Arizona (1940 film)

Last updated

Arizona
Arizona 1940.jpg
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by Wesley Ruggles
Written by Claude Binyon
Based onArizona
1939 novel
by Clarence Budington Kelland
Produced byWesley Ruggles
Starring Jean Arthur
William Holden
Warren William
Cinematography Fayte M. Browne
Harry Hallenberger
Edited by William A. Lyon
Otto Meyer
Music by Victor Young
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • December 25, 1940 (1940-12-25)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Arizona is a 1940 American Western film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Jean Arthur, William Holden and Warren William.

Contents

Victor Young was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, while Lionel Banks and Robert Peterson were considered for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White.

Plot

Life in the Arizona Territory in early 1861 is hard, but Phoebe Titus, the only American woman in the pioneering community of Tucson, is up to the challenge. She catches the eye of Peter Muncie, a handsome young man with a wagon train passing through on the way to California. He begins courting her but tells her that he is not ready to settle down in one spot. Phoebe offers him a job heading a new freight company that she has just formed with store owner Solomon Warner, but Peter is determined to see California and promises to return when his wanderlust is satisfied.

A dandy named Jefferson Carteret appears just as the Civil War breaks out. He helps Phoebe persuade wavering residents to remain after the Union garrison pulls out, leaving them without protection against the Indians. Carteret pretends to be Phoebe's friend, but coerces her competitor Lazarus Ward into making him a secret partner.

Carteret and Ward try to destroy Phoebe's business and bribe Indian chief Mano with guns to attack her wagons. The Confederates gain the temporary allegiance of the community by sending troops, but they are soon recalled east. Union troops of the California Column, including Peter as a sergeant, return in April 1862 just as Tucson's situation becomes desperate. Peter helps Phoebe secure a lucrative army freight contract, but Carteret has Ward slander her to the Union commander, claiming that she supplied ammunition for the departed Confederates. Peter and Phoebe extract the truth from Ward at gunpoint and regain the contract. Soon after, Peter's enlistment expires.

Phoebe persuades Peter to travel to Nebraska to buy cattle for the ranch that she has always dreamed of owning. She has already purchased a great deal of land cheaply from those who moved away because of the Indian troubles. However, the $15,000 paid her by the army is stolen by Carteret's men disguised as Mexican bandits. Carteret offers to make her a loan, with her business and land as security, and she accepts. Six months later, Carteret tells Phoebe that her loan will come due the next day.

However, Peter is half a day away with their herd. Carteret coaxes the Indians to attack, but Peter and his men are able to fight them off. Peter extracts a confession from one of Carteret's men, but Carteret kills the henchman after he shoots Ward. The town celebrates as Phoebe and Peter get married. When Peter goes to settle accounts with Carteret, shots are heard, and Phoebe takes her slightly wounded new husband home.

Cast

Production

Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson, where the cast and crew stayed during production Santa Rita Hotel 1904.jpg
Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson, where the cast and crew stayed during production

Ruggles read the Clarence Budington Kelland novel Arizona in 1939 and felt that the story had potential for a film. He proposed to Columbia Studios that he would direct the film in Tucson, Arizona. Scouting on location, he found a filming spot about 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Tucson in the Sonoran Desert, against the backdrop of the Tucson Mountains. Filming was postponed until the spring of 1940 because of concerns about World War II in Europe. [1]

To shoot the picture, 500 head of cattle, 150 oxen, stray dogs, 250 extras and crewmen were assembled. During the shooting, the cast and crew stayed at the Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson, and would attend variety shows and baseball games. [1] Upon arriving in Tucson, Arthur was initially dubious about working with Holden, her romantic interest in the film who was 18 years her junior. Holden insisted on performing his own riding scenes during chases and stunts. Filming was a significant challenge given the extreme summer heat, [2] a factor for which the studio had not accounted, causing delays that sent the film well over budget at $2,000,000 and resulting in a $500,000 loss for Columbia. Ruggles was blamed for the loss and was never again sent to Tucson to shoot a film. [1]

After filming, the site lay dormant for a few years during World War II, but was revived and converted into a full studio after the war. [3] The studio continues today as Old Tucson Studios. [1] [4]

Reception

The film premiered in Tucson on November 15, [5] 1940, but was not released nationwide until two months later. The picture was not well-received by critics, which influenced its mediocre box-office performance.

In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Theodore Strauss wrote: "For all its fastidious attention to the recreation of a physically authentic desert settlement ... Arizona lacks the most important thing of all—a story with credible characters. ... Arizona has neither the low swell of an epic theme, nor the crisp action of straight Western hokum. It sags under the weight of its own pretensions." [6]

J. E. Smyth saw the film as an attempt to "repeat Cimarron's epic revisionism and historical seriousness." He described Arizona as an "early feminist western." [7] Scott Weinberg of DVD Talk rated the film 3.5 out of 5, writing: "It's got a few nifty action scenes, a handful of funny bits, and just enough craftiness and character to keep you watching for the whole two hours. It's not as gritty as John Wayne or as romantic as Louis L'Amour, but the flick's a solid enough black & white throwback to keep the Western fans suitably entertained." [8]

Victor Young was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score, while Lionel Banks and Robert Peterson were considered for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Holden</span> American actor (1918–1981)

William Franklin Holden was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973).

<i>The Catcher in the Rye</i> 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by American author J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form in 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique of superficiality in society. The novel also deals with themes of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression. The main character, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion. Caulfield, nearly of age, gives his opinion on a wide variety of topics as he narrates his recent life events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holden Caulfield</span> Character from The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield is a fictional character in the works of author J. D. Salinger. He is most famous for his appearance as the lead character and narrator of the 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. Since the book's publication, Holden has become an icon for teenage rebellion and angst, and is considered among the most important characters of 20th-century American literature. The name Holden Caulfield was initially used in an unpublished short story written in 1941 and first appeared in print in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Earp</span> American lawman and Earp family brother (1851–1882)

Morgan Seth Earp was an American sheriff and lawman. He served as Tombstone, Arizona's Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil and Wyatt, as well as Doc Holliday, confront the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. The lawmen killed Cowboys Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. All four lawmen were charged with murder by Billy's older brother, Ike Clanton, who had run from the gunfight. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer exonerated the men, concluding they had been performing their duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wesley Ruggles</span> American film director (1889–1972)

Wesley Ruggles was an American film director.

<i>Backlash</i> (1956 film) American Western starring Richard Widmark

Backlash is a 1956 American western film directed by John Sturges and starring Richard Widmark, Donna Reed and William Campbell. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Marshall</span> American actress (1915–1992)

Brenda Marshall was an American film actress.

<i>Hombre</i> (film) 1967 film

Hombre is a 1967 American revisionist Western film directed by Martin Ritt, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard and starring Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone and Diane Cilento.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Tucson Studios</span> Film studio and theme park

Old Tucson is an American movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona (1940), it has been used for the filming location of many movies and television westerns since then, such as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), El Dorado (1966), Little House on the Prairie TV series of the 1970s–1980s, the film Three Amigos! (1986) and the popular film Tombstone (1993). It was opened to the public in 1960 as a theme park with historical tours offered about the movies filmed there, along with live cast entertainment featuring stunt shows, shootouts, can-can shows as well as themed events. It is still a popular filming location used by Hollywood.

<i>The Badlanders</i> 1958 film by Delmer Daves

The Badlanders is a 1958 American western caper film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Alan Ladd and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story was given an 1898 setting by screenwriter Richard Collins. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's The Asphalt Jungle.

Elizabeth Titus is an American singer and songwriter.

<i>Wild Rovers</i> 1971 film by Blake Edwards

Wild Rovers is a 1971 American Western film directed by Blake Edwards and starring William Holden and Ryan O'Neal.

<i>Unconquered</i> (1947 film) 1947 film by Cecil B. DeMille

Unconquered is a 1947 American historical epic adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard. The supporting cast features Boris Karloff, Cecil Kellaway, Ward Bond, Howard da Silva, Katherine DeMille, C. Aubrey Smith and Mike Mazurki. Released by Paramount Pictures, the film depicts the violent struggles between American colonists and Native Americans on the western frontier in the mid-18th century during the 1763 Pontiac's Rebellion, primarily around Fort Pitt. The film is characterized by DeMille's lavish style, including colourful costumes and sets, thousands of extras, violence, and sensationalism.

<i>20 Mule Team</i> 1940 film

20 Mule Team is a 1940 American Western film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter and Wallace Beery, who appears with his nephew Noah Beery Jr. The film was originally released in sepia-tone, a brown-and-white process used by the studio the previous year for the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray "Crash" Corrigan</span> American actor (1902–1976)

Ray "Crash" Corrigan was an American actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western movies. He also was a stuntman and frequently acted as silver screen gorillas using his own gorilla costumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Young</span> American actress (1915–83)

Evelyn Ebersis Young was an American film actress. In 1940, at the height of her career, she appeared in 9 feature films. She was the leading female actress in The Wildcat of Tucson and Prairie Schooners, playing alongside Wild Bill Elliott and Dub Taylor in a Wild Bill Hickok series.

<i>The Mine with the Iron Door</i> (1924 film) 1924 film

The Mine with the Iron Door is a 1924 American silent Western film directed by Sam Wood and produced by Sol Lesser. The film is based on the novel of the same name by American author Harold Bell Wright that was published in 1923.

<i>Kit Carson</i> (1940 film) 1940 American film

Kit Carson is a 1940 Western film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Jon Hall as Kit Carson, Lynn Bari as Delores Murphy, and Dana Andrews as Captain John C. Frémont. This picture was filmed on location at Cayente (Kayenta), Arizona and was one of the early films to use Monument Valley as a backdrop. The supporting cast features Ward Bond as a character named "Ape", future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore without his mask, and Raymond Hatton as Jim Bridger.

Georgiana Caroline Clavering-Cowper, Countess Cowper born Georgiana Caroline Carteret, was an English noblewoman and literary patron.

Code of Honor is a 1930 American Pre-Code Western film directed by J.P. McGowan and starring Mahlon Hamilton, Doris Hill and Lafe McKee.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lawton, Paul J. (2008). Old Tucson Studios. Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-7385-5629-1.
  2. ↑ Capua, Michelangelo (October 9, 2009). William Holden: A Biography. McFarland. pp. 25–6. ISBN   978-0-7864-5550-8.
  3. ↑ John H. Rothwell (March 9, 1958). "' Tucson': Movie Mecca: Noted Arizona Screen 'Set' Attracts 'Badlanders' Troupe and Tourists". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Graye, Michelle B. (2004). Greetings from Tucson: A Postcard History of the Old Pueblo. MBG. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-9760173-0-1.
  5. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, November 15, 1940, front page
  6. ↑ Strauss, Theodore (February 7, 1941). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times . p. 23.
  7. ↑ Smyth, J. E. (2010). Edna Ferber's Hollywood: American Fictions of Gender, Race, and History. University of Texas Press. p. 140. ISBN   978-0-292-71984-2.
  8. ↑ "Arizona". DVD Talk. December 15, 2005. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Arizona". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.