I'm back at it, or back in the saddle so to speak with more of Dad's Movies. This time I'm covering the 1964 John Ford film, Cheyenne Autumn. I don't know that Dad was much of fan of this movie; I think it was part of a box set of John Ford movies so I'll give him a pass. :-)
This might be the weakest I've watched so far and is definitely the worst Ford film I've yet seen (there are a number of his movies I've yet to see though). I don't know that Dad was much of fan of this movie; I think it was part of a box set of John Ford movies so I'll give him a pass. :-)
Ford was very obviously going for a sympathetic take on the plight of Native Americans which he hinted at in earlier Westerns. However, the movie is a real slog to get through and feels every bit of its 154 minute running time. The pacing is poor and the story very episodic with little character development. The American Indian characters are given some story time but the leads, all played by non-native actors, are so undeveloped as characters that its very hard to empathize with them even when the white leading character, Captain Archer (!), played decently enough by Richard Widmark endlessly tells us we should via a lot of droning voice overs. Sure, I always like seeing Ricardo Montalban work but he's pretty much wasted playing a tribal leader.
The one woman who has much of a character isn't bad (Carroll Baker) but she too gets the job of explaining to us how badly the Indians are being treated. Karl Malden plays a cartoonish German post commander with some awkward Nazi German characterization...watch that accent, Karl!
There is also this sequence in the middle of the film that takes place in (Artful) Dodge City with James Stewart plunge Wyatt Earp. The section was cut shortly after the movie's premiere and I think it was a good move. This part is very jokey - a tonal clash with the other parts of the movie and seems to have little to do with the rest of the film, plot wise. No one would miss the section and the lazy acting that goes along with the scenes. Speaking of jokey, as Ford was prone to do, there is an Irish character, the post doctor but at least he isn't as silly as some of the similar sidekicks Ford populated his Westerns with.
I think it's fair to wonder what kind of progressive Western could have come out of Hollywood in 1964 and don't get me wrong: this movie is pretty progressive for the time. The fact that it's acknowledged that white people treated Native Americans badly and cheated them out of their lands is a step in the right direction but the movie is so clumsy and well, boring that it comes off as a lame lecture or a mediocre documentary. How boring? One of the credit title cards reads, "Edward G. Robinson as the Secretary of the Interior"! Oof.
The musical score is decent (Alex North) and the 70mm Monument Valley (which stands in for the Dakotas in parts, LOL) cinematography is beautiful. I don't know how this movie could have really worked without some serious re writes and is now a somewhat sad footnote to Ford's output of films. This makes me wonder if Ford needed to retire earlier.
