Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

67% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
55% of users liked it
(557 ratings)

John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their… More John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Mari Sandoz, James R. Webb
Genres: Western, Classics

In Theaters: Oct 3, 1964 Wide
On DVD: Jun 6, 2006
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
Somewhere in the telling, the original premise of the Mari Sandoz novel is lost sight of in a wholesale insertion of extraneous incidents which bear little or no relation to the subject.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Cheyenne Autumn is a strong film, grandly directed and expertly played by a large cast.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Aside from all this nonsense, it never loses its John Ford touch.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Flawed on several levels, Ford's perception of a proud people seen through a white man's eyes is ultimately a highly compelling and deeply personal apologia.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The film is often described as Ford's apology to the Indians for their stereotypical portrayal in previous films, but though they are treated more sympathetically, they still emerge as members (or symbols) of a mass rather than flesh and blood individuals
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Over-long, often clichéd and uneven (there are comic interludes complete with cameo performances), but still imbued with moments of true poetry, thanks largely to William Clothier's magnificent Panavision landscapes.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A big mess.
, Film4
Ford's compositions (he was 69 at the time) are as noble as ever, but a feeling of fatigue hangs over the whole enterprise.

Read all 8 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

"A dream is a dead end disguised as an escape." Very beautiful, very flawed. 1,500 mile epic journey never seems to leave Monument Valley. Was John Ford saying something or was he just lazy?
Matthew Y

A snoozefest of a film. There's nothing covered here that isn't better protrayed in films like Dances With Wolves or Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It's a long slowpaced account of an long Indian march from their reservation to their homeland...oh and did I mention… More
A snoozefest of a film. There's nothing covered here that isn't better protrayed in films like Dances With Wolves or Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It's a long slowpaced account of an long Indian march from their reservation to their homeland...oh and did I mention that's it's long. John Ford's directing and excellent landscape shots make it bearable but this movie needs to be shorter or have some seriously interesting characters. I need a reason to care for 160 minutes beyond just white man's guilt.
Deb S

In 1878 a band of Cheyenne, tired of the conditions that they were enduring, broke the reservation and started north to their native homelands in Wyoming. They were led by their three chiefs played by Victor Jory, Ricardo Montalban, and Gilbert Roland. Jory dies along the way. The… More
In 1878 a band of Cheyenne, tired of the conditions that they were enduring, broke the reservation and started north to their native homelands in Wyoming. They were led by their three chiefs played by Victor Jory, Ricardo Montalban, and Gilbert Roland. Jory dies along the way. The army goes after them and Captain Richard Widmark takes command after Major George O'Brien is killed. Widmark has another reason for pursuit. It seems as though school teacher Carroll Baker is with the fleeing Cheyenne. Baker gives poignancy to her portrayal of a young Quaker woman, who considers it her Christian duty to look after the orphan children of the Cheyenne. Richard Widmark and Edward G. Robinson enact Americans with a conscience, none too happy with the assignments required by their government and reluctantly lead his troops in pursuit of the tribe. Envision a journey on foot against hostile terrain and enemy soldiers, and this will make anyone appreciate just what these people did to maintain their honor and freedom. However the story is bizarrely interrupted by a lengthy James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy as Wyatt Earp and and Doc Holliday scene in the middle of the film that is not remotely connected to the main theme and left me just a little confused.
Leo L

Intriguing.

Cast

            Richard Widmark as Capt. Thomas Archer

            Carroll Baker as Deborah Wright

            James Stewart as Wyatt Earp

            Edward G. Robinson as Carl Schurz

            Karl Malden as Capt. Oscar Wessels

            Sal Mineo as Red Shirt

            Dolores Del Rio as Spanish Woman

            Ricardo Montalban as Little Wolf

            Gilbert Roland as Dull Knife

            Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday

            Patrick Wayne as Second Lieutenant Scott

            Elizabeth Allen (I)  as Guinevere Plantagenet

            John Carradine as Maj. Jeff Blair

            Victor Jory as Tall Tree

            Mike Mazurki as 1st Sgt. Stanislaus Wichowsky

            George O'Brien as Maj. Braden

            Sean McClory as Dr. O'Carberry

            Judson Pratt as Mayor Dog Kelly

            Carmen D'Antonio as Pawnee woman

            Ken Curtis as Joe

            Elena Altieri as Duchess De Castro

            Walter S. Baldwin as Jeremy Wright

            Danny Borzage
            
            Willis B. Bouchey as Colonel

            Lee Bradley as Cheyenne

            Paul Campbell (IV) as Felipe

            Harry Carey Jr. as Trooper Smith

            Nada Fiorelli as Isabelle

            Shug Fisher as Skinny

            James Flavin as Sergeant of the Guard

            Sam Harris as Townsman

            Chuck Hayward as Trooper

            William Henry as Infantry Captain

            George Higgins as Martinez

            Nancy Hsueh as Little Bird

            Ben Johnson as Trooper Plumtree

            Duncan Lamont as The Viceroy

            Ted Mapes
            
            Philo McCullough as Man

            Denver Pyle as Sen. Henry

            John Qualen as Svenson

            Walter Reed as Lt. Peterson

            Riccardo Rioli as Ramon

            Chuck Roberson as Platoon sergeant

            Bing Russell as Telegrapher

            Charles Seel as Newspaper Publisher

            Odoardo Spadaro as Don Antonio

            Ralph Truman as Duke De Castro

            Carleton Young as Aide to Carl Schurz

            Jeannie Epper
            
            Anna Magnani as Camilla

            David Humphreys Miller
            
            Donna Hall as Entertainer

            James O'Hara
            
            John R. McKee as Trooper
See full cast