CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB, THE
(director: Gene Kelly; screenwriters: James Lee Barrett/from the novel by Davis Grubb; cinematographer: William Clothier; editor: Adrienne Fazan; music: Walter Scharf; cast: James Stewart (John O’Hanlan), Shirley Jones (Madam Jenny), Henry Fonda (Harley Sullivan), Sue Ane Langdon (Opal Ann), Robert Middleton (Barkeeper), Jackie Russell (Carrie Virginia), Dabbs Greer (Jedediah W. Willowby), Sharon De Bord (Sara Jean), Elaine Devry (Pauline), Jean Willes (Alice), Robert J. Wilkie (Corey Bannister), Richard Collier (Nathan Potter), Hal Baylor (Barkeep, The Little Egypt), Charles Tyner (Charlie Bannister), Carl Reindel (Pete Dodge), Jason Wingreen (Dr. Farley Carter), J. Pat O’Malley (Dr. Michael Foy), Dick Johnstone (Yancy), Charlotte Stewart (Mae), Arch Johnson (Marshal Anderson), Red Morgan (Steve Hansen), John Dehner (Clay Carroll); Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: PG; producer; Gene Kelly: National General/WB; 1970)
“Silly buddy western.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The dance man Gene Kelly (“Gigot”/”Singin’ In The Rain”) directs this quirky Western built around star power but helmed in a flat and witless way. The jokes are cornball, the dialogue is stale and the characters are more cartoonish than real. Yet Stewart and Fonda make it a charmer. Writer James Lee Barrett bases it on the novel by Davis Grubb.
The silly buddy western is set in 1867 in Cheyenne. John O’Hanlan (James Stewart) and Harley Sullivan (Henry Fonda) are ageing, wandering cowboys on the trail in Texas, who have been riding together the last ten years. John receives a letter from a Cheyenne lawyer, Willowby (Dabbs Greer), that his brother died in the war and left him the Cheyenne Social Club. He rides to Cheyenne with Harley and is shocked to learn his brother left him a popular whorehouse that’s run by a spunky madame, Jenny (Shirley Jones).
John likes the idea of being a man of property, a Republican, he says, but doesn’t feel right owning a brothel.
When John tells Jenny and the 5 seemingly much too wholesome whores (Sue Ane Langdon, Elaine Devry, Jackie Russell, Sharon De Bord) that he’s closing it for a boardinghouse, their friendliness suddenly turns to wrath. But then a psycho cowboy Corey Bannister (Robert J. Wilkie) savagely beats Jenny up for no reason, and John challenges Bannister to a gun duel and kills him. But the victim’s uncle ( Charles Tyner) and a few other meanie relatives come to town to kill John.
It’s an old-fashioned western, one that Stewart and Fonda play well-together despite it being a disappointing film with just a few winning moments. Furthermore the whores were too cheery to be believable and the story too strained to be convincing.
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The dance man Gene Kelly (“Gigot”/”Singin’ In The Rain”) directs this quirky Western built around star power but helmed in a flat and witless way. The jokes are cornball, the dialogue is stale and the characters are more cartoonish than real. Yet Stewart and Fonda make it a charmer. Writer James Lee Barrett bases it on the novel by Davis Grubb.
The silly buddy western is set in 1867 in Cheyenne. John O’Hanlan (James Stewart) and Harley Sullivan (Henry Fonda) are ageing, wandering cowboys on the trail in Texas, who have been riding together the last ten years. John receives a letter from a Cheyenne lawyer, Willowby (Dabbs Greer), that his brother died in the war and left him the Cheyenne Social Club. He rides to Cheyenne with Harley and is shocked to learn his brother left him a popular whorehouse that’s run by a spunky madame, Jenny (Shirley Jones).
John likes the idea of being a man of property, a Republican, he says, but doesn’t feel right owning a brothel.
When John tells Jenny and the 5 seemingly much too wholesome whores (Sue Ane Langdon, Elaine Devry, Jackie Russell, Sharon De Bord) that he’s closing it for a boardinghouse, their friendliness suddenly turns to wrath. But then a psycho cowboy Corey Bannister (Robert J. Wilkie) savagely beats Jenny up for no reason, and John challenges Bannister to a gun duel and kills him. But the victim’s uncle ( Charles Tyner) and a few other meanie relatives come to town to kill John.
It’s an old-fashioned western, one that Stewart and Fonda play well-together despite it being a disappointing film with just a few winning moments. Furthermore the whores were too cheery to be believable and the story too strained to be convincing.
REVIEWED ON 12/12/2021 GRADE: B-