Broken Arrow (1950)

Tom Jeffords: The story started when I saw some buzzards circling in the sky. The buzzard is a smart bird. Something or somebody was getting ready to die. I figured it was a hurt deer or a rabbit or a snake.
[Jeffords spots a wounded Apache youth staggering in a ravine]
Tom Jeffords: Not a rabbit, not a deer... his kind was more dangerous than a snake. He was an Apache. For ten years we'd been on a savage war with his people - a bloody, no-give-no-take war.

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Cochise: You should always wipe your hands on your arm after eating, tall one. The grease is good for them.
Tom Jeffords: Ah, among the white men, we wash it off.
Cochise: What a waste!

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Cochise: Now I say this: the Americans keep cattle but they are not soft or weak. Why should not the Apache be able to learn new ways? It is not easy to change, but sometimes it is required. The Americans grow stronger while we grow weaker. If a big wind comes, a tree must bend... or be lifted out by the roots.

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Screenwriter Albert Maltz did not receive a credit when the film was released because he was blacklisted. Instead, the script was credited to Michael Blankfort.
The film was considered groundbreaking at the time because it portrayed the Native American Indians in a humane light, something that had scarcely happened since silent days. However, years later the film was heavily criticized because the Indians were still played by white actors.
The broken arrow, which signals an end to fighting, is in fact a Blackfoot Indian symbol, not an Apache symbol. The Blackfoot are native to Montana and Alberta, Canada.
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