ShangLuda Admirable film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

tomltd This may be John Ford's worse movie. Weak script. Mediocre acting. Miscast.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . America's first National Park, the sickly Cheyenne clan had an unsustainable ANNUAL mortality rate of about 75%, according this Docudrama CHEYENNE AUTUMN. No doubt President U.S. Grant feared that if these natives were dropping like flies from smallpox, measles, and malaria all over the Park, then the geysers and hot ponds would become contaminated, perhaps along with the buffalo and other wildlife. This could have not only a negative effect on the tourist trade, but also possibly shoot down the whole idea of the world's first national park before it had a fair chance to even get off the ground.Today, polygamist Middle Easterners are breaking up 5,000-year-old statues with sledgehammers, and killing anyone who visits a museum. In the 1870s, polygamist Cheyennes were trying to keep anyone else from seeing Old Faithful. The lesson from CHEYENNE AUTUMN is clear: Natives of an area seldom can see the forest for the trees. They tend to be xenophobic. Like the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, Yankee turncoats are represented here by the character of Cheyenne Insurrection enabler "Deborah Wright" (Carroll Baker). Though Ben Franklin had carved the American Motto, "A place for everything, and everything in its place" into our Constitution a century before these events took place, as a Quaker Ms. Wright felt free to ignore that document. She probably didn't care whether you or I saw Old Faithful.This is NOT one of director John Ford's better westerns. The whole Dodge City diversion in the middle of CHEYENNE AUTUMN (with James Stewart pretending to be a thoroughly clownish Wyatt Earp) is totally pointless. The Dodge City sequence is simply included to pad out this flick so it would be long enough to feature an intermission, and potentially qualify as "Oscar bait." America wouldn't be a Free Country today if every Tom, Dick, and Harry could band together for a 1,500-mile killing spree whenever they got the urge. But after the Native Americans saw Wyatt Earp gambling in this movie, most of them took the hint, and opened very lucrative casinos.

Spikeopath Cheyenne Autumn is directed by John Ford and is a "Hollywood" telling of the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1877/9, where the Northern Cheyenne, fed up with lack of food and poor facilities, tried to return to their one time home in the North after having been located in the Southern Reservation by the United States Army. It stars Richard Widmark, Caroll Baker, Dolores del Rio, Karl Malden, Gilbert Roland, Ricardo Montalban, Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy. Music is scored by Alex North and cinematography by William H. Clothier. It is photographed in Super Panavision 70, in various Utah locations, predominantly Monument Valley.Does it ever matter who fired the first shot?John "Pappy" Ford's penultimate film, and his last Western, is epic in scope and production and seen as an honest attempt to redress the balance for years of misrepresentation of Native Americans in Hollywood, though not necessarily his own since he, I believe, isn't on record as saying that to be the case? Thematically it's important and doesn't back off from being sympathetic to the Cheyenne's plight, we root for them and rightly so. Yet it always feels like a film shot through the vision of a white man's eyes, you find yourself wanting more from the Cheyenne perspective, for them to dominate the narrative. It would have been nice to know some of the big players involved in the heroic and tragic trek back to Wyoming. It's also annoying that Ford or the studio chose to interrupt the flow of the story with the pointless light relief section at Dodge City. Which comes across as just an excuse for James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy to play Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday respectively. And sadly, they are not very successful in doing so either.As has been noted by many critics over the years, the film ultimately rounds out as an honourable misfire from the great John Ford. The cast, away from the loud and brash Dodge City collective, are mostly fine. Widmark proves to be a watchable axis as the reluctant Captain tasked with returning the Cheyenne to the barren reservation. Baker does a nice line in sexy Quaker, Robinson adds a touch of class late in the day, while Montalban & Roland are excellent as Cheyenne chiefs Little Wolf & Dull Knife respectively. But all pale in the shadow of Clothier's magnificent photography, stunning vistas that dominate the screen, the colours so rich and splendid, Monument Valley an iconic character of nature observing the Cheyenne desperately trying to get back to home comforts.It's unmistakably a John Ford picture, with some inspired filming techniques, but the heart of the story is lost due to a too long run time, a daft mid point sequence and much extraneous nonsense. 6/10

classicsoncall On September 9, 1878, the Cheyenne, led by warrior chiefs Little Wolf and Dull Knife began a 1500 mile trek from the Oklahoma Territory north to their original homeland in Montana. "Cheyenne Autumn" tells that story in all of it's desperation and futility, a chapter of American history that remains all but unknown today. The picture, directed by John Ford is often epic in it's sweep, and the film is at it's best when the native Cheyenne are front and center during their heroic struggle. The all star cast is outdone only by the gorgeous cinematography, and for a picture coming in at two and a half hours, I found the grandeur of the open West to be an excellent tonic against what could have been a boring ride under different circumstances.However there was that out of place interlude with Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during the Dodge City intermission. You had to wonder what director John Ford was thinking when he went for the almost camp proceedings in an otherwise serious picture. In another film, the sequence would have been a blast, particularly the scene when Wyatt recalls that yes indeed, he 'did know her in Wichita'. Still, the whole thing made me appreciate Hugh O'Brian and Myron Healey even more.I was intrigued by the scene when Chief Tall Tree (Victor Jory) passed the sacred bundle to Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) instead of Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland). It became apparent why some time later when the tribe split apart under their separate chiefs, with Little Wolf maintaining the resolve to continue the journey instead of capitulating to surrender. When Little Wolf defends his dignity at the expense of Red Shirt (Sal Mineo) toward the end of the picture, it was one of those defining moments that spoke to the honor and integrity that a warrior chief would have aspired to. You know, I was curious about something. How was it that during the first battle with the Cheyenne after crossing the river, Major Braden (George O'Brien) places Captain Archer (Richard Widmark) under arrest, but Archer then assumes command after Braden is killed - where was the rule book on that one? Thinking about it, a journey of fifteen hundred miles on foot and horseback sounds awful daunting, and the picture really didn't seem to offer a perspective on how long it actually took, except for the change of seasons intimated by the winter snow scene. The actual journey took one hundred ninety seven days, the thought of which doesn't really begin to sink in as you watch the picture from the comfort of your living room couch. Picture that effort as a six month journey on foot against hostile terrain and enemy soldiers, and it makes you appreciate just what a people will do to maintain their honor and freedom.