Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Mari Sandoz (novel)
James R. Webb (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 October 1964 (USA)

Genre:

History | Western

Tagline:

LAND-GRABBING DOLLAR PATRIOTS!

Plot:

When the government agency fails to deliver even the meager supplies due by treaty to the proud Cheyenne tribe in their barren desert reserve...

Plot Keywords:

Buffalo | Teaching English | Cavalry | Indian Chief | Abraham Lincoln

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Capt. Thomas Archer
Carroll Baker	...	Deborah Wright
Karl Malden	...	Capt. Oskar Wessels
Sal Mineo	...	Red Shirt
Dolores del Rio	...	Spanish Woman
Ricardo Montalban	...	Little Wolf
Gilbert Roland	...	Dull Knife
Arthur Kennedy	...	Doc Holliday
Patrick Wayne	...	2nd Lt. Scott
Elizabeth Allen	...	Miss Plantagenet
John Carradine	...	Jeff Blair
Victor Jory	...	Tall Tree
Mike Mazurki	...	Sr. First Sergeant
George O'Brien	...	Maj. Braden
Sean McClory	...	Dr. O'Carberry

Also Known As:

John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn (USA) (complete title)
The Long Flight (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

154 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (RCA Sound System) (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA

Company:

Ford-Smith Productions

Trivia:

The "Cheyenne" are actually Navajo, telling dirty jokes in their native tongue.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In various shots, most notably when we first see the cavalry outpost, jet contrails can be seen in the skies.

Quotes:

Maj. Braden: Miss Wright, my responsibility to the Indians is only to guard them. When you have reached my age, you will have realized that it pays to stick to your own knitting. That's exactly what I intend to do!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wages of Sin (2003) (V)

Spectacular scenery

The scenery is spectacular and the photography does it true justice. You would have to be in Monument Valley to see it any better. The stunning vistas captured by Ford were the hi-light of the film from my perspective. Character development in the movie is minimal so they become less believable as the movie continues. The editing is really awful. Half-way through the movie the screen jumps from a view of the Cheyennes crossing a river to a poker game in which three new characters are introduced to the viewers. The entire poker game sequence could have been omitted. I thought that the movie was much too long, the script and the acting was wooden and the hardship endured by the remaining members of the Cheyenne tribe on their desperate trek to their home was underplayed. This movie glamorized a terrible event in the history of the U.S.A.