Cheyenne Autumn

Cheyenne Autumn (1964) was directed by John Ford, whose earlier credits included classic westerns such as Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956). Inspired by Mari Sandoz's historical novel, the film focuses on an actual event. In 1878, approximately 300 Cheyenne Indians, led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf, escaped from a desolate Oklahoma reservation and embarked on an arduous 1,500-mile journey to their homelands on the northern Plains. Ford's film tells the story from the Native American perspective. Significantly, the film's approach to history, race, gender, and ethnicity, as well as its attacks on the establishment for supporting corruption and exploitation, foreshadowed the nuanced approaches that would be associated decades later with the New Western History.

The big-budget movie explains all the obstacles and hardships the Indians encountered along [Page 473]the way. As the Cheyenne fight off the pursuing cavalry, they also have to cope with lack of food and water, punishing rain- and windstorms, and deadly blizzards, not to mention threats from bureaucrats, cowboys, townsfolk, and even internal dissension. On the verge of total defeat, the Indians are saved by a sympathetic cavalry officer (played by Richard Widmark) who secures help from Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson).

Cheyenne Autumn is a flawed but fascinating film. Self-conscious of its civil rights message, the narrative is plodding if not depressing. Even the climax that sees the Indians achieve their goal of a new reservation in the north winds up a pyrrhic victory. By then, many of the Indians have died and their heroic leaders go their separate ways after Little Wolf (played by Ricardo Montalban) kills Dull Knife's son for stealing his wife. Evidently sensing the futility of the tale, Ford tries to lighten it up with the addition of subplots. The result is an episodic film that does not hold together very well. For example, the Dodge City sequence (which features James Stewart as Wyatt Earp living in a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah of a town replete with ineffectual politicians, killer cowboys, and happy hookers) does not even seem like it belongs in the picture.

Ford's western does have its moments, though. It remains true to the basic outline of the Cheyenne's flight, although the director does embellish the tragedy with fictional characters and some contrived Indian customs. The film also features some spectacular visual shots, as well as the types of intriguing details that only Ford would think of including, such as smoke coming out of tepees, or the ubiquitous dust in the air and on soldiers’ faces and uniforms.

Significance

More than just a story about the early frontier, Cheyenne Autumn provides fascinating glimpses of racial attitudes in 1960s America. It shows that the roots of racism run deep in America's past. One scene, for instance, depicts a racist cowboy who coldly guns down and scalps a starving Indian. Other scenes offer evidence of institutional racism, portraying callous politicians who ignore Indian rights and military officers who blindly obey orders to the detriment of helpless victims.

John Ford directed the epic film Cheyenne Autumn in 1964. Ford considered Cheyenne Autumn an elegy for Native Americans abused by the U.S. government and misrepresented in many of the 140 films Ford himself made over a 50-year career.

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