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Western August V: Broken Arrow - Recap (Part One)

Get ready; it’s time to talk about Native Americans in film.

That’s right, eeeeeeeease into it. This is one hell of a topic, and I am NOT qualified to talk about it. And this is a topic that requires some, uh, qualification. So, OK, let’s start here with Disney and Pocahontas. By now, anybody who’s read my posts knows that I LOVE me some historical accuracy. And Pocahontas is FAR from being accurate in any way. For fuck’s sake, she learns how to speak English via LISTENING WITH HER FUCKING HEART. Wish I could learn languages that way, it’d make world travel easy as hell.

But other than that, how was the Powhatan tribe portrayed? Well...they were OK. The filmmakers tried hard to be accurate to Virginia Algonquian tribes of the time, and they mostly succeeded. But they weren’t perfect. For example, the villain of the film, Ratcliffe? Yeah...yeah, they took off his face. Face/Off style. He, uh...he did not live. They skinned it with seashells. But, they weren’t gonna put that in a Disney movie, obviously, so that gets a semi-pass from me. And that’s not the main focus. There’s a theory that Disney made Pocahontas to distract from their previous foray into Native American portrayal. And that...

OH GOD I’M REALLY DOING THIS HUH?

...Look, I’m a big fan of Disney properties. Like, a HUGE fuckin’ fan. But I will always acknowledge when they do something fucked up. Recently and...in the past. I’m the kind of guy to defend certain creative decisions due to historical context (for example, the Crows from Dumbo and King Louie from The Jungle Book have never really bothered me as much for that reason, even though the former is certainly very offensive by modern sensibilities). But, uh...YEAH THIS IS PRETTY FUCKIN’ BAD I AIN’T DEFENDING WHAT MAKES THE RED MAN FUCKING RED

...Although it is a banger of a tune. IT IS GODDAMMIT. If it weren’t for the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE RACISM, I’d like it for the musical stylings. But OK, enough navel-gazing. This is an animated reflection of real public perceptions of Native Americas, dating back to...well, the Wild West era. Native Americans in film had been portrayed as either the enemy, savage barbarians that deserved to be annihilated, or peaceful dullards meant to serve the white settlers. Which...ugh. Gross. So, let’s jump ahead and look at one of the most legendarily stereotypical Native American characters...and the tragedy of his existence.

GODDAMN IT DISNEY, AND GODDAMN IT JOHNNY DEPP

Pictured above is a potential cannibal and Johnny Depp in the 2013 Disney film, The Lone Ranger. Anybody around during this time is gonna remember the insane controversy surrounding Johnny Depp at this time, the scale of which he would never encounter again cough cough hackwheeze. Depp for SOME FUCKING REASON chose to accept the role of Tonto, arguably the most famous and infamous Native American character in American media.

I’d love to get into the fact that Depp claimed to be of Cree and Cherokee lineage, despite never saying this previously and providing NO FUCKING PROOF, but...there’s another Western movie starring Depp that I wanna talk about down the line, and I’d rather save this conversation for then. Instead, I want to talk about Tonto. Because Tonto was originally played by one of the most prominent (and also infamous) Native American actors in film history: Jay Silverheels.

Harold Jay Smith was a Canadian member of the Mohawk tribe, and a successful lacrosse player in his youth. He would later be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, which apparently exists. In 1937, at the age of 25, he was found by Joe E. Brown, comedian, actor, and radio star. You’d actually know him as Osgood in Some Like it Hot! Anyway, Brown is impressed by Jay’s athleticism, and he tells him he should work as an extra and stuntman.

But here’s the thing: Jay’s First Nations, which is relegated to “Indian” during this time period. And First Nations (and Native American) actors are...not appreciated. Let’s just say that they were treated as props at best, and animals at worst. And they were NEVER thought of as capable of actually acting. So, Jay’s at a disadvantage in the industry. Adopting the name Jay Silverheels at this point, he acts as an extra in dozens of films, doing the same thing everything. Whooping, riding horses, attack the poor innocent white people who are taking over the Native American lands for their own good, GOD. What I’m saying is, that reductive image of Native Americans was alive and thriving.

He was in quite a few bangers, like The Sea Hawk, Yellow Sky, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, etc. Here’s the thing, though: in 45 films from 1937 to 1950...dude was credited in 6 of them. And his character was named in 3 of those roles. Jesus. I’m not going into the INTENSE racism during this time period, but just know...it ain’t good. And people are starting to notice.

Why did I stop at 1950? Well, that’s when Broken Arrow comes out, and that would be Jay SIlverheel’s most famous role up to that point, despite the fact that he’s not even the star of the film. The film, starring Jimmy Stewart and directed by Delmer Daves, would be the first film after World War II to paint Native Americans in a good light, and sympathetically. It would also be the film where Jay Silverheels met another future famous actor: Iron Eyes Cody. We’ll get back to Cody, because...Christ. But just know this...Cody is this dude.

The MOST FAMOUS COMMERCIAL IN AMERICAN MEDIA HISTORY. We will get to him. Oh...we will. But for right now, let’s FINALLY watch this goddamn movie, huh? If you’d like to watch Broken Arrow for free, it’s on Tubi! With ads, but hey, beggars and choosers.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

Our story takes place in Arizona in 1870, and our narrator is Tom Jeffords (James Stewart), a Union Army veteran who has come to Arizona on summons from a local colonel. He follows vultures to a teenager, and a member of the Chiricahua Apache. As this is during a time when the tribes are at war with the settlers, there’s obviously tension present here.

This injured young man has been shot in the back. Jeffords cares for him, and helps him get better as he does some prospecting. The young man prepares to leave, but Tom tells him that he’s not healed as of yet. However, he has to get back to his family, as his mother is likely crying about his disappearance, and his father is also worried. With that statement, Tom thinks to himself, “Wait...they have emotions? Are they...human beings?” I’m not exaggerating, he actually comes to this realization. However...that’s probably more realistic than I care to admit. Whoof.

The kid’s also realized that Tom’s not that bad, and promises to pray for his well-being. Aww. But as they’re about to part ways for good, the Apache arrive, led by the kid’s father. They threaten to kill him, but don’t on the young man’s say so. They question why Jeffords didn’t kill him, given the fact that they’re at war. That’s just not Jeffords’ style, apparently. As they’re about to let him leave, a group of prospectors come nearby.

Jeffords as gagged and tied to a tree, forced to watch as the Apache kill the prospectors, burying one of them to his neck and feeding him to the ants. Which...has happened. Yeah, this is fucking HORRIFYING, but it is apparently something Comanche and Apache did. This is a suitable enough warning to Tom, as the boy’s father tells him to stay out of the territory, or he will be killed.

In Tucson, Jeffords is party to a conversation about the ambush, which they believe was ordered by the Apache leader, Cochise. Jeffords details what he’s just gone through, and this account angers and irritates farmer Ben Slade (Will Geer), who questions why Jeffords didn’t kill the literal child right then and there, claiming that he’s on the side of the Apache. Jeffords replies that he’s sick of war, and that the whole scuffle is technically their fault for coming out there. And I’m immediately on Jeffords’ side. Fuck yeah, LET’S GO

Slade has his reasons; his wife was killed by an Apache raid on his farm, leading to his hatred of the people as a whole. And again, Jeffords argues that the Apache didn’t start this fucking war. Not that the Apache are guiltless in all this by any means, but this wouldn’t have happened if white settlers didn’t come into the West the way they did. Hot damn, I like this dude. A businessman argues that they’re bringing civilization to the West, which is a shitty argument. But it receives no rebuttal...for now.

Meanwhile, Tucson is suffering from a mail blockade, as reported by postman Milt Duffield (Arthur Hunnicutt). Jeffords decides to try and do something about this, and asks native guide Juan (William Wilkerson) to teach him the Apache language and culture, so that he can speak to Cochise about letting the mail go through. Juan agrees, although he believes that it’ll be the death of him.

After these lessons, Jeffords presses on through the territory, and is tentatively allowed a meeting with Cochise. It should be noted at this point that, while the language of the film is in English, the characters are speaking in Apache. This was an attempt to equalize the Apache and the white people, and it works pretty goddamn well. And all of that is thrown out the window when we meet...Cochise (Jeff Chandler).

GUUUUUUH FUCK I’M NOT GETTING INTO REDFACE YET

Yeah, um, Jeff here is clearly a white dude wearing makeup, but we’re gonna shove that DEEEEEEEP down for right now. Cochise is clearly a man with great dignity and strength, and Jeffords respects him. He asks them to let the mail through, and these leads to a conversation about the white settler’s movements against the Apache. Cochise is understandably reticent, as they’ve killed his brother and countless other Apache. But he’ll think on it.

That night, Jeffords is welcome to stay there. We get to see actual Apache crowndancers perform the Sunrise Dance, which is pretty neat to see. This is a four-day dance and ceremony that takes place after a young girl’s first period. Basically a period party, but with more flair and a lot more ceremonial meaning. The young woman is known as the Changing Woman for those four days. And we get to meet the Changing Woman, named Sonseeahray (Debra Paget), a name which means “Morning Star”. And she OH FUCK ME

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I GOTTA TALK ABOUT REDFACE

...Goddamn it, I knew I’d have to get to this eventually. Redface, as the name obviously implies, is the practice of painting the faces of (usually) white actors to allow them to play Native American characters. Ugh. Because of the horrendous practices of the time, this was obviously a pretty common practice in Westerns. Jeff Chandler and Debra Paget are obviously painted in this fashion. But who did so? Well...remember Iron Eyes Cody? Yeah, this was a specialty of his. And we’ll get more into THAT later.

Right now, I’m distracted by the fact that Sonseeahray is apparently the Inevitable Love Interest, despite the fact that we KNOW that she can’t be older that 15, and that the actress actually was 15, while Jimmy Stewart was 41. And can I just say, on behalf of everyone...

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