Watch The Cheyenne Social Club For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Admirable film.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Song and dance legend Gene Kelly turned over a new leaf with this 1970 western co-starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda. "The Cheyenne Social Club" qualifies as one of the best western sex comedies. Subtlety is so unusual in a western of this variety, but "Singing in the Rain" director Gene Kelly and "Shenandoah" scenarist James Lee Barrett exemplify a light, nimble touch. Davis Grubb wrote the source novel. Stewart plays a career cowpoke that received a letter two years late and discovers that he has inherited a bordello much to his chagrin. Henry Fonda plays his long-winded best friend of ten years. This movie is a treat that drums up one surprise after another as Stewart struggles with his conscience about what to do with the whorehouse. Stewart gives a solemn, sincere performance as a repressed man embarrassed by his stroke of good fortune. Fonda delivers one of his most laid-back performances. He cracks pecans and catches everybody's attention. Stewart and Fonda make a hilarious pair who have been riding together for so long but don't know why they've been together. Barrett's dialogue is often quotable. Shirley Jones and Sue Ann Langdon round out the cast as a couple of the prostitutes at the Cheyenne Social Club. I don't think that the two stars would sack out in the same bed as Stewart and Fonda do, but then this oater isn't filthy minded. The politic dimension to the plot is also very funny.The scene when John explains to the girls what happened to him is amusing. As he stumbles through his speech, a bell rings a different number of times summoning the girls from the meeting. After he learns that he has inherited a house of ill repute from his brother, John O'Hanlan (James Stewart of "Vertigo") decides to close the place to everybody's surprise.Although it was the only western that Kelly helmed, he used John Wayne's favorite cinematographer William H. Clothier and "The Cheyenne Social Club" looks as western as all get out.

After James Stewart and Henry Fonda appeared together in a Western called "Firecreek" (1968), it was wisely decided that the two old friends should be paired together in another Western, only this time they would actually play off of their real-life friendship. Written by James Lee Barrett and directed by - of all people - Gene Kelly, this project would be titled "The Cheyenne Social Club." John O'Hanlan (Stewart) and Harley Sullivan (Fonda) are two Texas wranglers, the former soon learning that he has inherited a place from his deceased brother known as the Cheyenne Social Club. Not knowing what kind of establishment it is, the two old cowpokes decide to make the thousand-mile trek northbound. Soon enough, they find out exactly what kind of place this "social club" is.Two highlights: Probably the funniest scene in the whole piece occurs near the beginning when Harley chatters endlessly during the opening credits as he and John ride to Cheyenne; John finally gets a word in edgewise after they've travelled their thousand miles. And when John learns that Pauline (Elaine Devry) supposedly has a bad liver, he walks into her room and gives her some money so that she may see a doctor; Pauline, however, thinks that this money is meant for a little something else.The making of "The Cheyenne Social Club" was not a most pleasant experience. Henry Fonda reportedly didn't want to do the picture at all, trying to get Jack Elam to replace him; certainly, Jack Elam is a wonderful actor (one of my favorite Western bad guys, in fact), but no doubt this film would have been quite different had Elam stepped into the role of Harley Sullivan. As for James Stewart, he was suffering two major losses. First, he could scarcely be expected to recover from the recent death of his stepson Ronald McLean, who was active in the Vietnam War. Second, the horse that Stewart rode in every one of his Westerns for twenty-some years, named Pie, was too ill for Stewart to ride in this Western; Pie died shortly after filming wrapped. Fonda, Gene Kelly, and some of the other crew were well aware of Stewart's sadness on the set and apparently tried to help him out as best they could; Fonda even pleasantly surprised Stewart by presenting him with a watercolor painting that he did of Pie.

My lasting memory from seeing this film in a large screen theater in 1970 is the opening scene: Fonda and Stewart at work on a snowy range with other cowboys before Stewart gets notified of his inheritance. I don't think the film made much money upon initial release, but when it was shown on US network television in the late seventies, it was the number one telecast for the week. Back in those pre multi cable days, I'm sure some grasping producer (Glenn Larson type) was contemplating a pilot for a few weeks.

No matter how many movies teamed Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, it was not enough. Gene Kelly directs the pair here in a simple story of long-time friendship in the Old West, familiar ground, sure, but a story that always brings a smile to my face.When John O'Hanlan (Stewart) discovers that his long lost brother has died, he's surprised to find that he has inherited a business. Enthusiastically he crosses the country from Texas to Cheyenne to become ‘a man of property', just what he's always wanted.But the Cheyenne Social Club, his business, is a brothel. The premiere brothel in this boom town, sure, but that's not exactly what O'Hanlan had in mind. Thankfully his riding partner Harley Sullivan (Fonda) has tagged along, Harley may have his own point of view on most things, but he does smooth out many of the rough spots they encounter along the way.Story is predictable, the climax is anti-climatic, but, who cares when you get to see these on-screen buddies in a buddy movie defined.