JOE29

I just watched the movie Broken Arrow and i came up with a question for the historians on the panel. I think the movie could of been a lot better if it didn't center upon the romance between Jeffords ( Stewart ) and the indian girl.
Was that something that really happened or was that something that was inserted by Hollywood? I'm not that familiar on the story of Jeffords and the Apache's.

Ash Ketchum

I have the original novel that it was based on, by Elliott Arnold, but I haven't read it yet. So the question is, was it in the novel or not? I have seen the film, though.

My own sense is that if it happened in real life, it probably wouldn't be part of the historical record. My own educated guess is that it was made up by Hollywood. Interesting question, though, and I'd like to check up on it. As much as I like Debra Paget, the actress who plays the Indian girl, I can't help but agree with your assessment.

There were much better films about the same subject made around the same time:

DEVIL'S DOORWAY (1950), directed by Anthony Mann, stars Robert Taylor as an Indian who fights in the Civil War and comes back home to find his land taken. He gets a white lady lawyer (Paula Raymond) to help him out.

ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI (1951), directed by William Wellman, stars Clark Gable as a trapper out west who marries an Indian woman (Mexican actress Maria Elena Marques). No one bats an eye, it's just part of the overall fabric of the story.

THE BIG SKY (1952), directed by Howard Hawks, stars Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin as trappers who both fall for the same Indian woman, a Blackfoot princess played by the half-Cherokee Elizabeth Threatt. She chooses one, who then prepares to walk out on her, infuriating the other... Again, no one says a word about race in this.

There were plenty more later in the decade, including WHITE FEATHER (1956) directed by BROKEN ARROW's director, Delmer Daves, and co-starring Debra Paget as yet another Indian maiden. This one has a much happier ending.

In contrast, BROKEN ARROW hits you over the head with the whole interracial romance thing. I remember seeing an episode of the Mike Douglas talk show sometime in the 1970s and comedian Jack Carter was on there doing impressions and he did James Stewart with the line, "I just want an Indian girl." And the crowd roared. (Of course, if a comedian did that today, no one would know what he was talking about.)

JOE29

I may have to buy that book myself, since i'm a fan of the American Indian wars that should be right up my alley.
I'm a fan of Debra Paget also. She's obviously very young in this movie. But I loved her in the Haunted Palace with Vincent Price ( who is my all-time favorite actor ). She was beautiful in that movie.
I'll have to look for that book, by Elliot Arnold. But I wouldn't be able to read it anytime soon.

Ash Ketchum

Stewart was about 41 when he made the movie. Paget was about 16! (If her IMDB birthdate is correct, that is.)

If they remade the movie today with stars of about comparable status and ages, you'd have someone like Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, or Tom Cruise starring as Jeffords with Selena Gomez (from the Disney Channel) or Miranda Cosgrove (Nickelodeon) as the Indian maiden he marries. Yikes!