Arizona

This is a refreshing western saga with well-defined performances of some unique characters. Adding to the overall quality, there is a strong current of authenticity in the staging, with both the gritty desert west (the scene is 1860's Tucson) and the settlers of that land making a strong showing. William Holden plays against type as an aw-shucks, boyish adventurer who is smitten with a bold, outspoken pioneer businesswoman played with gusto by Jean Arthur. Both characters have clearly-defined development arcs. While the plot is generally typical western fare, the narrative tends to bounce out of those well-worn ruts, including being mostly true to the period depicted and in the motivations of characters and groups. The video I watched was crystal-clear black & white. This is a western tale with a rich flavor.

In Arizona Jean Arthur repeats her Calamity Jane character from the earlier DeMille classic, The Plainsman. She's a tough pioneer woman, one of the founders of early Tucson.

Her dream man comes by way of a wagon train in William Holden who was making his first western with this film. Originally the part was offered to Gary Cooper who turned it down. I suspect that Cooper clearly saw that Arthur had more screen time. Holden who was under dual contract to Paramount and Columbia had no choice in the matter.

But by far the best one in this film is Warren William who is the suave villain of the piece. In The Big Country, Burl Ives describes Charles Bickford as a 'high toned skunk'. That phrase so very aptly describes what Warren William is all about here.

Previous to his arrival, the local bad guy was Porter Hall. But William with guile and cunning bullies Hall into a partnership who in turn sets him up with the local Apaches. Nobody can quite prove what's going on, but Holden says William has the odor of polecat about him.

There's a nice battle scene with the Apaches before the final showdown with Holden and William. Their final battle is a combination of the shootouts from both Stagecoach and High Noon.

Paul Harvey has a nice part as the Scottish merchant who is Arthur's business partner and Edgar Buchanan does one of his patented reprobate judge parts that he would do over and over in his career.

And we even get to hear William Holden sing I Dream of Jeannie. Nothing special and it's no accident he had no career in musicals.

Arizona is still a nice film tribute to our western pioneer spirit and it's one of Warren William's best screen characters.

"Arizona" probably marks the most unusual performance by Jean Arthur. Usually, this actress is known for comedies or romance but here she's in a western. This isn't that unusual, considering she's known for her performance in "Shane". However, here in "Arizona", she plays a completely different sort of role. She's a tough-as-nails broad--one who is the equal to any man....and don't you forget it!!

The film begins in Tucson, Arizona about 1861. It's a wild town--and not even much of a town at that. The only non-Indian or Hispanic woman there is Phoebe (Arthur) and you are introduced to her when she enters the cantina and holds all of men working for Lazarus Ward (Porter Hall) at gunpoint! It seems some of them stole from her and she's going to blow their heads off unless they return the money! Watching all this is a newcomer, Peter (William Holden) and, bizarrely, he's smitten!! She soon falls for him, too. However, there's a glitch in their romance-- he's a wandering soul and is only stopping by on his way to California. When he eventually leaves town, it leaves Phoebe to deal not only with the skunk Ward but his secret partner, Jefferson Carteret (Warren William). The two weasels plan on ruining Phoebe's budding freight business and when that attempt fails, Carteret plans on something even more devious. When Peter returns from California, he sees right through Carteret and you know by the end of the film one of them will be pushing up daisies!

This is a rather sprawling film with a little bit of everything in it. While the film isn't easy to believe, the acting is quite nice. I particularly liked William--who was magnificent in playing slimy rogues. And, here he's at his slimiest! Well worth seeing if a bit silly in places--it's the sort of western that's fun to watch but difficult to believe. Plus, too often the film relied on intertitle cards scattered throughout the film instead of actually SHOWING things they should have shown instead. Good but not great overall.

"Arizona" is a very enjoyable movie about pioneer settlement of the West. Without giving away the plot, let's just say that it has enough twists and angles to make it stand apart from the normal grind of Westerns. It gives us a little bit of all the various stock parts of Westerns - Indians, cowboys, cavalry, good guys, bad guys, guns and shootings, robbery and romance, sagebrush and scenery, horses and a stampede, a wagon train and cattle drive. But it's the way those bits are put together and woven into a nice story that sets "Arizona" apart and gives it the feel of an epic film.

Jean Arthur is excellent as Phoebe Titus. She's a self-assured, decent, hard-working, and tough Western gal with big dreams. We never learn why or how she got to Tucson on her own. But viewers are taken with her sincerity and toughness which has just a touch of humor. The men in the movie are also won over by her pies. I can't think of another Western that has a pie shop or stand in it.

William Holden is a delight as Peter Muncie. This is only the fifth movie in which he was listed in the credits. It's one of his early starring roles and his very first Western. Holden's character has a very likable, easy-going and pleasantness about him. A pity we didn't see more of that persona throughout his career. For most of his roles later on, Holden had a more straight or serious demeanor - even dour at times.

Another reviewer commented on Warren William's excellent role as Jefferson Carteret. He played the villain very well. William was a very accomplished actor who might have done some great films in the 1950s and 1960s. But he died in 1948 from cancer. He was just 53. He had played suave, sophisticated and intelligent leading men, and fiends and conniving crooks and scoundrels, equally well. I especially enjoy him as Perry Mason in the original movies about that fictional detective- lawyer.

A number of other character actors gave banner performances in this film. Edgar Buchanan, Porter Hall, Paul Harvey and Regis Toomey stand out. The direction and cinematography were excellent, and the musical score for this film was a delight. It received two Academy Award nominations, one for musical score.

Others have commented about the setting and feel of reality about the movie. "Arizona" was made in 1940, when it was possible to find space to shoot a film around Tucson that wasn't invaded by utility poles and lines, paved highways and other signs of modern times. The ramshackle settlement of the early town sure gives it a feel of reality. I'm not so sure, though, how accurate a picture that is of Tucson at the time of the story. It's taking place around the Civil War years. The town of Tucson wasn't incorporated until 1877, but the town got its start a hundred years earlier. Hugh Oconor is the founding father of Tucson. He was the military governor of northern Mexico and authorized a fort to be built there in 1775. Even before that, the very first development was the Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1700. The mission is still operating today and is a historic site south of Tucson.

Columbia Pictures built the set for the film, with a sound stage, a few miles west of present-day downtown Tucson. It sat idle for a number of years after the movie was made. Then, in 1960, it was fixed up and opened as an active movie set and tourist park. In time, more streets were added and some amusement events were staged - gunfights and bank robberies. Nearly 70 movies have been filmed in part or in whole in Old Tucson, as it is called. Most were Westerns, but a number of mysteries and dramas were made there - even a comedy or two. John Wayne filmed four of his Westerns in Old Tucson - "Rio Bravo," "McLintock," "El Dorado," and "Rio Lobo." A 1995 fire destroyed much of the set and sound stage; but the community rebuilt the movie set town and it is still open in 2013.

The story line in this film is basically fictional, but real names of people who lived in Tucson, Arizona Territory, in the late nineteenth century are given to members of the cast, and the set that was created specifically for its production still exists just over the hill from the real Tucson of today. As someone who remembers visiting that set during filming in 1940, I am still impressed by the place and by this film. Jean Arthur's character was indeed a prototype of the independent frontierswoman . But even more important from the perspective of today as I stand among the remnants of the old set (still used, together with a sound stage on the property, to produce "Westerns") and look back sixty years just as the producers looked back sixty years for their story, I think of it as a story within a story. Anyone visiting Arizona today would do well to think of the film "Arizona" as a true picture of 1880 and, in another context, of 1940, and let their imaginations wander. The social attitudes and mores of both periods stand in great contrast to those of the 21st century.