Cheyenne Autumn (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'Cheyenne Autumn' (John Ford's last Western) was allegedly made to compensate for the Native American Indians who had not been given proper treatment in Ford's earlier films. Set in 1887, the movie recounts the defiant migration of 300 starved & weary Cheyennes from their desolate 'reservation' in Oklahoma territory back to their original home in Wyoming. Quaker schoolteacher Deborah Wright (beautiful Carroll Baker), who has been teaching the Cheyenne children, is sympathetic & decides to migrate with them the 1,500 miles. The Indians have decided to move at the bidding of chiefs Little Wolf & Dull Knife (Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland), peaceful men who've been driven to desperate measures because the U.S. government has ignored their pleas for food/shelter.
The government sees this as a rebellion, & Capt. Thomas Archer (a terrific Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his own troops in pursuit of this tribe. While there wasn't an intention to shed blood, the press find it politically advantageous to thwart the Cheyennes' action into an actual declaration of war. Thanks to the inhuman treatment of such chauvinistic whites as Capt. Oscar Wessels (an uncharacteristically nasty Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves - and whenever Native Americans take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson, in a stellar cameo) can prevent combat from erupting into mass bloodshed.
'Cheyenne Autumn' looks & feels like a cinematic poem - mostly in honor of John Ford's 50+ yrs. directing Westerns. Now, the film is lonnnnng. There are some cornball scenes here & there. The romance btwn. the Richard Widmark character & Carroll Baker's character felt arbitrary to the rest of the story. I also found some of the casting suspect; not because the actors were bad, but because non-Indian actors such as Sal Mineo were playing them. I found it somewhat offensive that Dolores del Rio was playing a character named "Spanish Woman". And the film is also a tad preachy; where the 'good' characters side with the Indians, & others are depicted as ignorant or racist. Um, wow. That sounds like a lot of little complaints, huh? They are more like quibbles, but there are plenty.
Like most major motion pictures of the 1950s & early 60s, 'Cheyenne Autumn' was presented as a true 'epic', with an overture & an intermission; making it's running length an impressive, if somewhat bloated 2.5 hours. William H. Clothier's giant widescreen cinematography is glorious - never before has the Old West looked so vast, enticing, & majestic. I also must commend the production design, costumes, make-up work, & Alex North's rousing musical score. For better or worse, John Ford Westerns have become a staple in the annals of film history. All of Ford's touches are present in this movie. And flaws aside (with political correctness and incorrectness fluctuating), there are more than enough good things about 'Cheyenne Autumn' to warrant it a slight recommendation.
The government sees this as a rebellion, & Capt. Thomas Archer (a terrific Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his own troops in pursuit of this tribe. While there wasn't an intention to shed blood, the press find it politically advantageous to thwart the Cheyennes' action into an actual declaration of war. Thanks to the inhuman treatment of such chauvinistic whites as Capt. Oscar Wessels (an uncharacteristically nasty Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves - and whenever Native Americans take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson, in a stellar cameo) can prevent combat from erupting into mass bloodshed.
'Cheyenne Autumn' looks & feels like a cinematic poem - mostly in honor of John Ford's 50+ yrs. directing Westerns. Now, the film is lonnnnng. There are some cornball scenes here & there. The romance btwn. the Richard Widmark character & Carroll Baker's character felt arbitrary to the rest of the story. I also found some of the casting suspect; not because the actors were bad, but because non-Indian actors such as Sal Mineo were playing them. I found it somewhat offensive that Dolores del Rio was playing a character named "Spanish Woman". And the film is also a tad preachy; where the 'good' characters side with the Indians, & others are depicted as ignorant or racist. Um, wow. That sounds like a lot of little complaints, huh? They are more like quibbles, but there are plenty.
Like most major motion pictures of the 1950s & early 60s, 'Cheyenne Autumn' was presented as a true 'epic', with an overture & an intermission; making it's running length an impressive, if somewhat bloated 2.5 hours. William H. Clothier's giant widescreen cinematography is glorious - never before has the Old West looked so vast, enticing, & majestic. I also must commend the production design, costumes, make-up work, & Alex North's rousing musical score. For better or worse, John Ford Westerns have become a staple in the annals of film history. All of Ford's touches are present in this movie. And flaws aside (with political correctness and incorrectness fluctuating), there are more than enough good things about 'Cheyenne Autumn' to warrant it a slight recommendation.