Search - The Cheyenne Social Club / Firecreek on DVD

Two Good Pairings

John A Lee III | San Antonio, TX | 01/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This disk contains two westerns, both staring Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. The pair works well together in very different roles.



The first is a comedy and the second is a drama. In the first they are buddies, in the second they are enemies. In both, they are splendid.



Individual reviews appear below:



THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB

This One's a Hoot



Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda play a couple of cowboys working on the range. When Stewart gets a letter he is surprised to learn that his bother has died and left him his business. It is a placed called the Cheyenne Social Club. So it is that Stewart and his sidekick, Fonda, set out for Wyoming with the expectation of becoming respectable business men.



Upon arrival, Stewart learns that he is the most popular and respected man in town. He also learns that his social club is a brothel. This strikes him as not being "in his line of work" and he determines to close the place down. That takes him from being the most respected to the most reviled man in town. He has some hard decisions to make and even more trouble appears when he learns that there are contractual agreements between his shop and the railroad. Things get more complicated still when he learns that there are some ruffians roughing up some of his girls.



Stewart is just a nice guy trying to do the "right thing". Eventually, he does...much to his own surprise.





FIRECREEK

Sometimes the Little Guys Win



This is another pairing of Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda in a western.



Stewart plays a farmer, respected by his peers and given the honorary title of sheriff in his town. The tile also comes with a home made tin badge and 20 dollars. It is a sign of esteem and nothing more.



Fonda plays the leader of a group of gunmen with vague notions about law and order. When passing through town, they decide to stop there a little while and rest. Nobody really minds that but they do object to being treated like vermin by the gunmen who get a bit wild when they drink. Fonda does not really approve of what they do but is reluctant to come down on them too hard for fear of alienating them. That means that it is up to the sheriff to keep order.



Keeping order is a hard job. He is not trained and he is certainly no gunfighter. He is just a farmer. The townspeople encourage him just to ignore things in the hope that the bad guys will eventually go away. All are frightened. When a friend is lynched, though, Stewart decides that enough is enough and takes on the whole gang.



This is one of those films in which the little guy manages to stand up to the bully, survive and even win. It comes at a cost, though.

"

The Cheyenne Social Club

D. Davies | USA | 04/10/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Good old fashioned fun. Good performances by the 3 leads. Reasonable plot. The female characters were classy, considering their profession in the story. Mildly sexist. Always good to see the old screen icons, Fonda and Stewart (and Jones). A classic. Worth a look, if only for curiousity."