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49-608: Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 American epic Western film starring Richard Widmark , Carroll Baker , James Stewart , and Edward G. Robinson . It tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, told with artistic license . The film was the last Western directed by John Ford , who proclaimed it an elegy for the Native Americans who had been abused by the U.S. government and misrepresented in numerous of his own films. With

98-477: A Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor . The original version was 158 minutes, Ford's longest work. Warner Bros. later decided to edit the "Dodge City" sequence out of the film, reducing the running time to 145 minutes, although it was shown in theaters during the film's initial release. This sequence features James Stewart as Wyatt Earp and Arthur Kennedy as Doc Holliday . Some critics have argued that this comic episode, mostly unrelated to

147-626: A United States Army cavalry troop headed by Captain Thomas Archer, who is engaged to Deborah. Nearby, the Cheyenne natives and Archer's troops are waiting for a congressional committee sent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), but are informed by letter that their trip has delayed and are staying at Fort Reno . Captain Archer calls Dull Knife and Little Wolf, two Native leaders, pledging

196-432: A budget of more than $ 4 million, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office and failed to earn a profit for Warner Bros. In 1878, the surviving Cheyenne natives have migrated 1,500 miles (2,414 km) from their Yellowstone homeland. At her Oklahoma homestead, their plight is witnessed by Deborah Wright, a Quaker school teacher, who takes the Cheyenne children as her students. Their trek has been accompanied by

245-572: A massive scale. Biographical films may be less lavish versions of this genre. They often have a Roadshow theatrical release and are often shot on 70 mm film . Many writers may refer to any film that is "long" (over two hours) as an epic, making the definition epic a matter of dispute, and raise questions as to whether it is a "genre" at all. As Roger Ebert put it, in his "Great Movies" article on Lawrence of Arabia : The word epic in recent years has become synonymous with big-budget B picture . What you realize watching Lawrence of Arabia

294-540: A novel about an uprising among Roman slaves. Blacklisted by major publishing houses following his release from prison, Fast was forced to publish the novel himself. It was a success, going through seven printings in the first four months of publication. (According to Fast in his memoir, 50,000 copies were printed, of which 48,000 were sold.) He subsequently established the Blue Heron Press , which allowed him to continue publishing under his own name throughout

343-450: A pistol duel, in which Red Shirt is killed. Little Wolf, having broken his vow never to kill another Cheyenne, ventures into self-exile. With the Cheyenne back in their homeland, Archer and Deborah decide to remain there with them. John Ford long wanted to make a movie about the Cheyenne exodus. As early as 1957, he wrote a treatment with his son Patrick Ford, envisioning a small-scale drama with non-professional Indian actors. Early drafts of

392-477: Is actually Navajo . This made little difference to white audiences, but for Navajo communities the film became very popular because the Navajo actors were openly using ribald and crude language that had nothing to do with the film. For example, during the scene where the treaty is signed, the chief's solemn speech just pokes fun at the size of the colonel's penis. Some academics now consider this an important moment in

441-551: Is included as an extra feature on the Cheyenne Autumn DVD issued in 2006. Epic film Epic historical films would usually take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting, lavish costumes, an expansive musical score , and an ensemble cast , which would make them extremely expensive to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty and important figures from various periods in world history. The term "epic" originally came from

490-618: Is lost sight of in a wholesale insertion of extraneous incidents which bear little or no relation to the subject." The New Republic ' s Stanley Kauffmann wrote "the acting is bad, the dialogue trite and predictable, the pace funereal, the structure fragmented, the climaxes puny". A review in Time magazine stated, " Cheyenne Autumn has everything it takes to make a great western epic, except greatness ... In this wayward, 3-hr. movie version, Director John Ford dehydrates history and tosses in some sappy ideas of his own. The worst of them asserts that

539-485: Is that the word epic refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God didn't cost as much as the catering in Pearl Harbor , but it is an epic, and Pearl Harbor is not. The epic is among the oldest of film genres, with one early notable example being Giovanni Pastrone 's Cabiria , a two-and-a-half hour silent film about

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588-799: Is the author of the prominent "Why the Fifth Amendment?" essay. This essay explains in detail the purpose of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America . Fast effectively uses the context of the Red Scare to illustrate the purpose of the "Fifth." Fast spent World War II working with the United States Office of War Information , writing for Voice of America . In 1943, he joined

637-697: Is then reported in the local newspapers, who deliberately inflate the death count and depict the Cheyenne as savages. News of the attack reaches Carl Schurz , the Secretary of the Interior, in Washington, D.C. Archers sends Scott to patrol the Cheyenne, but Scott instead proceeds with an attack. Another fight erupts, in which Scott is wounded. After 500 miles (805 km), the Cheyenne begin to approach Dodge City, Kansas only to learn that white settlers have resided there. Meanwhile, news of their arrival spread in

686-570: The Colorado River , Fisher Canyon, and Arches in Utah. Although the principal tribal leaders were played by Ricardo Montalbán and Gilbert Roland (as well as Dolores del Río and Sal Mineo in major roles), Ford again used numerous members of the Navajo tribe in this production. Ford used Navajo people to portray the Cheyenne. Dialogue that is supposed to be in the " Cheyenne language "

735-687: The Communist Party USA and in 1950, he was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities ; in his testimony, he refused to disclose the names of contributors to a fund for a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish Civil War (one of the contributors was Eleanor Roosevelt ), and he was given a three-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress . While he was at Mill Point Federal Prison , Fast began writing his most famous work, Spartacus ,

784-564: The Punic Wars , which laid the groundwork for the subsequent silent epics of D. W. Griffith . The genre reached a peak of popularity in the early 1960s, when Hollywood frequently collaborated with foreign film studios (such as Rome's Cinecittà ) to use relatively exotic locations in Spain, Morocco and elsewhere for the production of epic films such as El Cid (1961) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The genre soon spread to other regions of

833-656: The personality cult and dictatorship of Joseph Stalin , and the Soviet military intervention to suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in November. In his autobiographical work titled The Naked God: The Writer and the Communist Party published in 1957, he wrote: There was the evil in what we dreamed of as Communists: we took the noblest dreams and hopes of mankind as our credo; the evil we did

882-643: The "epic" film, encompassing such examples as Ben-Hur , Gone with the Wind and more recently, 300 and the Star Wars films [...] none of these comes from literary epics per se , and there is little that links them with one another. Among those who espouse film genre studies, epic is one of the most despised and ignored genres". Finally, although the American Movie Channel formally defines epic films as historical films, they nonetheless state

931-604: The Bureau will continue to provide for the natives. Angered at the Bureau's slow response, Dull Knife withdraws the Cheyenne children from Deborah's school. Later that night, Deborah learns from the Spanish Woman that the Cheyenne have decided to migrate back to Yellowstone. She decides to travel with them. The next morning, Archer sees the Cheyenne have left and sends a search party with no artillery. One soldier, Second Lieutenant Scott, cares little for their exodus as his father

980-552: The Cheyenne are beleaguered from their long journey, and they break into two factions: one half continues their trek, while the other half (led by Dull Knife) surrenders to Captain Henry W. Wessells Jr. at Fort Robinson and are confined to a barracks. Archer's troops arrive at Fort Robinson as well, where Archer reunites Deborah. However, Wessels intends for the Cheyenne to return to Oklahoma. Angered, Archer goes to Washington, D.C. to Secretary Schurz's office, where he pleads on behalf of

1029-425: The Cheyenne. Schurz agrees. Wessells is removed from his post for drunkenly behavior, and is confined to his quarters. Before relief arrives, Dull Knife's Cheyenne faction ambush the stationed troops , leaving Wessells stunned. Sometime later, Archer and Schurz meet with Little Wolf and Dull Knife to negotiate a treaty permitting the Cheyenne to return to their homeland. Once there, Red Shirt and Little Wolf engage in

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1078-903: The Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker . In 1953, he was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize . Later that decade, Fast broke with the Party over issues of conditions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe , particularly after Nikita Khrushchev 's report " On the Personality Cult and its Consequences " at a closed session of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956, denouncing

1127-462: The Indians were accompanied by a conscientious Quaker lass (Carroll Baker) obviously all done up to join a grand ole opry." In a retrospective review, Richard Brody of The New Yorker cited the "rueful, elegiac grandeur of John Ford's final Western". The September 1965 issue of MAD satirized it as "Cheyenne Awful." The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Before

1176-604: The West Was Won . In 1977, he published The Immigrants , the first of a six-part series of novels. In 1948, author Harry Barnard accused Fast of copyright infringement, charging he "borrowed liberally" from Barnard's biography of John Peter Altgeld for his own book about Altgeld, The American . Fast settled for $ 7,500 ($ 93,725 in 2022 dollars). His publisher also agreed to republish Barnard's book. Fast married his first wife, Bette Cohen, on June 6, 1937. Their children were Jonathan and Rachel. Bette died in 1994. During

1225-592: The Wind is the highest-grossing film ever, with two other romantic epics ( Titanic and Doctor Zhivago ) also featuring among the global top ten. So far the most Academy Awards ever won by a single film stands at eleven. This feat has only been achieved by three films: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), all of which are above three hours long and considered epic films. The previous record holder

1274-471: The basis of their enormous scope and the sweeping panorama of their settings such as How the West Was Won or East of Eden that do not have the typical substance of classical epics but are directed in an epic style. When described as "epic" because of content, an epic movie is often set during a time of war or other societal crisis, while usually covering a longer span of time sometimes throughout entire generations coming and passing away, in terms of both

1323-553: The country to find odd jobs, he wrote his first novel, Two Valleys , published in 1933 when he was 18. His first popular work was Citizen Tom Paine , a fictional account of the life of Thomas Paine . Always interested in American history, Fast also wrote The Last Frontier (about the Cheyenne Indians' attempt to return to their native land, and which inspired the 1964 movie Cheyenne Autumn ) and Freedom Road (about

1372-609: The development of Native Americans' identity because they are able to mock Hollywood's historical interpretation of the American West. According to the TCM podcast The Plot Thickens , Ford twice delayed production of the film: the first came when Ricardo Montalbán received a long-distance phone call that his eldest son had injured his neck while filling in for his youngest on his paper route. Ford and Montalbán traveled back to Los Angeles to visit his son and returned to Monument Valley

1421-512: The docudrama idea, Ford wanted Anthony Quinn and Richard Boone to play Dull Knife and Little Wolf as well-known actors with some Indian ancestry. He also suggested Afro-Indigenous actor Woody Strode for a role. The studio insisted on Ford's casting Ricardo Montalbán and Gilbert Roland . The film was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by William Clothier , whose work was nominated for an Academy Award . Gilbert Roland earned

1470-449: The epic film may be combined with the genre of science-fiction and cite Star Wars as an example. Stylistically, films classed as epic usually employ spectacular settings and specially designed costumes, often accompanied by a sweeping musical score, and an ensemble cast of bankable stars . Epics are usually among the most expensive of films to produce. They often use on-location filming, authentic period costumes , and action scenes on

1519-426: The epic is often credited to their ability to appeal to a wide audience. Several of the highest-grossing films of all-time have been epics. James Cameron 's 1997 film Titanic , which is cited as helping to revive the genre, grossed $ 1.8 billion at cinemas worldwide to become the highest-grossing film—a record it held for twelve years. If inflation is taken into account, then the historical romantic epic Gone with

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1568-402: The events depicted and the running time of the film. Such films usually have a historical setting, although speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy or science fiction ) settings have become common in recent decades. The central conflict of the film is usually seen as having far-reaching effects, often changing the course of history. The main characters' actions are often central to the resolution of

1617-488: The lives of former slaves during Reconstruction ). The novel Freedom Road is based on a true story and was made into a miniseries of the same name starring Muhammad Ali , who, in a rare acting role, played Gideon Jackson, an ex-slave in 1870s South Carolina who is elected to the U.S. House and battles the Ku Klux Klan and other racist organizations to keep the land that they had tended all their lives. Fast

1666-426: The local newspaper, which alarms the townspeople. At a nearby parlor, lawmen Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are unconcerned while the local townspeople organize a war campaign to combat the Cheyenne. Earp and Holliday deliberately lead the campaign in the wrong direction, but head back after a minor scuffle. Months pass, and Archer, still in pursuit of the Cheyenne, recruits Sr. First Sergeant Wichowsky. By wintertime,

1715-406: The marriage, Fast had a relationship in the 1950s with Isabel (Dowden) Johnson, former wife of Lester Cole and later wife to Alger Hiss . In 1999, he married Mercedes O'Connor, who survived him. Mercedes brought three sons to the marriage. Fast's son Jonathan Fast , himself a novelist, was married to novelist Erica Jong ; their daughter is the pundit Molly Jong-Fast . The writer Julius Fast

1764-434: The next day. Some time later, Ford paused production upon hearing news of assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 . Bosley Crowther for The New York Times praised the film highly, calling it "a beautiful and powerful motion picture that stunningly combines a profound and passionate story of mistreatment of American Indians with some of the most magnificent and energetic cavalry-and-Indian lore ever put upon

1813-551: The period of his blacklisting. Just as the production of the film version of Spartacus (released in 1960) is considered a milestone in the breaking of the Hollywood blacklist, the reissue of Fast's novel by Crown Publishers in 1958 effectively ended his own blacklisting within the American publishing industry. In 1952, Fast ran for Congress on the American Labor Party ticket. During the 1950s he also worked for

1862-676: The poetic genre exemplified by such works as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the works of the Trojan War Cycle . In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of many people depends. Similarly, films described as "epic" typically take a historical character, or a mythic heroic figure. Common subjects of epics are royalty , gladiators , great military leaders, or leading personalities from various periods in world history. However, there are some films described as "epic" almost solely on

1911-450: The release of Cheyenne Autumn , a 19-minute documentary, Cheyenne Autumn Trail , was put into production. Narrated by James Stewart , the short featured clips from the feature, recounting the historical events depicted in the film, depicting memorials to Little Wolf and Dull Knife and presenting life on the reservation in 1964 for descendants of the Cheyenne who participated in the Northern Cheyenne Exodus . Cheyenne Autumn Trail

1960-693: The rest of an otherwise serious movie, breaks the flow of the story. It was later restored for the VHS and subsequent DVD releases. Much of the film was shot in Monument Valley Tribal Park on the Arizona-Utah border, where Ford had filmed scenes for many of his earlier films, especially Stagecoach and The Searchers . Parts of the film also were shot at the San Juan River at Mexican Hat , Professor Valley, Castle Valley ,

2009-464: The screen." He was disappointed, however, that after the humorous (if "superfluous") Dodge City sequence, "the picture does not rise again to its early integrity and authenticity", and the climax is "neither effective and convincing drama nor is it faithful to the novel". Variety disagreed, however, calling it "a rambling, episodic account" in which "the original premise of the Mari Sandoz novel

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2058-493: The script drew on Howard Fast 's novel The Last Frontier . However, the film ultimately took its plot and title from Mari Sandoz 's Cheyenne Autumn , which Ford preferred due to its focus on the Cheyenne. Elements of Fast's novel remain in the finished film, namely the character of Captain Archer (called Murray in the book), the depiction of Secretary Carl Schurz and the Dodge City, Kansas scenes. Reluctantly abandoning

2107-474: The societal conflict. In its classification of films by genre, the American Film Institute limits the genre to historical films such as Ben-Hur . However, film scholars such as Constantine Santas are willing to extend the label to science-fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars . Lynn Ramey suggests that "Surely one of the hardest film genres to define is that of

2156-627: The world, such as India where it's flourishing Bollywood industry produced the landmark Mughal-E Azam (1960), which is widely considered as one of the greatest films of all time and a milestone in Asian epics. This boom period of international co-productions is generally considered to have ended with Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Nevertheless, films in this genre continued to appear, with one notable example being War and Peace , which

2205-512: Was Gone with the Wind (1939), also an epic, with ten awards. Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson . Fast was born in New York City . His mother, Ida (née Miller), was a British Jewish immigrant, and his father, Barney Fast,

2254-592: Was a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who shortened his name from Fastovsky upon arrival in America. When his mother died in 1923 and his father became unemployed, Howard's youngest brother, Julius , went to live with relatives, while he and his older brother, Jerome, sold newspapers. Howard credited his early voracious reading to a part-time job in the New York Public Library . Fast began writing at an early age. While hitchhiking and riding railroads around

2303-487: Was killed in the Fetterman Massacre in 1866. Within a canyon, Archer's men have caught up with the Cheyenne. Little Wolf sends Red Shirt, the Spanish Woman's son, to fight against the troops. Archer sends two soldiers to search the canyon, but one is shot by Red Shirt. Major Braden takes control and has the soldiers fire two cannons; a brief fight ensues to which nine soldiers, including Braden, were killed. It

2352-448: Was released in the former Soviet Union during 1967–1968. Epic films continue to be produced, although since the development of CGI they typically use computer effects instead of an actual cast of thousands. Since the 1950s, such films have regularly been shot with a wide aspect ratio for a more immersive and panoramic theatrical experience. Epic films were recognized in a montage at the 2006 Academy Awards . The enduring popularity of

2401-483: Was to accept the degradation of our own souls—and because we surrendered in ourselves, in our own party existence, all the best and most precious gains and liberties of mankind—because we did this, we betrayed mankind, and the Communist party became a thing of destruction. In the mid-1950s, Fast moved with his family to Teaneck, New Jersey . In 1974, Fast and his family moved to California , where he wrote television scripts, including such television programs as How

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