''Cheyenne'' is a 1947 American

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed by

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent cinema actor George Walsh. He wa ...

and starring

Dennis Morgan Dennis Morgan (born Earl Stanley Morner; December 20, 1908 – September 7, 1994) was an American actor-singer. He used the acting pseudonym Richard Stanley before adopting the name under which he gained his greatest fame. According to one ob ...

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007). was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Pr ...

Janis Paige Janis Paige (born Donna Mae Tjaden; September 16, 1922 – June 2, 2024) was an American actress and singer. With a career spanning nearly 60 years, she was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Tacoma, Wash ...

and

Bruce Bennett Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix, also credited Herman Brix; May 19, 1906 – February 24, 2007) was an American film and television actor who was a college athlete in football and in intercollegiate and international track-and-field co ...

. It was produced and released by Hollywood major

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Plot

Jim Wylie is a gambler in Laramie,

Wyoming Territory The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The ...

who is wanted by the

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

law. He gets a proposal from a

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

agent; if he can help locate a bandit known as "The Poet" who has been robbing stagecoaches, all pending charges will be dropped and Jim can even claim a cash reward. His stage to

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

has a pair of female passengers, Ann Kincaid and saloon singer Emily Carson, when their coach is ambushed by the

Sundance Kid Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (1867 – November 7, 1908), better known as the Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. He likely met Butch Cassidy (real name Robert LeRoy Parker) during a hunti ...

and his gang. But when he opens the strongbox, Sundance is furious to find nothing but a mocking poem from The Poet. Jim pretends to be The Poet to infiltrate his gang. What he doesn't know is that Ann is married to the notorious outlaw. She goes along with the ruse to see where it leads. Her husband, the real Poet, is Ed Landers, a trusted Wells Fargo employee, who promises to pull one last job and then get away with Ann safely to San Francisco. Sundance is once again foiled on a job by the Poet getting there first, and three of Sundance's men are killed. He realizes that Ann has double-crossed him. Jim confides to Landers his true identity, not realizing Landers is the man he's after. Landers promptly tells Cheyenne's sheriff that Jim is not just pretending to be the Poet, but is him. Ann detects a whiff of perfume on Landers that she recognizes. It is Emily's, proof to Ann that her lying, thieving husband plans to take Emily away to San Francisco instead of her. On his next holdup attempt, Landers is shot dead by Jim. All is well until Jim is told that unless he can also recover The Poet's stolen money, there will be no reward. He is dejected until Ann, leaving town on the stage, tosses him two sacks filled with money. A delighted Jim gallops off to catch up with her.

Cast

Box office

According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $2,506,000 domestically and $797,000 foreign.

Anecdotes

The film centers around the mysterious "poet" bandit, who robs Wells Fargo stagecoaches. The inspiration for this may have come from a notorious outlaw of similar methodology, Black Bart.

References

External links