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The Cheyenne Social Club is a 1970 American western comedy film written by James Lee Barrett, directed and produced by Gene Kelly, and starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Shirley Jones. The film is about an aging cowboy who inherits a brothel and decides to turn it into a respectable boarding house, against the wishes of both the townspeople and the ladies working there.
| The Cheyenne Social Club | |
|---|---|
Original cinema poster | |
| Directed by | Gene Kelly |
| Produced by | James Lee Barrett Gene Kelly |
| Written by | James Lee Barrett |
| Starring | James Stewart Henry Fonda Shirley Jones Sue Ane Langdon |
| Music by | Walter Scharf |
| Cinematography | William H. Clothier |
| Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
Production company | Cinema Center Films |
| Distributed by | National General Pictures (US) Cinerama Releasing (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5,250,000 (US/Canada) (rentals) |
Screenplay
In 1867, John O'Hanlan and Harley Sullivan are aging cowboys working on open cattle ranges in Texas. O'Hanlan gets a letter from an attorney in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that his disreputable and now deceased brother, DJ, left him something called The Cheyenne Social Club in his will.
After making the 1,000 mile (1,600 km) trek to Cheyenne, O'Hanlan and Sullivan learn The Cheyenne Social Club is a high-class brothel next to the railroad. O'Hanlan's efforts to close the Club are thwarted, so O'Hanlan has his brother's lawyer transfer ownership of the Club to Jenny, and he leaves town again, with Sullivan in tow.
- James Stewart as John O'Hanlan
- Henry Fonda as Harley Sullivan
- Shirley Jones as Jenny
- Sue Ane Langdon as Opal Ann
- Elaine Devry as Pauline
- Jackie Russell as Carrie Virginia
- Jackie Joseph as Annie Jo
- Sharon DeBord as Sara Jean
- Robert Middleton as Barkeep
- Robert J. Wilke as Corey Bannister
- Dabbs Greer as Jedediah W. Willowby
Set in a brothel with suggestive dialogue, this was one of the few off-color films that James Stewart did. He also specifically asked that his friend Fonda be cast; they had most recently worked together two years previously in Firecreek. Stewart and Fonda's first film together had been the musical comedy On Our Merry Way (1948), and they had also both appeared in How the West Was Won (1962) but had no scenes together despite playing best friends.
The exteriors were shot at two Western film lots the Eaves Movie Ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico that was built for the film and Bonanza Creek Ranch and, while the interiors were shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood.
A novelisation of the screenplay was written by Phillip Rock.
The Cheyenne Social Club turned a small profit, and was poorly received by critics. It didn't receive any notoriety until decades later with numerous cable television broadcasts. Barrett's script earned a 1970 Writers Guild of America nomination for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen", but lost to Neil Simon for The Out-of-Towners.
- List of American films of 1970
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