Starring my personal favorite actor Mr. James Stewart and featuring superlative performances from Jeff Chandler & Debra Paget, "Broken Arrow" is a fine Western that transcends the conventional attitude of Native Americans being nothing more than mere savages. This film takes a closer look at the culture of the Chiricahua Apaches in the Rocky Mountain region, the scenery of which is beautifully captured on celluloid. The story is about one brave white American named Tom Jeffords (Stewart), who risks his life by riding into the Apache stronghold led by the natives' champion of truth and honor, Cochise (brilliantly portrayed by Chandler). Jeffords' vision is one in which whites and Apaches can someday live together like brothers, and this is why he wishes to visit the great warrior Cochise. Cochise is no fool; he can see through the insincerity of men, but sensing the honesty and earnestness of Jeffords' vision, Cochise slowly warms to the idea of peace, for which a broken arrow becomes a symbol, hence the picture's title. In the meantime, Jeffords falls in love with a beautiful young Apache woman named Sonseeahray (Paget), which means "morning star".
The following are my favorite sequences from "Broken Arrow" (please DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this wonderful picture). The music score by Hugo Friedhofer reaches a nice crescendo as Tom Jeffords rides directly into the Apache stronghold while all the grim natives surround him with weapons ("Riding into the heart of potential danger," as Stewart biographer Jonathan Coe expressed it). In stark contrast to this quiet intensity is a scene in which the boisterous white townspeople of Tucson raise quite a ruckus as they drag Jeffords out of a saloon and prepare him for a soon-to-be-interrupted lynching. Following several days of Tom's healing a wounded fourteen-year-old Apache boy, Tom is quite lucky to escape with his life as other Apaches who spied on him fire a few arrows ("This white man is my friend!", shouts the boy). And the very final shot of this movie, however abrupt it may be, depicts Tom riding away in the wide open country as his heartfelt voice-over narration confirms his unshakable memory of Sonseeahray.
In "Broken Arrow", the character played by James Stewart is fairly mild-mannered and likable. AFTER "Broken Arrow", however, Stewart would receive the opportunity to further stretch the limited patience of his Western characters, reaching the borderline into sheer ferociousness!
The following are my favorite sequences from "Broken Arrow" (please DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this wonderful picture). The music score by Hugo Friedhofer reaches a nice crescendo as Tom Jeffords rides directly into the Apache stronghold while all the grim natives surround him with weapons ("Riding into the heart of potential danger," as Stewart biographer Jonathan Coe expressed it). In stark contrast to this quiet intensity is a scene in which the boisterous white townspeople of Tucson raise quite a ruckus as they drag Jeffords out of a saloon and prepare him for a soon-to-be-interrupted lynching. Following several days of Tom's healing a wounded fourteen-year-old Apache boy, Tom is quite lucky to escape with his life as other Apaches who spied on him fire a few arrows ("This white man is my friend!", shouts the boy). And the very final shot of this movie, however abrupt it may be, depicts Tom riding away in the wide open country as his heartfelt voice-over narration confirms his unshakable memory of Sonseeahray.
In "Broken Arrow", the character played by James Stewart is fairly mild-mannered and likable. AFTER "Broken Arrow", however, Stewart would receive the opportunity to further stretch the limited patience of his Western characters, reaching the borderline into sheer ferociousness!