promises are illusive ,the two protagonists trust each other,but who else can they trust?The dice are loaded from the start.

That's why the love scenes are so important and among the most visually astounding we can see in a western.Thanks partly to Debra Paget's breathtaking beauty,the scenes between Jeffords and Sonseearhay climax the movie.They give the audience a taste of a lost paradise "the homeland we've never seen":Jefford's dream only really comes true in these sequences where the lovers are under the "big sky" in communion with nature.

Some will complain because everybody speaks English,but Tom's voice-over warns us from the very start.Kevin Costner,who makes his Oscar-winning "dance with wolves" in the early nineties ,owes a good deal to Delmer Daves.