Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

Cheyenne Autumn movie storyline. In 1878, Chiefs Little Wolf and Dull Knife lead over three hundred starved and weary Cheyenne Indians from their reservation in the Oklahoma Territory to their former traditional home in Wyoming. The U.S. government sees this as an act of rebellion, and the sympathetic Captain Thomas Archer of the U.S. Army is forced to lead his troops in an attempt to stop the tribe.

As the press misrepresents the natives’ motives and goals for their trek as malicious, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz tries to prevent violence from erupting between the Army and the natives. Also featured are James Stewart as Marshal Wyatt Earp, Dolores del Río as Spanish Woman, and Carroll Baker as a pacifist Quaker school teacher and Archer’s love interest.[3

Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 American epic Western film starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. It tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, told in “Hollywood style” using a great deal of artistic license.

The film was the last western directed by John Ford, who proclaimed it an elegy for the Native Americans who had been abused by the U.S. government and misrepresented by many of the director’s own films. With a budget of more than $4 million, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office and failed to earn a profit for its distributor Warner Bros.

About the Filmingg and Locations

The film was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by William Clothier, whose work was nominated for an Academy Award. Gilbert Roland earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The original version was 158 minutes, Ford’s longest work. Warner Bros. later decided to edit the “Dodge City” sequence out of the film, reducing the running time to 145 minutes,

although it was shown in theaters during the film’s initial release. This sequence features James Stewart as Wyatt Earp and Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday. Some critics have argued that this comic episode, mostly unrelated to the rest of an otherwise serious movie, breaks the flow of the story. It was later restored for the VHS and subsequent DVD releases.

Much of the film was shot in Monument Valley Tribal Park on the Arizona-Utah border, where Ford had filmed scenes for many of his earlier films, especially Stagecoach and The Searchers. Parts of the film also were shot at the San Juan River at Mexican Hat, Professor Valley, Castle Valley, the Colorado River, Fisher Canyon, and Arches in Utah. Although the principal tribal leaders were played by Ricardo Montalbán and Gilbert Roland (as well as Dolores del Río and Sal Mineo in major roles), Ford again used numerous members of the Navajo tribe in this production.

Directed by: John Ford
Starring: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Sal Mineo, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Montalbán, Gilbert Roland, Arthur Kennedy, James Stewart, Edward G. Robinson, Carmen D’Antonio
Screenplay by: James R. Webb
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: William Clothier
Film Editing by: Otho Lovering
Costume Design by:
Set Decoration by:
Art Direction by:
Music by: Alex North
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: October 3, 1964