''The Cheyenne Social Club'' is a 1970 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 ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

written by

James Lee Barrett James Lee Barrett (November 19, 1929 – October 15, 1989) was an American author, producer and screenwriter. Biography Barrett was born in 1929 in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated in 1950 from Anderson University (South Carolina). ...

, directed and produced by

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

, and starring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

and

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as '' Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel'' (1956), and ''The M ...

. The film is about an aging cowboy who inherits a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

and decides to turn it into a respectable boarding house, against the wishes of both the townspeople and the ladies working there.

Plot

In 1867, John O'Hanlan and Harley Sullivan are aging cowboys working on open cattle ranges in Texas. John gets a letter from an attorney 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 ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

that his brother, D.J., left him The Cheyenne Social Club in his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...

. After making the trek to Cheyenne, John and Harley learn The Cheyenne Social Club is a high-class

next to the railroad. John falls into disfavor with both the Club's ladies and the men in Cheyenne when he decides to close the Club. John learns his brother's deed had a provision the property would revert to the railroad if the ladies moved. Jenny, the Club's madam, is assaulted by a man named Bannister. John kills Bannister and regains popularity. Bannister's relatives come to Cheyenne for revenge, but John, Harley and Jenny successfully fight them off. When advised that even more of the Bannisters' relatives will soon come to town, John transfers ownership of the property to Jenny and he and Harley return to Texas.

Cast

as John O'Hanlan *

as Harley Sullivan *

as Jenny * Sue Ane Langdon as Opal Ann *

Elaine Devry Elaine Devry (born Thelma Elaine Mahnken) is an American actress. Early life Devry was born Thelma Elaine Mahnken to Fred P. and Hortense Mahnken in Compton, California, where she was raised. Her brother, Jeff, was three years her senior. She b ...

as Pauline * Jackie Russell as Carrie Virginia *

Jackie Joseph Jackie Joseph (born November 7, 1933) is an American actress and writer. She is best known for her role as Jackie Parker on ''The Doris Day Show'' (1971–1973) and Audrey in '' The Little Shop of Horrors'' (1960), as well as a supporting role i ...

as Annie Jo * Sharon DeBord as Sara Jean *

Robert Middleton Robert Middleton (born Samuel G. Messer, May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977) was an American film and television actor known for his large size, beetle-like brows, and a deep, booming voice (for which he was known as "Big Bob Middleton"), usually ...

as Barkeep *

Robert J. Wilke Robert Joseph Wilke (May 18, 1914 – March 28, 1989) was an American film and television actor noted primarily for his roles as villains, mostly in Westerns. Early years Wilke was a native of Cincinnati. Before going into acting, he h ...

as Corey Bannister * Dabbs Greer as Jedediah W. Willowby *

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performan ...

as Clay Carroll ''(uncredited)''

Production

Set in a

with suggestive dialogue, this was one of the few

off-color Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult ...

films that James Stewart did. He also specifically asked that his friend Fonda be cast; they had most recently worked together two years previously in ''

Firecreek ''Firecreek'' is a 1968 American Western film directed by Vincent McEveety and starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda in his second role as an antagonist that year alongside Sergio Leone's ''Once Upon a Time in the West''. The film is similar ...

''. Stewart and Fonda's first film together had been the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

'' On Our Merry Way'' (1948), and they had also both appeared in '' How the West Was Won'' (1962) but had no scenes together despite playing best friends. The exteriors were shot at two

film lots near Santa Fe,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

: the Eaves Movie Ranch, which was built for the film, and Bonanza Creek Ranch. The interiors were shot at the

Samuel Goldwyn Studio Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the lot located on the corner of Formosa Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, as well as the offices and stages that his company, Samuel Goldwyn ...

s in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

. A

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the adve ...

of the screenplay was written by Phillip Rock.

Release

The film had its world premiere in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

on June 10, 1970. It also opened in Provo and

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

and

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

before expanding into

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines ...

and

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

and

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

as well as Montana.

Home Media

The film is currently distributed by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

, with a German DVD release in 2019 by 375 Media.

Reception

''The Cheyenne Social Club'' turned a small profit but was poorly received by critics. It didn't receive any notoriety until decades later with numerous cable television broadcasts. Barrett's script earned a 1970

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

nomination for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen", but lost to

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

for '' The Out-of-Towners''. In its first five days in 15 theaters in Utah, Idaho, Iowa and Nebraska it grossed $108,622.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyenne Social Club, The 1970 films 1970s English-language films 1970s Western (genre) comedy films American Western (genre) comedy films Films about prostitution in the United States Films directed by Gene Kelly Films scored by Walter Scharf Films set in Wyoming Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New Mexico Cinema Center Films films Films set in 1867 1970s historical comedy films American historical comedy films 1970 comedy films 1970s American films