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.

35541m Cheyenne Autumn was intended as the big-budget western release of 1964, the follow-up to How the West Was Won with several of the same cast members and one of that film's directors. For a movie made in 1963, the theme is a bold one about the White man's ill-treatment of the Cheyenne (actually the North Cheyenne tribe) and their 1878 journey back north to their homeland.Unfortunately, the film is a mess and for a movie made by a top 'A' director, it is surprisingly incompetently directed. Some comments:the Dodge City sequence. I would have liked to see this expanded to a feature length film and released separately. It is very funny. However, it doesn't belong in this film. What was Ford smoking when he put this in? Karl Malden's prototype Nazi officer who has "Orders, orders zat must be OBEYED". "I HAF ORDERS". Malden seems to think he is auditioning for John Cleese's role in The Germans episode of Fawlty Towers. Couldn't someone keep him under control? And what about that huge pipe he pulls out of his coat at one point and then exits stage left after blowing out the sergeant's offered match? That made me laugh. A touch worthy of Peter Sellers. One can see the point being made but the execution is ridiculous. It was also amusing to see the German name of Edward G Robinson's character being downplayed presumably because the writers had forgotten that one of the major 'good guys' was also of German ancestry when they created the Nazi character. (interesting historical footnote - the real Carl Schurz spoke with a thick German accent whereas the real Cpt Wessels was born in New York and likely didn't - he certainly was never a Prussian officer) in the first encounter between the cavalry and the Indians, Richard Widmark is summarily court martialled and put under arrest for reasons not apparent to this viewer (was something cut out?). Later Widmark goes up to a soldier and asks where the major is only for the soldier to point to a body which is virtually lying at Widmark's feet being attended to by a physician. This is like something out of The Naked Gun. I had to rewind here to check I hadn't missed anything as it looked so stupid.the second skirmish with the Indians is appallingly choreographed and edited. After establishing that we are in some kind of shrub/semi-desert area, when Pat Wayne leads a cavalry charge, the cavalry are shown charging over some flat sandy area which is obviously a completely different location. Then, the Indians set fire to a few fake-looking shrubs and about five seconds later, the cavalry's wagons and cannon are enveloped in flames despite being at least several hundred yards away. Richard Widmark and the rest of his command appear to be doing nothing whilst this happens although Wayne's men seem to be close enough for Widmark to be shouting at them. A quick cut and Widmark is personally helping save the cannon - what has happened to the hundred odd men in his command. Why aren't they helping? Who knows.Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland's mullets. Very silly and must have given the set hairdresser lots of chuckles. Didn't anyone look at any pictures of the real Dull Knife and Little Wolf? Still, at least even they don't look as ridiculous as Sal Mineo.Surely someone must have realised that it sounded stupid to constantly refer to a major character as "Spanish Woman" rather than give her a proper name? There is no excuse for this as it's not even a real historical name.What did make me laugh was that most of the time it looked as if Little Wolf and Dull Knife's orders to the tribe were having to be translated for them by the elderly unnamed Cheyenne who was standing next to them in many scenes and was a real Indian (a senior Navajo I'm guessing). Almost every time they said something in Cheyenne, this guy would then turn round and repeat it to the other Indians. This again looked ridiculous Matters being brought to what seemed a premature conclusion by Edward G Robinson standing infront of an appallingly unconvincing piece of back-projection, not even pointed in the right direction, and mouthing a few platitudes. Had the money run out at this point? (the Robinson scene is completely fictitious by the way).In short, worthy in intent but incompetent in execution and in places mind-numbingly bad for an expensive film made by a talented director.

williwaw John Ford who was Irish to the core was also the greatest director of American Western movies.Warner Bros gave John Ford a big budget and released this film in the Roadshow format such were the promises and expectations for this film.Ford collected part of the John Ford stock company such as James Steart and Patrick Wayne ( son of John Wayne) along with beautiful Dolores Del Rio, and rugged Richard Widmark in a rousing western. Carroll Baker an excellent actress is the female star. As with all John Ford western's the cinematography is brilliant and kudos to John Ford and William Clothier for the sweeping shots of the West.This is an exciting film beautifully filmed by a man called The Rembrandt of the Western

elskootero-1 I got this film on the recommend of several people, but approached it with the attitude that "Oh, here we go; another of those "the-white-people-suck-and-the-Indians-are-saints" films like DANCES WITH WOLVES, which is also a great film, but let's be honest, was deliberately scripted to make whites look like devils incarnate and the Indians to be a cross between Mother Theresa and Gandhi. But just a few minutes into it, I relaxed and kicked back in my recliner, and 2 and a half hours later, when it ended, was a bit disappointed that it had ended. I also found myself wondering that although the Hispanic actors did a credible job, why there weren't any actual Native American actors. A BIG reason I liked DANCES WITH WOLVES was because of the Native American roles being taken by Native Americans. If any remembers the WWII TV show COMBAT, it was great because American actors were American and spoke English; the French actors were French and spoke French, and the German actors were Germans and spoke German. This only amplifies everyone's enjoyment of any show or movie and I am glad that most studios do just that. CHEYENNE AUTUMN may be an older film, but for it's few faults, it's worth watching often, so purchase a copy: you won't be disappointed!