The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

John O’Hanlan (James Stewart) and Harley Sullivan (Henry Fonda) are cowpokes in Texas when John gets a letter that took two years to catch up with him.

Seems John’s brother, D.J., has died and left him a business called the Cheyenne Social Club. John’s always dreamed of being “a man of property,” so he rides off to Cheyenne to claim his inheritance, with his talkative buddy Harley by his side.

John imagines himself running a saloon, a general store or a boarding house.

He’s shocked to discover the Cheyenne Social Club is is a whorehouse, stocked with six lovely ladies, including head mistress Jenny (Shirley Jones).

All the women are eager to please; all the townsfolk treat John like a new celebrity in town.

But John just can’t square running a whorehouse with his Christian upbringing, so he announces plans to close it down.

The women cry. The warm welcome in Cheyenne turns ice cold.

Then a brute named Corey Bannister badly beats Jenny, and John guns him down … with the help of Harley’s habit of cracking open pecans.

Problem is, there are lots more Bannisters. And they’re likely headed to Cheyenne to even the score, the sheriff warns.

Review:

Everything a comedy Western should be and very few comedy Westerns succeed in doing.

We get a fresh story, strong performances from two male leads well acquainted with Westerns and a touching ending to boot.

Stewart is great as the wanna-be man of property conflicted by the “property” he winds up owning. Fonda is fabulous as the friend who tags along just to tag along and really doesn’t understand why his buddy just can’t relax and enjoy his good fortune. Oh, he also sings the title song, “Rolling Stone.”

Shirley Jones, in her mid 30s at the time, plays Jenny, the female lead. This movie came out the same year she started her run on The Partridge Family.

This also marked the last starring role in a Western for Stewart, though he played the doctor who provides John Wayne with his cancer diagnosis in 1976’s “The Shootist.”

Directed by:
Gene Kelly

Cast:
James Stewart … John O’Hanlan
Henry Fonda … Harley Sullivan
Shirley Jones … Jenny
Sue Ann Langdon … Opal Ann
Elaine Devry … Pauline
Jackie Joseph … Annie Jo
Jackie Russell … Carrie Virginia
Sharon De Bord … Sara Jean
Jean Willes … Alice
Robert Middleton .. Barkeeper
Arch Johnson … Marshal Anderson
Dabbs Greer … Jedediah Willowby
Richard Collier … Nathan Potter
Charles Tyner … Charlie Bannister
Robert J. Wilke … Corey Bannister
J. Pat O’Malley … Dr. Michael Foy
Dick Johnstone … Mr. C.Y. Yancey

Runtime: 103 min.

Memorable lines:

Harley Sullivan, when John O’Hanlan gets his letter: “Aren’t you going to open it?”
O’Hanlan: “I’m not opening any letter from a lawyer on an empty stomach.”

Harley Sullivan: “You’re rougher around folks than an Indian haircut.”

John O’Hanlan: “My brother must have been a master at what he did. He must have been a real beauty at what he did. But I’m cut from a different bolt of cloth.”
Jenny: “Burlap’s what you’re cut from.”

Opal Ann, as Harley uses his foot on her bottom for leverage as she pulls off his boot: “You don’t care what you step on, do you, Harley?”

Opal Ann, as Harley Sullivan bed hops: “That Harley. He’s just like a bad outlaw. Keeps moving from place to place.”

John O’Hanlan, about reaction to his plans to close the club: “Harley, you’d think I was closing down the Alamo.”
Harley: “Well, I knew from the start you weren’t going to have no easy time of it. Folks just don’t like when you start attackin’ public institutions.”

Barkeep: “What do you want O’Hanlan?”
John O’Hanlan: “That man who beat up one of my … one of my girls. They tell me his name is Corey Bannister, and they tell me I can recognize him by a streak of yellow down his back.”

Jenny: “Did you ever love a woman, Johnny? I mean, really love her?”
John O’Hanlan: “I thought I did once. Turned out to be indigestion.”

John O’Hanlan, after gunning down Corey Bannister: “You haven’t come to arrest me?”
The sheriff: “I came to warn you. When you kill one Bannister, 500 more will come to his funeral.”
O’Hanlan: “Oh, you mean some of his kin might come here for me, huh?”
Sheriff: “You can chisel it in granite.”

John O’Hanlan, to the man who proposed to Carrie Virginia: “Do you go to church?”
Pete, Carrie Virginia’s fiance: “Yes, sir. Every Sunday, right after I leave here.”

John O’Hanlan: “When you’re out on the range with nobody to talk to most of the time but your horse, you do a lot of dreaming. And I dreamed of being a man of property. But you know … you know, Mr. Willoughby, and I didn’t realize it then, but I’ve always been a man of property. I have my horse. I have my blanket and I have the whole West to ride in. How could a man own more than that? No, Mr. Willoughby, I’m a cowboy. Always have been. I know now I always will be.”

James Stewart as John O’Hanlan, presented with the profits from his late brother’s business in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Robert J. Wilke as Corey Bannister, the man who roughs up Jenny in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Charles Tyner as Charlie Bannister, looking to avenge a relatives death in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Arch Johnson as Marshal Anderson, sharing the news that more vengeance seekers are headed to Cheyenne in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Jean Willes as Alice, inviting Harley Sullivan (Henry Fonda) to feast at her establishment in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Robert Middleton as the barkeeper who always has a free drink for the owner of The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Shirley Jones as Jenny, showing the marks left by an abusive customer in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

Henry Fonda as Harley Sullivan, realizing he’s stumbled upon the Bannister gang in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)