Review of Cheyenne Autumn (1964) by Timothy M — 17 Feb 2011

Unengaging and stilted for the most part, which is disappointing since the subject of a waylaid tribe trying to find home, while the white folk are wracked with guilt and torn by indecision over the whole thing is fertile ground indeed. The photography is stunning, as would be expected, and there are some really great moments (Malden staggering through the dead bodies is magnificent), but about an hour and 20 minutes into the film, we enter this bizarre comedic segment that is astonishingly wrong-headed and totally inappropriate.

We've just had nearly an hour and a half of serious, dour commentary about racial relationships, the similarities between the Cheyenne and the white folk, as well as their differences, and then we get treated to something out of [i]The Hallelujah Trail[/i], with Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy cameoing as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday for basically no reason whatsoever. All sorts of wacky, Fordian hijinks ensue, and the main plot is abandoned for the next 20 minutes.

I'm all for a bit of levity, but A) it was already being provided by the Johnson/Carey combo (unobrtrusively), and B), you're about halfway through the film. You can't just go ahead and introduce a massive structural and tonal shift that late in the game without cause or preamble. It just about kills the film stone dead. I guess it was the only way that Ford could get in his machismo absurdity and the mutation of legend themes in the most obvious and loud way possible. By comparison, it would be like if the car chase from [i]The Blues Brothers[/i] was spliced into the middle of [i]Schindler's List[/i], or if the Wayne/McLaglen fist-fight from [i]The Quiet Man[/i] was spliced into the middle of [i]The Grapes of Wrath[/i].

Thankfully the film returns its focus to Widmark et al, and Gilbert Roland gets an opportunity to deliver a really excellent performance. And as mentioned, the cinematography is great, and it's a treat to see how Ford handles Super Panavision 70, creating some really striking images. Alex North's score is suitably... loud and roadshowy. All in all, it's not a stinker, but boy does it have issues.