Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

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

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:

Cavalry | Journey | Doc Holliday | Teaching English | Native American

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

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
Patrick Wayne	...	Second Lieut. Scott
Elizabeth Allen	...	Miss Plantagenet
John Carradine	...	Jeff Blair
Victor Jory	...	Tall Tree
Mike Mazurki	...	Sr. First Sergeant
George O'Brien	...	Major Braden
Sean McClory	...	Dr. O'Carberry
Judson Pratt	...	Mayor Dog Kelly
Carmen D'Antonio	...	Pawnee Woman
Ken Curtis	...	Joe
James Stewart	...	Wyatt Earp
Edward G. Robinson	...	Secretary of the Interior
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter Baldwin	...	Jeremy Wright (Deborah's uncle) (uncredited)
Danny Borzage	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Willis Bouchey	...	Colonel at Victory Cave (uncredited)
Lee Bradley	...	Cheyenne (uncredited)
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Trooper Smith (uncredited)
Dan Carr	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Jeannie Epper	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Stephanie Epper	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Shug Fisher	...	Skinny (Texas cattle drover) (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Ft. Robinson sergeant of the guard (uncredited)
William Forrest	...	Senator (uncredited)
Donna Hall	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Dodge City townsman (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	...	Trooper (uncredited)
William Henry	...	Infantry captain (uncredited)
Harry Hickox	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Harry Holcombe	...	Senator (uncredited)
Nancy Hsueh	...	Little Bird (uncredited)
Ben Johnson	...	Trooper Plumtree (uncredited)
Steven Manymules	...	Point man (uncredited)
Ted Mapes	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Mae Marsh	...	Woman (uncredited)
Philo McCullough	...	Man (uncredited)
John McKee	...	Trooper (uncredited)
David Miller	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Louise Montana	...	Woman (uncredited)
Nanomba 'Moonbeam' Morton	...	Running Deer (uncredited)
Many Muleson	...	Medicine Man (uncredited)
James O'Hara	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Denver Pyle	...	Sen. Henry (uncredited)
Walter Reed	...	Lt. Peterson (Ft. Robinson) (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	...	Jessie (Texas trail boss) (uncredited)
Bing Russell	...	Braden's Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
Charles Seel	...	Newspaper publisher (uncredited)
Mary Statler	...	Entertainer (uncredited)
Carleton Young	...	Aide to Carl Schurz (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Mari Sandoz		(novel "Cheyenne Autumn")
James R. Webb		(screenplay)
Howard Fast		novel "The Last Frontier" (uncredited)

Produced by
Bernard Smith	....	producer
John Ford	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alex North

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier		(director of photography) (as William Clothier)

Film Editing by
Otho Lovering
David Hawkins		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Richard Day

Set Decoration by
Darrell Silvera		(as Darryl Silvera)

Costume Design by
Frank Beetson Jr.		(uncredited)
Ann Peck		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Norman Pringle	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Saunders	....	assistant director (as Russ Saunders)
Wingate Smith	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Francis E. Stahl	....	sound

Special Effects by
Ralph Webb	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Eli Bo Jack Blackfeather	....	stunts (uncredited)
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jeannie Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Stephanie Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Donna Hall	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bryan 'Slim' Hightower	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddie Juaregui	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ted Mapes	....	stunts (uncredited)
John McKee	....	stunts (uncredited)
Louise Montana	....	stunts (uncredited)
Montie Montana	....	stunts (uncredited)
Rudy Robbins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dean Smith	....	stunts (uncredited)
Neil Summers	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Alex North	....	conductor
Henry Brant	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Gil Grau	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Ray Kellogg	....	associate director
David Miller	....	technical advisor: Indians (as David H. Miller)
Bill Cornford	....	location manager (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)
• Ford-Smith Productions

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1964) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1964) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1968) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

154 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (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 | USA:Approved (certificate #20635) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When film critic Peter Bogdanovich visited the set to interview John Ford, he was introduced to Nancy Hsueh, who played Little Bird, whom Bogdanovich later cast in his first film, Targets (1968). While Bogdanovich was on the set, Sal Mineo recommended the book "The Last Picture Show" by Larry McMurtry to him, which became his second film as director seven years later.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The Cheyenne Indians cross the Canadian River in Indian Territory, which today is known as Oklahoma. The film was shot in Utah, where the magnificent desert bluffs and mountains in the scene exist. Nothing along the Canadian River in Oklahoma even closely resembles this. The Canadaian River flows through prairie and is lined by cottonwood and other trees.

Quotes:

Doc Holliday: Forgive me, mademoiselle.
Miss Plantagenet: What the hell kind of talk is that?
Wyatt Earp: Now, as I understand it, a mademoiselle is a madam who ain't quite made it yet - only younger and friskier. I'd call it a compliment.

Movie Connections:

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

The desperation of an artist, shown by a beautiful film

I have recently seen again "Cheyenne Autumn", and, perhaps, I finally got it. In my opinion, this film represents the desperation of an artist, the director John Ford. Forget the usual stunning beauty of the cinematography, the accuracy in filming action scenes, the care for poetic details, and all Ford's trade-mark style. We readily see that "Cheyenne Autumn" is completely different from any other western movie, and not only from the remainder of Ford's work.

Compared with other western movies, the main difference and innovation is that here any killed man is a REAL tragedy, that exhaustion, famine, cold, violence are REAL sufferings for the miserable people on the screen (not just for the Cheyennes, even for the whites). And all that is shown us by Ford ruthlessly, uncompromisingly. The fact that the director stands for the Indians is not as much innovative as it seems. All along his career Ford showed respect and sympathy for them. In the finale, just after an apparent happy ending, we have again violence, again a murder, again a distressed mother: we almost feel the same grief of hers. It is somewhat ironic that in the same year the film was made, 1964, the fashion of Italian western movies invaded the world of cinema, with furious, acrobatic gun-fights and hundreds of shot-dead people, like in a sort of funny game.

The movie is split into two parts by a comic interlude, the episode placed in Dodge City, which is actually a farce. I think that Ford wanted to pay a homage and bid his personal farewell to the old silent western-movies of the 1920s, when his career started. The funny situations are deliberately over the top: see the sensational, licentious joke, when Wyatt Earp (Jimmy Stewart) realizes that he actually had met the girl in Wichita... In any case, a somewhat gloomy mood permeates even this comic part. The main characters are all aged, grey-haired and seemingly life-weary. And the episode is introduced by a particularly brutal, cruel murder.

I think that "Cheyenne Autumn" is a beautiful film, with a good story, great visual beauties, and, in particular, an excellent acting by the whole cast. But it is tough for me to face John Ford's desperate vision. After all, what I most like in the movie is to see, once again, Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr on horse-back, in their blue uniforms (by the way: why are they uncredited?). They are both aged and bulkier compared with their look in the great Ford's western-epics of their youth. Never mind: they are almost dearer to me for this very reason...