''Broken Arrow'' is a 1950 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Delmer Daves Delmer Lawrence Daves (July 24, 1904 – August 17, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He worked in many genres, including film noir and warfare, but he is best known for his Western movies, especially '' Broke ...

and starring James Stewart,

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; yi, יראַ גראָססעל; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer, and singer, best remembered for playing Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was no ...

and

Debra Paget Debra Paget (born Debralee Griffin; August 19, 1933) is an American actress and entertainer. She is perhaps best known for her performances in Cecil B. DeMille's epic ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956) and in Elvis Presley's film debut, '' Love Me ...

. The film is based on historical figures, but fictionalizes their story in dramatized form. It was nominated for three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, and won a Golden Globe Award for ''Best Film Promoting International Understanding.'' Film historians have said that the movie was one of the first major

Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

since the Second World War to portray the Indians sympathetically.

Plot

Tom Jeffords Thomas Jefferson Jeffords (January 1, 1832 – February 19, 1914) was a United States Army scout, Indian agent, prospector, and superintendent of overland mail in the Arizona Territory. His friendship with Apache leader Cochise was instrumental ...

comes across a wounded, 14-year-old Apache boy dying from

buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

wounds in his back. Jeffords gives the boy water and treats his wounds. The boy's tribesmen appear and are initially hostile, but decide to let Jeffords go free. However, when a group of gold prospectors approaches, the Apache gag Jeffords and tie him to a tree. Helpless, he watches as they attack the prospectors and torture the survivors. The warriors then let him go, but warn him not to enter Apache territory again. When Jeffords returns to Tucson, he encounters a prospector who escaped the ambush. He corrects a man's exaggerated account of the attack, but Ben Slade is incredulous and does not see why Jeffords did not kill the Apache boy. Instead, Jeffords learns the Apache language and customs and plans to go to

Cochise Cochise (; Apache: ''Shi-ka-She'' or ''A-da-tli-chi'', lit.: ''having the quality or strength of an oak''; later ''K'uu-ch'ish'' or ''Cheis'', lit. ''oak''; June 8, 1874) was leader of the Chihuicahui local group of the Chokonen and principa ...

's stronghold on behalf of his friend, Milt, who is in charge of the mail service in Tucson. Jeffords enters the Apache stronghold and begins a parley with Cochise, who agrees to let the couriers through. Jeffords meets a young Apache girl, Sonseeahray, and falls in love. A few of Cochise's warriors attack an army wagon train and kill the survivors. The townsfolk nearly lynch Jeffords as a traitor before he is saved by General

Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men agains ...

who recruits Jeffords to negotiate peace with Cochise. Howard, the "Christian General" condemns racism, saying that the Bible "says nothing about pigmentation of the skin.” Jeffords makes a peace treaty with Cochise, but a group led by Geronimo, oppose the treaty and leave the stronghold. When these renegades ambush a stagecoach, Jeffords rides off to seek help from Cochise and the stagecoach is saved. Jeffords and Sonseeahray marry in an Apache ceremony and have several days of tranquility. Later, Ben Slade's son spins a story to Jeffords and Cochise about two of his horses stolen by Cochise's people. Cochise says that his people did not take them and doubts his story, as he knows the boy's father is an Apache hater. They then decide to go along with the boy up the canyon, but are ambushed by the boy's father and a gang of men from Tucson. Jeffords is badly wounded and Sonseeahray is killed, but Cochise kills most of the men, including Ben Slade. Cochise forbids Jeffords to retaliate, saying that the ambush was not done by the military and that Geronimo broke the peace no less than Slade and his men, and that peace must be maintained. Jeffords rides off with the belief that "the death of Sonseeahray had put a seal upon the peace, and from that day on wherever I went, in the cities, among the Apaches and in the mountains, I always remembered, my wife was with me.”

Cast

* James Stewart as Tom Jeffords *

as Cochise *

as Sonseeahray *

Basil Ruysdael Basil Spaulding Millspaugh (July 24, 1878 – October 10, 1960), known as Basil Ruysdael, was an American actor and opera singer. Early life Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, as Basil Spaulding Millspaugh, Ruysdael was the son of Dr and Mrs Char ...

as Gen. Oliver Howard *

Will Geer Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In Ca ...

as Ben Slade *

Joyce MacKenzie Joyce Elaine MacKenzie Hassing (October 13, 1925 – June 10, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in films and television from 1946 to 1961. She might be best remembered for being the eleventh actress to portray Jane. She played the role ...

as Terry *

Arthur Hunnicutt Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...

as Milt Duffield *

Jay Silverheels Jay Silverheels (born Harold Jay Smith; May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was an Indigenous Canadian actor and athlete. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television s ...

as Geronimo

Production

Producer Julius Blaustein recalled, "We had a terrible time locating an actor with the proper voice and stature to play Cochise. Before we found Chandler we were even considering

Ezio Pinza Ezio Fortunato Pinza (May 18, 1892May 9, 1957) was an Italian opera singer. Pinza possessed a rich, smooth and sonorous voice, with a flexibility unusual for a bass. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 ...

." Jeff Chandler was cast in May 1949 on the basis of his performance in ''

Sword in the Desert ''Sword in the Desert'' is a 1949 American war film directed by George Sherman. It was the first American film to deal with the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and marked the first significant feature film role for Jeff Chandler. Plo ...

''. He was working in several radio series at the time, ''Michael Shayne'' and ''Our Miss Brooks'', and had to be written out of them for several weeks. Filming started on June 6, 1949. It was primarily shot on location in northern

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, approximately 30 miles south of Flagstaff. Apaches from the Whiteriver agency on the

Fort Apache Indian Reservation The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of ...

played themselves.

was only 15 years old when she played the love interest to 42-year-old James Stewart. Canadian Mohawk actor

portrayed Geronimo. The movie was based on the 558-page novel ''Blood Brother'' (1947) by

Elliott Arnold Elliott Arnold (September 13, 1912 – May 13, 1980) was an American newspaper feature writer, novelist, and screenwriter. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he became a feature writer with the ''New York World-Telegram'' and authored dozens of nove ...

, which told the story of the peace agreement between the Apache leader

and the U.S. Army, 1855–1874. The studio employed nearly 240 Indians from Arizona's

; many location scenes were shot in Sedona, Arizona. (The story of

actually occurred in what is now the

Dragoon Mountains The Dragoon Mountains are a range of mountains located in Cochise County, Arizona. The range is about 25 mi (40 km) long, running on an axis extending south-south east through Willcox. The name originates from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Drag ...

in the Douglas Ranger District of the

Coronado National Forest The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of ...

in southeastern Arizona.) The studio attempted to portray Apache customs in the film, like the Social Dance and the Girl's Sunrise Ceremony (the girl's puberty rite). For the character of

, director Daves eliminated the traditional style of broken English and replaced it with conventional English so that whites and Indians would sound alike.

Portrayal of Indians

Although many westerns of the pre-World War II period portrayed American Indians as hostile to the European settlers, others did show Indians in a positive light. ''Broken Arrow'', however, is noteworthy for being one of the first post-war westerns to portray Native Americans in a balanced, sympathetic way. However, most of the Indians were played by European American actors, with Brooklyn-born Jeff Chandler portraying Apache leader

. An exception was that Native Canadian Mohawk actor

was noted for his role as Geronimo in the film. Some scholars have said that the film appealed to an ideal of tolerance and racial equality that would influence later westerns and indicate Hollywood's response to the Indian's evolving role in American society. ''Chronicle of the Cinema'' praised the film: "Based on verifiable fact, it faithfully evokes the historical relationship between Cochise and Jeffords, marking a historical rehabilitation of Indians in the cinema." In 1950,

Rosebud Yellow Robe Rosebud Yellow Robe (''Lacotawin'') (26 February 1907 – 5 October 1992) was a Native American folklorist, educator and writer of half Lakota people, Lakota Sioux birth. Rosebud was influenced by her father Chauncey Yellow Robe, and used storyte ...

, a Native American folklorist, educator, and author, was hired by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

to undertake a national tour to promote the film. Yellow Robe explained that there were no such things as Indian princesses, and that the myth started when

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

went to England and the English named her "Lady Rebecca.” Yellow Robe voiced complaints about the portrayals of Indians on radio, screen, and television to "a new generation of children learning the old stereotypes about whooping, warring Indians, as if there weren't anything else interesting about us."

The Apache Wedding Prayer

The Apache Wedding Prayer was written for this movie.

Awards and honors

* Best Supporting Actor (nomination) —

Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, music ...

(nomination) —

Albert Maltz Albert Maltz (; October 28, 1908 – April 26, 1985) was an American playwright, fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the Hollywood Ten who were jailed in 1950 for their 1947 refusal to testify before the US Congress about their invo ...

(front:

Michael Blankfort Michael Seymour Blankfort (December 10, 1907 – July 13, 1982) was an American screenwriter, writer of books and playwright. He served as a front for the blacklisted Albert Maltz on the Academy Award-nominated screenplay of '' Broken Arrow (1 ...

) from the novel ''Blood Brother'' by

Academy Award for Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. History In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...

, color (nomination) — Ernest Palmer The film is recognized by American Film Institute in the 2008 list, AFI's 10 Top 10: Nominated Western Film

Adaptations to other media

''Broken Arrow'' was dramatized as an hour-long ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

'' radio play on January 22, 1951, starring Burt Lancaster (replacing an ill James Stewart) and

. It was also presented as a half-hour broadcast of ''

Screen Directors Playhouse ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...

'' on September 7, 1951, with James Stewart and Jeff Chandler in their original film roles. The film and novel also provided the basis for a television series of the same name that ran from 1956 through 1958, starring

Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...

as Cochise and

John Lupton John Rollin Lupton (August 23, 1928 – November 3, 1993) was an American film and television actor. Early years Lupton was the son of Adelma Lupton and Dorothy Marsh Lupton. He developed an interest in drama while he was a student at Sh ...

as Jeffords.Broken Arrow (TV Series 1956–1958)
IMDb

Cultural references

* The movie's world premiere was held at the Roxy, New York City. * The Blackfoot Indians would use a broken arrow to signal that they would cease fighting. * After watching the movie, Colombian

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

Martín Emilio Rodríguez Martín Emilio Rodríguez Gutiérrez (born 14 April 1942), known by the nickname Cochise, is a retired Colombian road and track cyclist. Cochise started his first Vuelta a Colombia in 1961. He would win his first Vuelta two years later in 1 ...

adopted the nickname "

" from the character of the movie he liked the most.

References

Notes

* Aleiss, Angela, ''Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies'', London & CT: Praeger, 2005; * Karney, Robyn (editor), ''Chronicle of the Cinema''; London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995; * Lenihan, John H. ''Showdown: Confronting Modern America in the Western Film'', Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980; * O'Conner, John E. & Peter C. Rollins, eds. ''Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film'' aperback The University Press of Kentucky, 2003;

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Arrow (1950 Film) 1950 films 1950 Western (genre) films 20th Century Fox films American Western (genre) films Western (genre) cavalry films Films about Native Americans Apache Wars films 1950s English-language films Films adapted into comics Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Delmer Daves Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer Films shot in Arizona Films set in Arizona Films set in the 1860s Revisionist Western (genre) films 1950s American films