1950 Western
From 20th Century Fox
Directed by Delmer Daves
Starring
James Stewart
Jeff Chandler
Debra Paget
Basil Ruysdael
Will Geer
Arthur Hunnicutt
Jay Silverheels
We are focusing on Delmer Daves-directed films this month. I have seen all 30 of his directorial efforts (he was also a writer) and can say I liked them all at various levels. In the 1950s, he made his only westerns, nine of them. We are focusing on four of them and then a soap opera which is a guilty pleasure.
Of these four westerns, I expect most folks would say Broken Arrow, his first, is one of the best. It was considered groundbreaking at the time because it portrayed Native Americans in a humane and sympathetic way. Upon watching it yesterday that feeling has not been diluted. Indeed the tagline asserted of this motion picture the screen can be proud... today, tomorrow, a generation from now...
We know today, looking over Jimmy Stewart's work, that he always looked comfortable in the saddle and didn't make a bad western in the 1950s. While his western films in the 1960s were a little more checkered, even that decade includes some damned good western work.
If we discount his Destry Rides Again in 1939 (and I do-- although I certainly liked it-- because I consider it primarily a comedy), then Broken Arrow was Stewart's first western. The second western from this period was Winchester 73 although it was released a month before Broken Arrow. Both of these films, in theaters at the same time, captured the public's imagination as far as Stewart (the honorable cowboy) was concerned and it never waned.
The film opens in 1870 Arizona and is based the friendship of two real people, the Chiricahua Apache chief, Cochise, and Tom Jeffords, a prospector, Army scout, Indian agent and head of the Arizona Territory's overland mail. Playing Jeffords is Stewart whose narration advises the story is told exactly as it happened (not true) and that it is done in English (thank you) rather than the language of the Chiricahuas. The narration throughout the story is unusual for a western and most helpful.
Jeffords boldly rides into an Apache stronghold and kindly asks Cochise (Chandler) to stop killing the men who are trying to deliver the mail and the Indian chief agrees to do so. While it didn't stop other killings at first, ultimately that friendship is instrumental in ending a decade-long war between the Apaches and local whites.
The writers give Jeffords the opportunity to speak to the plight of the Apaches. He advises they were not the ones who started the long war, that it was the result of a white soldier who raised a flag of truce and then fired upon the Indians. Jeffords speaks to a general about their innate intelligence and the orderliness of their lives. He criticizes the broken treaties by whites and the rampant racism.
Most of those Jeffords speaks to are those bigoted whites (led by a hateful Will Geer) who continue to commit murders of Apaches. At the same time, Geronimo (Silverheels) breaks with Cochise over the peace deal and he and his renegade band kill settlers and prospectors.
Along the way Jeffords falls for a young Indian maiden, Sonseeahray (Paget), and takes her as his wife. Their scenes together are loving and tender, a safe place to inhabit away from the danger. Her character is entirely fictional.
One of the nicest parts of the story is observing the solid friendship between Jeffords and Cochise.... and it developed quickly despite warnings to Jeffords that Cochise would kill him on first sight. It didn't happen because both men were open-minded and cautiously optimistic. Cochise was tired of fighting and Jeffords impressed him with his caring ways. It was a friendship based on honesty, mutual respect and ultimately loyalty. Both actors do a fine job in this regard.
Jeffords is told by an Apache who is teaching him Apache ways prior to meeting Cochise that the Indian leader is greater than other men. Jeffords seems to keep that foremost in his mind.
In real life there is some debate that Jeffords and Cochise were all that. No one disputes that they knew one another and worked together for the common good.
When it appears time to speak of peace talks again, General Oliver Howard (Basil Ruysdael), known as the Christian General (and a real person) because he was staunchly religious, is brought in to finalize the deal. Fortunately he was as honest and caring as the other two and condemned racism after which negotiations went fairly easily.
With all this said, I think there's enough action to keep diehard western fans happy. There are those renegades from both sides doing harm but I must say most of these scenes are done so differently from the usual fare.
Kudos to Elliott Arnold's source material, the novel Blood Brother, and screenwriter Albert Maltz's adaptation of it. It seemed to me that much care was put into making these characters sound authentic without sounding like cardboard cutouts. It is the rare western with stimulating language. I think ever since Stewart's long speech in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, writers seem delighted in giving him monologues, especially in westerns.
Maltz, by the way, after writing the screenplay, became one of the Hollywood Ten during the communist witch hunt and by the time the film was released, the credits rolled showing Michael Blankfort (a front for Maltz) as the writer. Years later Maltz's name was shown.
One thing Stewart's westerns of the fifties (mostly directed by Anthony Mann) were famous for was the gorgeous outdoor photography. This movie is no exception. My Blue-Ray copy assaults the senses with its vivid color. Ernest Palmer, mainly a cinematographer on Fox's 40s' musicals, outdid himself here.
Hugo Friedhofer, no stranger to westerns and other outdoor dramas, lifted the baton to create exciting, dramatic, macho music with a heavy complement of drums.
Much of the movie was filmed in the red rock country of Sedona, Arizona, a familiar location that rivalled John Ford's favored Monument Valley. Two more of Daves's westerns highlighted this month were also filmed, in part, in Sedona.
Now about those white people playing Native Americans. Clearly not a lot of thought appears to have been put into that for westerns from the beginning of time. If Native Americans played Native Americans, it was in crowd scenes or maybe occasionally there was an opportunity to speak a few words. This continued through the 80s when westerns took a nosedive largely because public taste changed which is to say people were sick of whites playing Native Americans and of showing Native Americans as blood-thirsty savages.
Broken Arrow featured four actors considered to be Native Americans... Iron Eyes Cody, his brother J. W. Cody, John War Eagle and Jay Silverheels. None were Native Americans. Iron Eyes Cody was Italian, born in Italy. J.W. Cody, also Italian, was born in Louisiana. John War Eagle was of Indian blood but he was born and raised in England. Jay Silverheels, born Harold Smith, was a Canadian-born Indian actor. None were given screen credit for this film and in Silverheels' case that is particularly egregious as he had a substantial supporting role as Geronimo.
It's difficult to explain why a 32-year old Jew from Brooklyn was playing 65-year old (at the time in the story) Cochise. Oddly, I have to add that it may be Chandler's best role. It is at least the only one for which he was nominated for an Oscar. The actor put a lot of heart into his portrayal and it shows.
Chandler would go on to portray Cochise twice more. In 1952 he starred in The Battle at Apache Pass, an unofficial prequel to Broken Arrow. In 1954 he had a cameo in Taza, Son of Cochise. Rock Hudson played Taza.
To make movies more palatable for the moviegoing public, particularly perhaps, in the old days, there needed to be a love story. Women were the chief moviegoers and studios knew that to get them to westerns and war films, there'd better be a love story. The exotic look of Paget saw her playing a number of Indian maidens and island princesses. Here her face is darkened and her 15-year old beauty obvious.
Even in the day the casting of Paget and Chandler caused some unfavorable chatter, more so, perhaps, with her because she was, as stated,15 and Stewart was 41.
Despite any controversy, Daves was so pleased with Chandler and Paget that he cast them in his next movie, Bird of Paradise, where they play a Polynesian brother and sister.
Here's one of the opening scenes:
No comments:
Post a Comment