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Chief Crazy Horse (film)

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Chief Crazy Horse
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Sherman
Screenplay byFranklin Coen
Gerald Drayson Adams
Story byGerald Drayson Adams
Produced byWilliam Alland
StarringVictor Mature
Suzan Ball
John Lund
CinematographyHarold Lipstein
Edited byAl Clark
Music byFrank Skinner
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Universal International Pictures
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • April 1955 (1955-04)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.75 million (US/Canada rentals)[1]

Chief Crazy Horse is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Victor Mature, Suzan Ball and John Lund.[2] The film is a fictionalized biography of the Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse. It was also known as Valley of Fury.

Plot

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When young Crazy Horse (Victor Mature) wins his bride, rival Little Big Man (Ray Danton) goes to villainous traders with evidence of gold in the sacred Lakota burial ground. A new gold rush starts and old treaties are torn up. Crazy Horse becomes chief of his people, leading them to war at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Cast

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Production

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Jeff Chandler was originally announced to play the lead.[3] Instead the part was given to Victor Mature. Filming began in June 1954, on location in Montana and Wyoming.[4] This was the final film of Suzan Ball who died of cancer four months after the film was released.

Reception

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Bosley Crowther wrote that the film was "just a series of hit-and-holler clashes between the Indians and the United States Cavalry" and "[s]o monotonous, indeed, are these forays that when they finally get around to the famous slaughter of Custer's troop at the Little Big Horn it is just another routine episode--even though it is later mentioned as the great victory that the old chief prophesied".[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1955's Top Film Grossers". Variety. January 25, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved February 7, 2021 – via Archive.org.
  2. ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (April 28, 1955). "The Screen: Warpath; Chief Crazy Horse and Tribe Attack Cavalry". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Schallert, Edwin (March 21, 1953). "'Chief Crazyhorse' Held Right for Jeff Chandler; Slate Signs Term Deal". Los Angeles Times. p. 11.
  4. ^ Pryor, Thomas M. (May 22, 1954). "Subsidies to Italy on Films Decried: Talks on New Agreement Are Seeking End to the Practice, Held 'Dangerous' Precedent". The New York Times. p. 8.
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