A Filmography of Western Movies

Featuring Red Rock Crossing

        I have been a film buff for some time, specializing in movies made in Yavapai County, Arizona.

        The following Western movies contain scenes shot at Red Rock Crossing. If you know of any other titles featuring the Crossing which are not included, I would appreciate hearing from you. I can be contacted at PrescottKid@peoplepc.com or by writing to Tom Slaback, 715 E. Goodwin Street, Prescott, AZ 86303.

        I have rated the movies 1 to 4 Red Rocks. My ratings are not only based on the quality of the script, acting and directing, but equally on how well the red rock scenery was cast and photographed. (In many instances, raising a mediocre film to above average.)

        Here is my list, together with ratings and commentaries:

APACHE                                             

United Artists 1954 Color 91 Minutes

Director: Robert Aldrich

Stars: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Buchinsky, Monte Blue, Ian McDonald, John Dehner

This is the last movie "Charles Bronson" made as "Charles Buchinsky." He plays an Apache army scout.

BLOOD ON THE MOON        

RKO 1948 B&W 88 Minutes

Director: Robert Wise

Stars: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Tom Tully, Frank Faylen, Charles McGraw

Good scenes of Robert Mitchum and Barbara Bel Geddes at Red Rock Crossing.

Robert Mitchum waters his horse at Red Rock Crossing just before the action starts with his initial meeting of Barbara Bel Geddes.

BROKEN ARROW           

Fox 1950 Color 93 Minutes

Director: Delmer Daves

Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Arthur Hunnicutt, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer, Jay Silverheels

Probably contains the most footage of Red Rock Crossing, including memorable scenes with James Stewart and Debra Paget. This was the first important film to depict the Indian point of view.

The Italians are also familiar with Red Rock Crossing  -- as this "photobusta" of James Stewart and Debra Paget attests.

COMANCHE TERRITORY     

Universal 1950 Color 76 Minutes

Director: George Sherman

Stars: McDonald Carey, Maureen O'Hara, Will Geer, James Best, Charles Drake

A good look at Red Rock Crossing, Little Park, Big Park (Village of Oak Creek) and other Sedona locales before modern development.

THE COMANCHEROS         

Fox 1961 Color Widescreen 107 Minutes

Director: Michael Curtiz

Stars: John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin, Nehemiah Persoff, Lee Marvin, Bruce Cabot, Michael Ansara, Edgar Buchanan, Jack Elam, Guinn Williams, Bob Steele

Shows Red Rock Crossing during the credits only.

COPPER CANYON     

Paramount 1950 Color 83 Minutes

Director: John Farrow

Stars: Ray Milland, Hedy Lamarr, McDonald Carey, Mona Freeman, Harry Carey Jr., Frank Faylen, Percy Helton

Titles show Red Rock Crossing and Cathedral Rock. Also features an interesting set built by Bob Bradshaw at the Crossing, on the banks of Oak Creek.

CORONER CREEK         

Columbia 1948 Color 93 Minutes

Director: Ray Enright

Stars: Randolph Scott, Marguerite Chapman, George MacReady, Forrest Tucker, Sally Eilers, Edgar Buchanan, Wallace Ford, Joe Sawyer

Red Rock Crossing is there, but hard to identify from a low-angle northeast shot, and Cathedral Rock is not visible.

DREAM WEST         

CBS 1986 Color 7 Hours (3 Part TV Mini-Series)

Director: Dick Lowrey

Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Alice Krige, Gail (Gayle) Hunnicutt, Rip Torn, Fritz Weaver, Burton Gilliam

Guest Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Claude Akins, John Anderson, Ben Johnson, Cameron Mitchell, Jerry Orbach, G. D. Spradlin, Anthony Zerbe

An overlong, but sumptuously produced, TV mini-series on the life of John C. Fremont. Shot on magnificent locations, including Red Rock Crossing in Part 2. Much of the acting and dialog is overblown. Local environmental author Dan Daggett is a slow-on-the-draw trooper at the Crossing and later is one of the soldiers escorting Fremont on his way east to stand court marshal in a scene filmed at Bell Rock. Army scout Kit Carson meets General Stephen Watts Kearny at Red Rock Crossing while carrying dispatches to Washington, D.C.  Fremont's Arizona governorship is reduced to a couple of lines of dialog near the conclusion.

The History Channel's presentation includes commentary by Sander Vanocur and John Mack Faragher, professor of history at Yale University and editor of the American Heritage Encyclopedia of American History.

DRUM BEAT        

Warner Brothers 1954 Color Widescreen 111 Minutes

Director: Delmer Daves

Stars: Alan Ladd, Charles Bronson, Marisa Pavan, Audrey Dalton, Elisha Cook Jr., Frank Ferguson, Rodolfo Acosta, Robert Keith, Hayden Rorke

Titles shot with Cathedral Rock in the background, with other scenes featuring Red Rock Crossing. This was the first staring role for "Charles Bronson." (See APACHE.)

Apparently the print technician at Warner Brothers was one of the few people never to have seen Red Rock Crossing.  He made his print from the backside of the negative.   The scene has been reversed to correct this error.  As a consequence, the caption at the bottom appears backward.

DUDES  

Vista 1987 Color 90 Minutes

Director: Penelope Spheeris

Stars: Jon Cryer, Catherine Mary Stewart, Daniel Roebuck, Lee Ving, Flea

A punk rock modern B western. There is an abbreviated night scene at the Crossing in addition to Schnebly Hill and VOC locations. Also of interest are scenes filmed in the towns of Clarkdale and Cottonwood and at the abandoned smelter. A J. Pith Garnell III Bad Cinema pick. So bad that it would almost be fun except for the repellent graphic violence.

FLAMING FEATHER                

Paramount 1951 Color 77 Minutes

Director: Ray Enright

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Forrest Tucker, Barbara Rush, Arleen Whelan, Edgar Buchanan, Victor Jory, Richard Arlen

Two scenes shot at Red Rock Crossing, showing fall colors in glorious Technicolor ^®.

GUN FURY               

Columbia 1953 Color & 3D 83 Minutes

Director: Raoul Walsh

Stars: Rock Hudson, Donna Reed, Philip Cary, Lee Marvin, Neville Brand, Leo Gordon, Roberta Haynes

Presents Red Rock Crossing in a simulated night shot. Originally filmed in 3-D by one-eyed director Walsh. This is the best look at predevelopment Sedona, especially the movie town set built beneath Coffee Pot Rock in what is now West Sedona.

THE HALF-BREED       

RKO 1952 Color 81 Minutes

Director: Stuart Gilmore

Stars: Robert Young, Jack Beutel, Janis Carter, Barton McLane, Reed Hadley, Connie Gilchrist

An extremely old-fashioned Western (à la 1930s) with fall and winter scenes filmed at Red Rock Crossing.

HARD HUNTED  

Columbia 1992 Color 97 Minutes

Director: Andy Sidaris

Stars: Dona Speir, Roberta Vazquez, R. J. Moore, Bruce Penhall, Tony Peck, Cynthia Brimhall

Soft core comes to Red Rock Crossing.  A witless, but not body-less secret agent, shoot-em-up, explosive action adventure.  Lake Havasu stands in for the Hawaiian Islands.  It rates 1/2 Red Rock for its "babes on the rocks at the Crossing" scene.

---

JOHNNY GUITAR          

Republic 1954 Color 110 Minutes

Director: Nicholas Ray

Stars: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond, Ernest Borgnine, Royal Dano, John Carradine, Paul Fix, Frank Ferguson, Ian McDonald

Displays Red Rock Crossing, but it is hard to recognize. Who cares? Enjoy the exceptional dialogue, outrageous symbolism and male/female role reversals.

KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS         

DPI 1977 Color Widescreen 94 Minutes

Director: John (Bud) Cardos

Stars: William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode, Lieux Dressler

Shows Rock Crossing and Cathedral Rock, but Oak Creek is not visible, only streamside trees. A modern-day Western, featuring tarantulas going on the warpath. Theme song "Peaceful Verde Valley" written and performed by Dorsey Burnette.

THE LAST WAGON           

Fox 1956 Color Widescreen 99 Minutes

Director: Delmer Daves

Stars: Richard Widmark, Felicia Farr, Tommy Rettig, Nick Adams, Carl Benton Reid, Susan Kohner, Ray Stricklyn, Stephanie Griffin

Opening titles and gunfight at Red Rock Crossing. A superior Western.

PONY SOLDIER         

Fox 1952 Color 82 Minutes

Director: Joseph M. Newman

Stars: Tyrone Power, Cameron Mitchell, Thomas Gomez, Penny Edwards, Robert Horton, Nipo Strongheart, Adeline Reynolds, Anthony Earl Numkena

A small band of Indians, led by Cameron Mitchell, set fire to a covered wagon in the middle of Red Rock Crossing. The majority of other Indian scenes were lifted from "Buffalo Bill," a 1944 feature directed by William Wellman and staring Joel McCrea.

THE REDHEAD AND THE COWBOY      

Paramount 1950 B&W 82 Minutes

Director: Leslie Fenton

Stars: Glenn Ford, Edmond O'Brien, Rhonda Fleming, Morris Ankrum, Alan Reed

Read a letter from Rhonda Fleming about Red Rock Crossing.

THE ROUNDERS           

MGM 1965 Color Widescreen 85 Minutes

Director: Burt Kennedy

Stars: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Chill Wills, Sue Ane Langdon, Edgar Buchanan, Joan Freeman, Denver Pyle, Hope Holliday, Barton MacLane, Peter Fonda

One of the best comedies of the 1960s.

SHOTGUN     

Allied Artists 1955 Color 81 Minutes

Director: Leslie Selander

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Yvonne De Carlo, Zachary Scott, Robert J. Wilke

It was this type of movie that made Sterling Hayden sail away from Hollywood, aboard his yacht, for a life in the South Seas.

STATION WEST           

RKO 1948 B&W 92 Minutes

Director: Sidney Lanfield

Stars: Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Burl Ives, Tom Powers, Steve Brody, Raymond Burr

Film noir in the West.  Burl Ives sings "Women and Gold."

Still Photograph of Dick Powell and Jane Greer at Red Rock Crossing.

Red Rock Crossing is known the world over -- as this 1948 Belgian movie poster demonstrates.

26 MEN, "Manhunt"        

ABC-TV 1957-1958 Season B&W 24 Minutes

Director: Reg Browne

Stars: Tris Coffin, Kelo Henderson, Richard Crane, Richard Cutting, Morris Ankrum, Guy Prescott

THE WILD ROVERS    

MGM 1971 Color Widescreen 109 Minutes

Director: Blake Edwards

Stars: William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, Karl Malden, Joe Don Baker, Victor French, Tom Skerritt, James Olsen, Lynn Carlin, Rachel Roberts

A picture of debatable moral values, highlighted by broad expanses of wide-open spaces, including Red Rock Crossing.

Want List #1

        I am looking for prints of the following movies shot in Sedona. 

         If you have any information, please contact me at PrescottKid@peoplepc.com or by writing to Tom Slaback, 715 E. Goodwin Street, Prescott, AZ 86303.

BIO-TECH WARRIOR

New Horizons 1996 Color Widescreen 81 Minutes

Director: Bret McCormick

Stars: James Michael Taylor, Sky Callahan, Robert F. Cawley

KING OF THE WILD HORSES

Columbia 1933 B&W 62 Minutes

Director: Earl Haley

Stars: Rex, Dorothy Appleby, William Janney, Wallace MacDonald, Art Mix, Harry Semels, Ford West

THE LEGEND OF THE BOY AND THE EAGLE

Disney 1967 Color Widescreen 48 Minutes

Director: Jack Couffer

Stars: Stanford Lomakema

THE OREGON TRAIL

Universal 1976 Color (TV Series Pilot)

Director: Boris Sagal

Stars: Rod Taylor, Blair Brown, David Huddelston, Douglas Fowley, Linda Purl, G. D. Spradlin, Andrew Stevens

THE OUTLAW'S DAUGHTER

Fox 1954 Color 76 Minutes

Director: Wesley Berry

Stars: Bill Williams, Jim Davis, Kelly Ryan, and Elisha Cook Jr., Guinn Williams, George Cleveland

STARMAN

Columbia Pictures Television 1986 Color (TV Series Pilot -- "The Return")

Directors: Robert Chenault and Bob Dahlin

Stars: Robert Hays, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Michael Cavanaugh, Patrick Culliton

Want List #2

        I am looking for prints of the following movies shot in Prescott, Arizona.

        If you have any information, please contact me at PrescottKid@peoplepc.com or by writing to Tom Slaback, 715 E. Goodwin Street, Prescott, AZ 86303.

ARIZONA FRONTIER

Monogram 1940 B&W 60 Minutes

Director: Al Herman

Stars: Tex Ritter, Slim Andrews, Evelyn Finley, Tristram Coffin, Gene Alsace, James Pierce,  Jim Thorpe

THE CRINGER

Lubin Film Co. 1912 B&W

Director: Romaine Fielding

Note: This movie, and 14 others, including THE UPRISING, THE FOREST RANGER, THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR (aka NEIGHBORS), THE WAY OF THE MOUNTAINS, A SOLDIER'S FURLOUGH, THE HALF BREED'S SACRIFICE, THE BLIND CATTLE KING, THE POWER OF SILENCE and WHO IS THE SAVAGE were made at the Lubin film studio, 712 Western Avenue, Prescott Arizona. The other titles may include CHIEF WHITE EAGLE, HIS WESTERN WAY and COURAGEOUS BLOOD.

CUTTY WHITMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER

Universal 1996 Color (unreleased TV Series Pilot)

Director: Bob Singer

Stars: James Remar, Carrie Preston, Mike Dawson (Prescott cowboy poet, stuntman and character actor)

THE HIDDEN SPRING (aka THE SECRET SPRING)

Metro Pictures Corporation 1917 B&W 5 Reels

Director: E. Mason Hopper

Stars: Harold Lockwood, Vera Sisson, Herbert Standing, Lester Cuneo

Filmed in Jerome, Arizona.

ROAMING THROUGH ARIZONA

MGM 1944 Color 10 Minutes

One of the Travel Talk series

Narrator: James A. FitzPatrick

A documentary short featuring Prescott, Jerome and Sedona.

WHEN A MAN'S A MAN

Associated First National 1924 B&W

Director: Edward F. Cline

Stars: John Bowers, Marguerite De La Motte, Robert Frazer, June Marlowe, Forrest Robinson, Elizabeth Rhodes

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