Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

The Cheyenne, tired of broken U.S. government promises, head for their ancestral lands but a sympathetic cavalry officer is tasked to bring them back to their reservation.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Mari Sandoz (suggested by "Cheyenne Autumn"), James R. Webb (screenplay)

Stars:

Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Widmark	...	Capt. Thomas Archer
Carroll Baker	...	Deborah Wright
Karl Malden	...	Capt. Wessels
Sal Mineo	...	Red Shirt
Dolores del Rio	...	Spanish Woman (as Dolores Del Rio)
Ricardo Montalban	...	Little Wolf
Gilbert Roland	...	Dull Knife
Arthur Kennedy	...	Doc Holliday
James Stewart	...	Wyatt Earp
Edward G. Robinson	...	Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz
Patrick Wayne	...	2nd Lt. Scott
Elizabeth Allen	...	Guinevere Plantagenet
John Carradine	...	Major Jeff Blair
Victor Jory	...	Tall Tree
Mike Mazurki	...	Senior First Sergeant

Storyline

When the government agency fails to deliver even the meager supplies due by treaty to the proud Cheyenne tribe in their barren desert reserve, the starving Indians have taken more abuse than it's worth and break it too by embarking on a 1,500 miles journey back to their ancestral hunting grounds. US Cavalry Capt. Thomas Archer is charged with their retrieval, but during the hunt grows to respect their noble courage, and decides to help them.

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Plot Keywords:

cavalry | noble savage | poker game | cigar | whiskey | 

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Taglines:

LAND-GRABBING DOLLAR PATRIOTS!

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Genres:

Drama | History | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 1964 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Long Flight

Filming Locations:

Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Ford-Smith Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

154 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The final duel between Little Wolf and Red Shirt was shot on the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX. Though legends say that John Ford, so saddened by the death of the first Irish-descended president of the nation, mourned his death by halting the shoot on that day, production documents actually show that it was the only scene to be shot that day, and they moved from Utah in the afternoon as originally scheduled.

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Goofs

The language used by the Cheyenne in this movie is not Cheyenne. It is Navajo. Cheyenne is an Algonquian language, whereas Navajo is Athabaskan (Na Dene), and they do not sound even remotely similar. This is explainable, however, by the fact that this film was shot on the Navajo Nation.

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Quotes

Spanish Woman: They are angry... because my son fired the first shot.
Deborah Wright: Does it ever matter who fires the first shot?

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Alternate Versions

Many television prints run 145 minutes, and omit the scene with James Stewart as Wyatt Earp. The video release is the full 154-minute version.

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Connections

Referenced in The Wages of Sin (2003)

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Soundtracks

The Yellow Rose of Texas
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played on the banjo during the saloon

User Reviews

A flawed valedictory.

When I saw this during its first release, I was, like most other viewers, thoroughly awed by William Clothier's magnificent handling of the 70mm cameras (although some scenes, unfortunately, had to be completed with quite evident manipulation of actors performing on a soundstage in front of previously photographed exterior shots, and some sets were much-too-obviously studio bound.) The casting of non-Native Americans didn't surprise me then, though I might now reluctantly join the ranks of those who would prefer otherwise. However, then we would miss Victor Jory, Sal Mineo, Gilbert Roland, Ricardo Montalban and the beautiful Dolores del Rio playing their roles with the requisite dignity and professional aplomb. Carroll Baker gives poignancy to her portrayal of a young Quaker woman, true to her convictions, and Richard Widmark and Edward G. Robinson enact Americans with a conscience, none too happy with the assignments required by their government. Karl Malden, as the brutal Capt. Wessels, doesn't beg for our forgiveness, to say the least. But I will agree with those who find the James Stewart sequence a jarring contrast to the presumed thrust of the narrative.

My own take on that is the otherwise surprising absence of John Ford's customary over-reliance on sentimentality in this particular enterprise. At the very least when he made a movie with a setting in the Old West, he usually insisted upon using folk songs, sometimes ad nauseum, as background (and foreground) musical accompaniment, but here the very sophisticated Alex North is credited with the musical score, and its bitter strains are not at all typical of a John Ford production. I do not know if Mr. North was assigned to this project against Mr. Ford's preference, but that noted composer's contribution (He was nominated fourteen times for an Academy Award, though not for this one.) is one of his best and most appropriate accomplishments, to my ears. Except for his uncredited work on "Young Cassidy" and the truly atypical "Seven Women" starring Anne Bancroft which followed this major screen opus, John Ford made a final bow here that may not be his best but which unquestionably bears the mark of a master of the cinema.