''Geronimo'' (full title: ''Geronimo: The Story of a Great Enemy'') is a 1939 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 ...

film starring Chief Thundercloud as

Geronimo Gerónimo (, ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands the Tchihen ...

, the famous leader of

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

warriors who fought against American colonizers. It was directed by Paul Sloane. This is the first film depiction of Geronimo's life.

Plot

The army's effort to capture Apache chief Geronimo, who is leading a band of warriors on a rampage of raiding and murder, is hampered by a feud between two officers—who are father and son.

Cast

* Chief Thundercloud as Geronimo * Preston Foster as Captain Bill Starrett * Ellen Drew as Alice Hamilton *

Andy Devine Andrew Vabre Devine (October 7, 1905 – February 18, 1977) was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in American frontier, Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers ...

as Sneezer * Gene Lockhart as Gillespie * William Henry as Lt. John Steele Jr. * Ralph Morgan as Gen. Steele * Pierre Watkin as Colonel White * Marjorie Gateson as Mrs. Steele

Accolades

The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: **

– Nominated Hero

In popular culture

The exclamation ''Geronimo!'', shouted when jumping from a great height, may have entered the English language through the 1939 film. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the film was shown to a group of

paratroopers A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light inf ...

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

, Georgia, who afterwards began to shout ''Geronimo!'' at the moment of jumping from the airplane.

References

External links

* 1939 films 1939 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Apache Wars films Films about Native Americans Cultural depictions of Geronimo Films set in Texas Universal Pictures films Films directed by Paul Sloane Films scored by Gerard Carbonara Films scored by John Leipold American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language Western (genre) films {{1930s-Western-film-stub