Cheyenne Autumn

Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 Western movie starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. Regarded as an epic film, it tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 18789, although it is told in Hollywood style using a great deal of 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 misinterpreted by many of the directors own films. With a budget of more than 4,000,000, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office and failed to earn a profit for its distributor, Warner Bros.

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 smallscale drama with nonprofessional Indian actors. Early drafts of the script drew on Howard Fasts novel The Last Frontier. However, the film ultimately took its plot and title from Mari Sandozs Cheyenne Autumn, which Ford preferred due to its focus on the Cheyenne. Elements of Fasts novel remain in the finished film however, namely the character of Captain Archer Murray in the book, the depiction of Carl Schurz and the Dodge City scenes.Reluctantly abandoning the docudrama idea, Ford wanted Anthony Quinn and Richard Boone to play Dull Knife and Little Wolf, as wellknown actors with some Indian ancestry. He also suggested Woody Strode for a role. The studio insisted on Fords casting Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland. ........

Source: Wikipedia