If ever there were a filmmaker for whom 70mm were made, it’s John Ford. It’s a shame he didn’t get to work with the format until late in his career (he only made two subsequent features), and that Cheyenne Autumn is hardly a film to rank among his best works.
It’s a disjointed telling of a tribe of Cheyenne Indians and their 1,500-mile journey back to their homeland from enforced exile and a harsh winter spent in a reservation – something of an apologia for Ford’s less-than-progressive depictions earlier in his career.
While the film feels padded to epic length – not least through a diversion to Dodge City for an extended James Stewart cameo – there’s no denying the majesty of its location work, stunningly captured in Super Panavision 70 by cinematographer William Clothier.
Captain Thomas Archer
Richard Widmark Deborah Wright
Carroll Baker Captain Wessels
Karl Malden Red Shirt
Sal Mineo Little Wolf
Ricardo Montalban Dull Knife
Gilbert Roland Doc Holliday
Arthur Kennedy 2nd Lieutenant Scott
Patrick Wayne Guinevere Plantagenet
Elizabeth Allen Major Jeff Blair
John Carradine Tall Tree
Victor Jory Sr First Sergeant Stanislas Wichowsky
Mike Mazurki Major Braden
George O’Brien Dr O’Carberry
Sean McClory Major ‘Dog’ Kelly
Judson Pratt Joe
Ken Curtis Wyatt Earp
James Stewart Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior
Edward G. Robinson Jeremy Wright
Walter Baldwin Little Bird
Nancy Hsueh Skinny
Shug Fisher Lieutenant Peterson
Walter Reed Senator Henry
Denver Pyle Swenson
John Qualen Running Deer
Nanomba ‘Moonbeam’ Morton
Director
John Ford
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