Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

Much of the world seems quite scathing of Cheyenne Autumn, and while I agree with many of their criticism (and also many of the things people point out as good points), I tend to rate it higher than a lot of people seem to. The film tells the story of the 1877 Northern Cheyenne Exodus (see wikipedia) as a band of a couple of hundred Cheyenne attempted to escape their reservation in the south west and return to their homeland. They are pursued by cavalry division led by Captain Archer (Richard Widmark).

The standard criticism is that the Cheyenne are all quite vaguely sketched, and never really feel like real characters: there's a perfunctory love triangle between a leading warrior and one of the chief's wives, but it's really only based on three scenes and ignored for large stretches of time. The decision to have the Indians sometimes speaking in their native language, unsubtitled, makes the characters hard to associate with since there's surprisingly long scenes that we're just not supposed to understand (wikipedia suggests that it's Navajo, not Cheyenne, and may not be entirely appropriate).

On the plus side, the film is beautifully shot, with lots of Monument Valley to enjoy. I also always enjoy Richard Widmark's performances: he's always good as cynical but fundamental good characters. His romance with Caroll Baker's quaker girl is good early on (especially the scene in the schoolhouse), fitting in with John Ford's talent for strained semi-unspoken romantic relationships (other examples are John Wayne and his sister-in-law in The Searchers, John Wayne and wife in Rio Grande). The two characters get separated for much of the film, so nothing much comes of it, and Baker ends up feeling a bit token really. Many of the other white characters also feel a bit token. Patrick Wayne's Indian hating Lieutenant Scott doesn't have much depth to him beyond a desire for revenge, and his transition to being sympathetic to the Indians comes out of nowhere slightly.

The primary problem is that the film is just too long for the material, being nearly 3 hours. I didn't hugely mind the much criticised comic interlude in Dodge City with James Steward as Wyatt Earp, except that it added unnecessarily to the running time. It certainly didn't feel as out of place as some of the comedy in The Searchers for example (although that's a discussion for another day).

An attempt to discover how accurate the film was turned up this interesting comparison between the film and the novel it was based on. It seems the answer in "broadly" accurate: the fate of the captured band of Cheyenne later in the film is softened from both reality and the book, Captain Archer is a bit of a composite character, and Baker is a token love interest added to the film. My impression is some of the Cheyenne customs and dress may have been invented, especially the "sacred bundle" which I was hugely sceptical of. However I've got no evidence for this assertion.

In summary: it's John Ford, so it's basically watchable and enjoyable, but it certainly isn't his best. I don't think it's as bad as it's often made out to be though.