Cheyenne

Historical and overlong movie recounting the legendary Cheyenne trek led by the Indian chiefs , Little Wolf and Dull Knife . The picture is an epic portrait of the historic story about celebrated Cheyenne (they are actually Navajo , telling dirty jokes in their native tongue) and their legendary feat leading the tribe on a journey to freedom , uprooting them from the Yellowstone and resettling them in distant Oklahoma . This majestic flick illustrates the callous disregard with which the government treated the Cheyenne in the 1880s as the US agency fails to deliver even the meager provisions due by peace treaty to the stubborn tribe in their stark desert reserve without proper supplies for survival ; then the starving Indians have taken more abuse than it's worth and break it too by embarking on a 1,500 miles trek back to their ancestral hunting grounds , being led by Little Wolf and Dull Knife (Ford was urged by producers to cast first stars as Richard Boone and Anthony Quinn , as both had Native American blood ; however , Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland, who were of Mexican descent , were cast instead) . Meanwhile , proud Cheyenne tribe square off US cavalry commanded by Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark) who leads his army on a wild chase across the barren plains in this saga of the old west . Red Shirt (played by Sal Mineo , though John Ford would not allow him to speak any English dialog in the picture due to the actor's Bronx accent) , a rebel Indian does the first shot against cavalry . Captain Thomas Archer goes to deal with Secretary of Interior Schulz about the unfortunate Indians (Spencer Tracy was first cast , but had a stroke and was replaced by Edward G. Robinson, , including the background had to be done with screen process and whose scenes were entirely photographed in studios) , taking place a climatic meeting scene between Shultz and the Cheyenne chiefs . The tribe refuses to surrender in this chronicle of a bitter fight between the tribe and the US cavalry in the struggle for the west . Now the mightiest true adventure of all! Filmed by 6-time Academy Award winner John Ford...with a massive all-star cast! .1,500 miles of heroism and incredible adventure!

This sprawling epic film displays Western action , shootouts , drama and spectacular battles . It's a thoughtful piece for its time that had an original tragic ending and imbued with moments of sensitive poetry . This nice Western contains interesting characters , full of wide open space and dramatic moments . This classic , sturdy picture ranks as one of the most sentimental of John Ford's work . Thought-provoking , enjoyable screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface and suggested by Mari Sandoz in "Cheyenne Autumn¨ with screenplay by James R. Webb and based on a novel titled Last Frontier by Howard Fast who also wrote Spartacus . This excellent film featuring a magnificent performance by the whole main cast , including a top-notch supporting cast . Awesome Richard Widmark in a larger-than-life character along with a gorgeous Carrol Baker and a magnificent Karl Malden as deranged captain Wessels . In the film appears , as usual , Ford's favourite actors such as : Ben Johnson , Harry Carey Jr. , Mike Mazurki , George O'Brien , Mae Marsh , Patrick Wayne , Dolores Del Rio , Ken Curtis , Elizabeh Allen , Willis Bouchey , and , of course , James Stewart as obstinate sheriff Earp . Ford added the segment with Stewart in place of an intermission , in spite of the film was overlong , and so he came up with the Wyatt Earp segment , giving Stewart an awesome interpretation , as usual . Outdoors are pretty gorgeous and well photographed in Super Panavision 70mm by William H. Clothier , Ford's regular , and filmed on location in Moab, Utah ,Fort Laramie, Wyoming, Monument Valley, Utah , Gunnison Canyon , Colorado . Rousing and an impressive musical score by Alex North who composed other masterpieces as Spartacus and Cleopatra.

This may not be Ford's best Western , as many would claim , but it's still head ad shoulders above most big-scale movies . You'll find the ending over-dramatic according to your tastes , though it's lovingly composed by John Ford who really picks up battle , drama and sensibility towards the ending . Rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching . The motion picture well produced by Bernard Smith was brilliantly directed by John Ford at his last film . This powerful movie will appeal to Indian Western fans .

The first half hour of Cheyenne Autumn promises a moving western akin to How the West Was Won. There's a great romance, family tensions, and a large promise broken to the Native Americans. When the white government officials promise to meet the Indian chiefs and discuss the terms of an already broken treaty, everyone in the tribe walks the great distance to the white settlement. They stand for hours in the sun, waiting in vain. It's very sad, but it starts off a compelling drama. Richard Widmark is in love with a Quaker schoolteacher, Carroll Baker, and he writes her an absolutely adorable marriage proposal on the chalkboard of her classroom. Since he loves her, he wants her to leave for safety instead of traveling with the Indians to the new territory.

The rest of the long movie really disappoints. I tried to forgive the bad casting of Carroll as a Quaker, but she certainly didn't act like an unworldly woman. Karl Malden gave his usual intense, penetrating stare, but little else. Ricardo Montalban and the remarkably well-preserved Gilbert Roland play Native Americans; you'd think that by 1964 Hollywood would stop putting dark makeup on actors. Sal Mineo, also playing an Indian, strutted around with his shirt off to impress a tribal girl - but that made no sense, since Native Americans always ran around bare-chested. Why were there blushes and giggles exchanged? And randomly, there was a chunk of time in the middle of the movie that included Wyatt Earp (played by James Stewart) and Doc Holliday (played by Arthur Kennedy) in a saloon playing poker. They don't add to the story, and there's no acting required. Jimmy throws a few winks among his jokes, and Arthur keeps up. I can't imagine why this comic relief section was included in this drama. Edward G. Robinson also has a small role in the movie. Can't imagine him in a western? He plays a government official, so no cowboy hat for him. Keep an eye out for cutie pie Patrick Wayne, though, which is fun.

This movie is very long, and at times it does drag. The middle section is uneven, and after a while, you forget how the beginning even started. If you watch it, it won't hurt you, but it's not as good as it seems.

Unfortunately, given the subject matter and the director, "Cheyenne Autumn" fails to achieve the greatness of its aspirations. Injustice to Native Americans has along tragic history, and the topic deserved a soaring film that brought those crimes to a broad audience. After years of depicting Native Americans as the villains, John Ford was certainly the right director to cast a sympathetic eye on their plight, and the film has many grand sequences that are reminiscent of Ford's finest westerns. The brilliant camera work of William Clothier captures the majesty of Monument Valley and often bathes the mountains and characters in the warm glow of sunsets.

For some reason, Ford felt that Latino actors were appropriate for the roles of Native Americans, and Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland, and Dolores del Rio do achieve a measure of dignity as members of the long-suffering Cheyenne tribe. While Carroll Baker tries hard as a Quaker woman who accompanies the Cheyenne on an arduous trek back to their homeland, her bleached blonde hair, immaculate make-up, and voice undercut her efforts. The work of composer, Alex North, also sounds out of place. Best known for his scores for "Spartacus" and "Cleopatra," North's music here evokes Roman legions rather than the U.S. cavalry.

However, the biggest flaw in the film is a misconceived episode in the middle that features James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, and John Carradine. As Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, Stewart and Kennedy perform a comedy routine that jars with the solemnity of the previous scenes. Indeed, the entire Dodge City sequence is a western comedy, and viewers would be justified in thinking that some film reels were mislabeled and an entire sequence from another film had been inserted accidentally. Whatever dignity and concern was established in the film's first hour are destroyed when the action moves from the Cheyenne to Earp and Dodge City.

"Cheyenne Autumn" was likely conceived as a follow-up to the successful "How the West Was Won." John Ford was one of the directors of that Cinerama film; Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, James Stewart, and Richard Widmark are featured in both films; and the ads for the two westerns are strikingly similar. Widmark anchors "Cheyenne Autumn" and provides a narration much as Spencer Tracey did for "How the West Was Won." However, the earlier movie was a rousing adventure with a great score and an uplifting theme of westward expansion. Despite an overture and intermission, "Cheyenne Autumn" is a small, sober tale of racial injustice that has been stretched out and embellished with a jarring music score and a schizophrenic mix of comedy and tragedy that lays waste to some fine epic moments.

The Cheyenne nation has been gathered on their desert reservation waiting for supplies. The people are starving. Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark) is sympathetic but powerless in the face of government indifference. Deborah Wright (Carroll Baker) is a Quaker trying to help the Cheyenne. Chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland) lead over 300 Cheyenne from their reservation in the Oklahoma territory to their traditional home in Wyoming. Archer is forced to stop them. The media exaggerate army casualties. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) resists political pressure to increase the conflict.

This starts off well with the vast landscape and compelling story of the Cheyenne mistreatment. Director John Ford is able to give dignity to the movie. Even with the mostly Latinos portraying Cheyennes, it isn't that badly done. There is some good action. It's set up for a serious compelling western. It is a somewhat long march. It's meandering and struggles to keep up the pace. Then it takes a bad comedy detour in Dodge City. Other than having James Stewart play Wyatt Earp, there is nothing worthwhile in that section. The tone is all wrong and breaks down the realism of the movie once and for all.

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.