Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

joncha Made in 1964, this was one of a number of movies from the 60s and 70s that were sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans in the 19th century. It portrayed how the U.S. government never kept its promises or treaties with Native Americans, how the government was influenced and controlled by land speculators, mining interests, buffalo hunters, railroad builders, and others. In showing how the Cheyenne suffered and ultimately endured on its 1,500 trek from a barren reservation to their native lands in the Yellowstone area, the movie was successful in bringing their story as originally told in Mari Sandoz novel to the screen.As a movie, however, the film had some disappointing and awkward moments. The major one was the abrupt change of scene to Dodge City, where Wyatt Earp, portrayed by James Stewart, gets the best of a quartet of Texas cowboys (who had just ambushed, killed and scalped a young Cheyenne scout and were bragging about their exploits in the saloon where Earp was playing poker). Following this divergence from the main story the film returns to the plight of the Cheyenne and we never see nor hear from Earp again. Needless to say, it's not surprising when the film's credits prominently feature Jimmy Stewart, even though his role was a cameo at best.Another awkward scene is when representatives from the Army (Richard Widmark as Capt. Archer) and the Secretary of the Interior (Edward G. Robinson as Carl Schurz) are negotiating with the Cheyenne in the majestic Monument Valley country. Behind these people we can see soldiers and horses lined up in formation waiting for the outcome of the negotiations. But wait! Not a single soldier or horse is moving, even breathing. It's so obvious the background is a photograph and the "negotiators" were filmed on a sound stage with a blue screen background.

Robert J. Maxwell John Ford directs another Western in Monument Valley. Ford was one of the finest directors to come out of the Hollywood factories. At his best, he was able to combine a sense of humor, a social conscience, tragedy, a magnificent grasp of the depths of character, and a poetic visual skill into a commercially viable package. Although he produced the occasional clunker and although he could be a sadist, nobody ever did it quite like Ford.Yet "Cheyenne Autumn" is a failure, at least when considered as part of Ford's collective work. If it had been made by a newcomer, it might have been a display of some promise, but it was made in Ford's waning years, when he was almost seventy, and he should have hung up his spurs after this. His last movie, which followed this, was the irredeemable "Seven Women." The story is roughly accurate from a historical point of view. The Cheyenne were herded into the sterile lands of Oklahoma, far from their native Montana. Sentiment split the tribe into two groups. One left and traveled north, pursued by the cavalry, here led by Richard Widmark. It was a tough journey by foot and horse over hundreds of miles to their homeland. Disputes within the group led to another split. One of the groups came to grief. The other reached Montana. They're still there. Dull Knife was a real person and he's still remembered. I lived as an anthropologist at Lame Deer for a while and when the occasional Cheyenne word is spoken by a non-Indian, it resembles the real thing.But look at those non-Indians acting as Cheyenne: Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland, Delores Del Rio, Victor Jory, and a gay Italian heart throb of the moment! This was 1964 and the time for blue-eyed Indians was passé. Ford hired the usual Navaho extras to provide atmosphere. He'd been using the same people for more than twenty years and some are noticeably older than in "Stagecoach." Richard Widmark was a decent actor but he doesn't exude the authority of someone like John Wayne. And Ben Johnson is back in the saddle -- after almost fifteen years of exile from the Ford stock company for replying to an unwarranted Ford insult in kind. Karl Malden is the Commanding Officer of Fort Robinson, where a slaughter takes place. He's a marvelous actor in the right role, but Captain Wessels, a German, isn't it. It's an embarrassment, watching him struggling with a vaudeville accent. Mike Mazurki has the Victor McLaughlin role.Still, there are moments of action that are almost as good as Ford has managed to film, though without any precise focus. And there is comedy as well. The entire episode involving James Stewart as Wyatt Earp in Dodge City is as amusing as it is without subtlety. It doesn't jibe at all with the tone of the rest of the movie, but it's funny and comes as a big relief.The photography and location shooting in Monument Valley is superb. You'd have to almost TRY to foul up a wide-screen color movie shot in such surroundings. Monument Valley is still there too. So is Goulding's Lodge, where the cast and crew stayed. Visitors can stay there too, and for a surprisingly reasonable price.But, as a movie, this was Ford's last tattoo.

JasparLamarCrabb Nearly every shot in CHEYENNE AUTUMN is breathtaking in its beauty. It's unfortunate that the movie itself is so inconsistent. Starting out as the noblest of ventures, John Ford establishes that his last western is going to be decidedly pro-Indian. The Cheyenne, forced from their land and held on a government controlled reservation decide to move back. Cavalryman Richard Widmark attempts to stop them. In the middle, the film comes to a grinding halt for a very bizarre and very "out of left field" episode involving Dodge City, Wyatt Earp, some hookers and a comic cowboys and Indians scene. Still, the movie has a lot to offer, not the least of which is Widmark's excellent performance. He's conflicted in his desire to follow orders but also very well aware of how cruel his orders are. Carroll Baker is a Quaker who gives him a run for his money. As Indians, the seemingly implausibly cast Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland actually come across as well rounded and very intelligent. Sal Mineo has a nearly silent role as a hot headed Indian and the legendary Dolores Del Rio plays his mother. James Stewart pops up as Wyatt Earp in the aforementioned Dodge City sequence, but he, along with Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday, are wasted. Featuring another great music score by Alex North.