Thu 8 Apr 2021
A Western TV Episode Review: CHEYENNE “Mountain Fortress†(1955).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Westerns[7] Comments
CHEYENNE “Mountain Fortress.†ABC / Warner Brothers, 60m, 20 September 1955 (Season One, Episode One). Clint Walker (Cheyenne Bodie), L. Q. Jones (Smitty Smith). Guest Cast: Ann Robinson, Bob Wilke, Peter Coe, James Garner, John Doucette. Director: Richard L. Bare. Season One has been released on DVD and is also currently streaming on Starz.
As I understand it, Cheyenne the TV series was a hit from the start, and it’s easy to see why. It’s an easy transition from the B-westerns that the TV audience in the mid-50s grew up with in the 1940s, complete with a hunky hero in the laconic Gregory Peck mode (Clint Walker), and a semi-goofy sidekick (L. Q. Jones), in the almost-but-not-quite Smiley Burnette et al. mode.
Add a story that wouldn’t be out of place in 1940s, except that it’s one that actually makes sense, plotwise, complete with a secondary cast of villains and cavalry men whose faces were well known in westerns before then, if not their names. (But do note one new face, that of James Garner as a cavalry lieutenant whose fiancée is on board a stagecoach ambushed by Indians. This may have been his first appearance in either movies or on TV.)
But as it turns out, the stagecoach was also the intended target of a gang of outlaws, who take both Cheyenne and Smitty prisoners, as well as the girl and the stage driver, and when the cavalry comes riding in, looking for the girl, they’re taken hostage too. All Cheyenne has to do to free the others is to guide the gang of outlaws safely to Mexico – through Indian territory, of course, and they’re already trapped on a high mountain top surrounded on all sides.
One quick observation, other than the fact, already pointed out, that this little more than a B-western, dressed up only a very very little, and that’s that the body count is very very high on both sides, and maybe that’s because (and this may be way off base) some of the footage used was left over (or re-used) from B-westerns from the 40s. No matter. This series made Clint Walker a very big star at the time (and I am not referring to his height, but as long as you ask, he was 6′ 6″), and the fact that it was on for eight seasons, reflects that.
But one last thing, if I may. The bit with Cheyenne’s sidekick (Smitty) lasted only two more episodes, and he was gone for good. I can only conjecture why. If anyone knows more, that’s what the space set aside for comments is for.
April 8th, 2021 at 9:09 pm
L.Q. Jones was sensationally good as Smittie. I have no idea why he didn’t last.
However, the main run of Cheyenne has the hero entirely alone, and in a new situation each week. There are NO continuing characters or situations. It can be like an anthology show, only with a constant hero.
The Warner Brothers TV Westerns had unusually good scripts – their most important feature, IMHO. Not claiming that these scripts were deathless art. But they were often very good story telling, with an absorbing story with a beginning, middle and end. I’m thinking especially of CHEYENNE, MAVERICK and LAWMAN.
April 9th, 2021 at 3:46 am
My favorite episodes of CHEYENNE are listed here:
http://mikegrost.com/c70.htm#Cheyenne
Think I’ve seen the entire series.
Reportedly, this first episode is a remake of the theatrical Western ROCKY MOUNTAIN (1950). And Cheyenne’s costume might be a duplicate of the hero’s in that film, so that footage can be matched.
April 9th, 2021 at 8:17 am
Aha. Now my thoughts about this CHEYENNE episode make sense. Reading a synopsis of the plot of the movie (starring Errol Flynn), here’s one point that fits exactly:
“From their vantage point on the mountain, the men see a Shoshone war party attack a stagecoach. Barstow’s men charge and drive off the Shoshone after the stage overturns, rescuing driver Gil Craigie (Chubby Johnson ) and the only surviving passenger, Johanna Carter (Patrice Wymore), traveling to join her fiancé, Union Army officer Lt. Rickey (Scott Forbes).”
After that the two stories diverge somewhat, but they definitely come back together at the end.
For more on the movie, here’s the Wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_(film)
And for us who are interested in these kinds of things, I see that the movie is based the story “Ghost Mountain” by Alan Le May.
April 9th, 2021 at 9:36 pm
Warner’s made good use of footage from their film library in their television series, especially the Westerns. An early episode of MAVERICK was based on a Dennis Morgan Western.
Though there were no continuing characters other than Cheyenne after Jones there were recurring guest stars such as Efrem Zimbalist as actor Edwin Booth (Dandy Jim on Maverick) and various cross overs with other Warner’s series.
As for Jones I suspect that the sidekick was just too old hat, too B movie for a series that was usually more dramatic (though it had its share of comic moments). Even in the theme song the lyric is “Lonely man, Cheyenne …” hardly descriptive of a character with a comic side kick.
Note in the picture above Walker is wearing the same costume as Errol Flynn in the film for those important long shots of footage from the film.
This was Garner’s first television role though he had previously appeared on stage in Charles Laughton’s production of THE CAINE MUTINY with Henry Fonda. 1957 was his breakout year with SAYONARA and MAVERICK.
April 10th, 2021 at 9:45 am
You Know, in the first couple of MAVERICKS Leo Gordon was James Garner’s sidekick.
April 10th, 2021 at 12:43 pm
I’d quite forgotten that, Ray. Thanks! It’s sort of obvious, isn’t it, that the concept of sidekicks was a carry over from the B-westerns that the TV people (Warners) decided to abandon very very quickly.
April 10th, 2021 at 4:59 pm
The character of Cheyenne was inspired by a Dennis Morgan western where he played a highly fictionalized Jim Bridger in THE GUN THAT WON THE WEST (1953) just as the pilot of MAVERICK was based on another Morgan Western, ironically enough 1947’s CHEYENNE which had a screenplay and story by Alan LeMay.
I think Gordon only lasted two episodes of MAVERICK though he likely showed up in other parts in later seasons.