''Smoky'' is a 1946 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

Louis King Louis King (June 28, 1898 – September 7, 1962) was an American actor and film director of westerns and adventure movies in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

and starring

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

. It is the second of three film adaptations of the 1926 novel ''

Smoky the Cowhorse ''Smoky the Cowhorse'' is a novel by Will James that was the winner of the 1927 Newbery Medal. Plot The story details the life of a horse in the western United States from his birth to his eventual decline. It takes place after the 1910, during ...

'' by Will James; others were made in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

Plot

A cowboy riding alone in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

witnesses a stampede of wild stallions, one of whom particularly catches his eye. He returns the horse to its rightful owner, Julie Richards, owner of the Rocking R Ranch, introducing himself as Clint Barkley and asking for a job. The wild horse, Smoky, slowly develops a relationship with Clint, but ranch foreman Jeff doesn't trust the new hired hand, who is vague and mysterious about his past. A stranger arrives named Frank and persuades a reluctant Clint to vouch for him to be hired as a wrangler. It turns out Clint took the blame for a crime Frank committed and served eight months behind bars. Frank begins causing trouble at the ranch, mistreating Smoky and the other horses. A gambler turns up, seeking Clint's payment for a $200 debt, discovering that Frank actually lost the money and forged Clint's name on the IOU. Frank rustles the horses and rides off. Jeff remains suspicious until Clint finally reveals that Frank is his brother. Smoky, abused again, fights off Frank and ends up killing him. Other cowboys discover the horse and sell him to a rodeo in

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

. The horse's condition deteriorates and he ends up pulling a junk cart. One day Clint rides into town and Smoky recognizes him. They are reunited, and return to Julie and the ranch.

Cast

as Clint Barkley *

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Fr ...

as Julie Richards *

Bruce Cabot Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films such as ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1936), Fri ...

as Frank Denton *

Esther Dale Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen. Early years Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she stu ...

as Gram *

Roy Roberts Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones, March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen. Life and career Born in Tampa ...

as Jeff *

J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...

as Jim *

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

as Willie

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Utah:

Zion National Park Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of ...

, Kanab Race Track, Cave Lakes, Aspen Mirror Lake, the Gap, Rockville Road, Kanab Canyon, Ogden, and Cedar Breaks.

Fredonia, Arizona Fredonia is a town in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,314. Fredonia is the gateway to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. History Fredonia was laid out in 1886. Its name is said to mean the ...

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistic ...

, and Burbank and Saugus, California were also filming locations.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1946 films 1946 Western (genre) films 20th Century Fox films Remakes of American films American Western (genre) films Films about horses Films based on children's books Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by Louis King Films shot in Utah Films shot in Wyoming Films shot in Arizona Films shot in California Films with screenplays by Dorothy Yost 1946 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films