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Cheyenne Autumn Overview:

Cheyenne Autumn (1964) was a Drama - Historical Film directed by John Ford and produced by John Ford and Bernard Smith.

SYNOPSIS

The last Western from director Ford and a farewell to his familiar Monument Valley locations. After portraying Indians as villains in many of his classic Westerns, Ford cast them in a compassionate light in this rueful, elegiac film. The story follows the Cheyenne Indians as they flee their squalid Oklahoma reservation and return to their traditional homeland along the Yellowstone River in Wyoming. Cavalry officer Widmark gets the call to return the tribe to the reservations, but, after he sees the starvation and sickness endured by his quarry, he questions the government's decision. A cast of great stars (including a brief nod from Stewart as Wyatt Earp), and available in a restored version with additional footage.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1964 --- Ceremony Number 37 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyWilliam H. ClothierNominated
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Cheyenne Autumn BlogHub Articles:

Cheyenne Autumn (1964): John Ford’s Western Swan Song

By 4 Star Film Fan on Jan 10, 2021 From 4 Star Films

If we had to provide a broad sense of Cheyenne Autumn, it would be all about the mass Exodus of the Cheyenne in 1878 as they journey from the arid land they’ve been subjugated to back to the land the white man had promised to return to them all along. This is a Hollywood rendition so, obviousl... Read full article

Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

By Beatrice on May 20, 2018 From Flickers in Time

Cheyenne Autumn Directed by John Ford Written by James R. Webb, suggested by “Cheyenne Autumn” by Mari Sandoz 1964/USA Warner Bros./Ford-Smith Productions First viewing/Netflix rental This beautiful movie represents the peak of John Ford’s later career. It is 1878.  The Cheyenne I... Read full article

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Cheyenne Autumn Quotes:

Dr. O'Carberry: Listen to me, Miss Wright. You're a Quaker and you're dedicated to self-sacrifice. Well, I'm dedicated to self-preservation. You know, you want me to go out there, don't you? Yeah, and take me future, me career and me pension... and throw it down the drain. Is that what you want, huh? Yeah, well... that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Capt. Thomas Archer: You claim to be a doctor. You gonna let him put those women and children in a warehouse at 10 below zero? What are you gonna do about it?
Dr. O'Carberry: What are you gonna do about it?
Little Wolf: I pray the young one will give me sons. But I want them to be born where I, and all my people before me, were born.
Dull Knife: Even a dog can go where he likes... but not a Cheyenne.
Sr. First Sergeant: [a Cossack] kills Poles just because they're Poles. Like we're trying to kill Indians just because they're Indians.
Capt. Thomas Archer: Come on, Wichowski. You fought Indians before!
Sr. First Sergeant: I fought Indians who wanted to fight me, not just some poor blanket-heads trying to go home!
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.
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Cheyenne Autumn Facts
Average Shot Length = ~11.6 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~11.2 seconds.
According to both John Ford and James Stewart, Ford added the segment with Stewart in place of an intermission. Ford didn't want people leaving the auditorium to go the bathroom or concessions counter, even though the film was long, and so he came up with the Wyatt Earp segment. He later quipped to Stewart that the actor was the "best intermission" in the movies.
The role of Lt. Scott was originally offered to Jeffrey Hunter, who turned it town in order to star in the TV series Temple Houston. The part was eventually given to Patrick Wayne. Hunter's series only ran for one season before it was cancelled.
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. 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.
According to Joseph McBride's "Searching for John John", John Ford was urged to cast Richard Boone and Anthony Quinn as the Little Wolf and Dull Knife characters, as both had Native American blood. Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland, who were of Mexican descent, were cast instead.
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