Movies

Arizona's "Little Hollywood"

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John Wayne and other Hollywood stars made memorable western movies in the 40's and 50's on a major motion picture set located right where many of us are now fortunate to call home.

That's right, pilgrim. The land comprising Sedona West was, from 1946 to 1959, a Republic Pictures movie set complete with western town including a telegraph office, saloon, general store, stables, and more. At one time, it even featured a railroad track with steam locomotive and passenger cars.

Some days while out for a neighborhood stroll, you can envision The Duke on his horse, riding out with a posse of local citizens to catch the bad guys. You might even hear the sound of cowboys hootin' and hollerin', horses gallopin', cattle grazin' on the range and, of course, the ricochet of a Winchester carbine.

Read about restoring the old Telegraph Office; the last piece of the original John Wayne/Republic Pictures set on this here parcel of land.

Want some fun? Watch Angel & the Badman (1947), and see how many Sedona locations you can pick out. Get your popcorn ready!

In another poster at left, a fine if kitschy example of Sedona-based western movies is this cult-classic, Johnny Guitar (1954), starring Joan Crawford in all her "turbulent, impassioned" glory. No word as to whether she left wire clothes hangers behind on the set. We'll leave that to your imagination.

In 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Glenn Ford and Van Heflin (not Van Halen) make some serious drama in old west. And Glenn Ford is the bad guy!

Here's a recent review of this movie by one of our Sedona West neighbors...

3:10 to Yuma is one of our favorite old Sedona westerns--the other is Johnny Guitar. (Background: We discovered Sedona in 1999; bought our house in 2001; moved to Sedona in 2003. So I had a raging case of red rock fever for 4 years, and part of my self-medication before we finally moved here was to buy VHS tapes of old Sedona westerns. I have 40+ Sedona westerns that I've converted to DVD, and most of them are real dogs. 3:10 and Johnny are two of the best.) The casting in 3:10 is interesting: the good-guy male lead is Van Heflin, who wouldn't even get an audition in today's movie world. The bad-guy lead is Glenn Ford, who usually was a squeaky-clean good guy in most of his films, but he's wonderfully malevolent in this movie. -DB

At left, in a photo from 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Leora Dana (female lead) is seen standing in what, in the movie, was identified as Bisbee, AZ. Every time the movie's action shifted to 'Bisbee', you see Coffeepot Rock in the background.

Are we having fun yet?