Quiet on the Set!

James Stewart confers with Italian-American “Indian” Iron Eyes Cody in Sedona.

Suspicious PR item from the pressbook for Broken Arrow, filmed in Sedona in 1949: 

Broken Arrow star Jimmy Stewart was known as a nice guy throughout his life, but he was never much of a talker. While on location in the Coconino National Forest near Sedona, the tall, gangling actor stopped for a moment to admire the magnificent view. An uncredited Apache player, Phillip Sky Bird, sidled up to gaze in the same direction.

Minutes passed and not a word was exchanged between the two. Finally, Stewart, feeling the awkward silence, let himself go and came up with an observation.

“Nice country,” he ventured.

“Yes,” replied Sky Bird, “but don’t spoil it by your idle chatter.”

Correction, Please

His baby blues made playing a full-blooded Native American a concern when Burt Lancaster came to Sedona in ‘53 for Robert Aldrich’s Apache, but what really upset his vision was a failure to see eye-to-eye with the studio on a “happy ending.” Adding insult to injury, United Artists claimed Apache was filmed entirely in the “High Sierras” (as claimed in the trade ad above), ignoring its six-day detour to Sedona.