It is a performances centric movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

A possibly well-meaning examination of a tragic part of US history that is turned into a pretentious bore of a film. This is little more than a lecture disguised as a movie. It goes on way too long with not much to show for it. John Ford, one of the all-time greats, commits the rookie director's mistake of thinking that solemn subject matter and excessive length automatically equal 'epic.' They do not. It's a film with more than a few stars but very few of them (such as Edward G. Robinson) get anything to do. Ultimately it's Richard Widmark's show and he grits his teeth through the whole thing, spitting out every line to further emphasize how disgusted he is with all the injustice. Unfortunately, the result of such a performance is it makes the audience (or me, at least) want to root against him.The most bizarre thing about this is the Jimmy Stewart part. After an interminably long and preachy first hour and half about the plight of the Cheyenne and the conflict with the white man, the movie abruptly shifts direction and turns into a comedy with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, played by Stewart and Arthur Kennedy. This lasts fifteen or twenty minutes before the film returns to the main story. What the hell was that even about?!? It's really not an enjoyable experience. White guilt movies aren't among my favorites but there have been some intelligent, thought-provoking ones that didn't put me to sleep or have me rolling my eyes. This is just an overlong sententious bore with a wasted cast, made by a director past his prime. Avoid unless you're a Ford completist or you're young and still in that "I just heard about all this bad stuff that happened a really long time ago and I'm angry about it" phase.

. . . America's first National Park, the sickly Cheyenne clan had an unsustainable ANNUAL mortality rate of about 75%, according this Docudrama CHEYENNE AUTUMN. No doubt President U.S. Grant feared that if these natives were dropping like flies from smallpox, measles, and malaria all over the Park, then the geysers and hot ponds would become contaminated, perhaps along with the buffalo and other wildlife. This could have not only a negative effect on the tourist trade, but also possibly shoot down the whole idea of the world's first national park before it had a fair chance to even get off the ground.Today, polygamist Middle Easterners are breaking up 5,000-year-old statues with sledgehammers, and killing anyone who visits a museum. In the 1870s, polygamist Cheyennes were trying to keep anyone else from seeing Old Faithful. The lesson from CHEYENNE AUTUMN is clear: Natives of an area seldom can see the forest for the trees. They tend to be xenophobic. Like the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, Yankee turncoats are represented here by the character of Cheyenne Insurrection enabler "Deborah Wright" (Carroll Baker). Though Ben Franklin had carved the American Motto, "A place for everything, and everything in its place" into our Constitution a century before these events took place, as a Quaker Ms. Wright felt free to ignore that document. She probably didn't care whether you or I saw Old Faithful.This is NOT one of director John Ford's better westerns. The whole Dodge City diversion in the middle of CHEYENNE AUTUMN (with James Stewart pretending to be a thoroughly clownish Wyatt Earp) is totally pointless. The Dodge City sequence is simply included to pad out this flick so it would be long enough to feature an intermission, and potentially qualify as "Oscar bait." America wouldn't be a Free Country today if every Tom, Dick, and Harry could band together for a 1,500-mile killing spree whenever they got the urge. But after the Native Americans saw Wyatt Earp gambling in this movie, most of them took the hint, and opened very lucrative casinos.

Mari Sandoz' sympathetic account of the flight of the Northern Cheyennes from Oklahoma's Indian Territory to their historical homeland in Wyoming is the basis of John Ford's final western adventure. The usual emotional mistreatment of the Indians, with broken promises, lies, the disrespect shown to their chiefs, indifference to the tribe's well-being, lack of proper nourishment and education by their white custodians sets in motion their northward trek. The Cheyenne migration comes to the attention of the War Department in Washington with orders to stop the Indians and return them to their reservation. The film has several hit-and-run skirmishes, with the fighting prowess of the Cheyennes keeping the pursuing soldiers at bay. Richard Widmark, a cavalry officer and Carroll Baker, a Quaker who wants to educate the Cheyenne children, are sympathetic towards the Indians' plight, in stark contrast to Karl Malden's Russian martinet who imprisons the Indians at Fort Robinson and vows to send them back to the arid Oklahoma territory. The film's measured and deliberate pace is in keeping with the plodding progress of the tribe's move north. The Dodge City sequence, which features a comical poker game, is a pointless twenty minute detour from the film's narrative and adds nothing to the plot. The wide-screen cameras of William Clothier capture the beautiful scenery of Monument Valley, director Ford's favorite shooting location. Gilbert Roland, Ricardo Montalban and Dolores del Rio are excellent in various Cheyenne roles.

I got this film on the recommend of several people, but approached it with the attitude that "Oh, here we go; another of those "the-white-people-suck-and-the-Indians-are-saints" films like DANCES WITH WOLVES, which is also a great film, but let's be honest, was deliberately scripted to make whites look like devils incarnate and the Indians to be a cross between Mother Theresa and Gandhi. But just a few minutes into it, I relaxed and kicked back in my recliner, and 2 and a half hours later, when it ended, was a bit disappointed that it had ended. I also found myself wondering that although the Hispanic actors did a credible job, why there weren't any actual Native American actors. A BIG reason I liked DANCES WITH WOLVES was because of the Native American roles being taken by Native Americans. If any remembers the WWII TV show COMBAT, it was great because American actors were American and spoke English; the French actors were French and spoke French, and the German actors were Germans and spoke German. This only amplifies everyone's enjoyment of any show or movie and I am glad that most studios do just that. CHEYENNE AUTUMN may be an older film, but for it's few faults, it's worth watching often, so purchase a copy: you won't be disappointed!