Sixty years ago, 20th Century Fox released the 1966 remake of the 1939 film “Stagecoach.” The original John Ford classic starred John Wayne as an outlaw and Claire Trevor as a prostitute. The new version starred Alex Cord and Ann-Margret, along with a slew of supporting stars that included singer Bing Crosby and comedian Red Buttons.
Much of the first “Stagecoach” was filmed in Monument Valley, Utah. Before production began, the producer told a Boulder reporter that he was “planning a greener, more refreshing type picture than the dusty original.” True to his word, many of the scenes were filmed in western Boulder County.
The late Alan Cass, whose grandparents, Fred and Edith White, owned some of the properties where the film was shot, kept meticulous notes on the local scenes. Recognizing these scenes, and knowing something of their history, makes the film fun to watch today.
The plot revolves around the stagecoach’s seven passengers. All had compelling reasons to leave the fictional town of Dry Forks. After stunning aerial shots that sweep over Fourth of July Canyon (west of the town of Eldora), the cast is introduced when the “Law and Order League” kicks out the prostitute and an alcoholic doctor.
The others include a pregnant Army wife intent on reuniting with her husband, a belligerent banker who had stolen a payroll, a gambler intent on protecting the Army wife, and a timid whiskey salesman whose “samples” disappeared into the hands and belly of the doctor. The outlaw Ringo Kid (picked up at North Boulder Falls) was determined to find the men who murdered his family. Buck, a nervous stage driver, and Curly, a marshal, rode on top.
Filmed in 1965, the 1966 version includes scenes on dirt roads near Silver Lake (off-limits to the public, as it’s within the City of Boulder’s watershed). Instead of the rock formations of Monument Valley, our own Arapaho Peaks and Arapaho Glacier are in the background.
Movie watchers will also glimpse the railroad grade of the Switzerland Trail. The location was an easy choice for the producer, as the grade was free of electrical lines and appropriate for the early 1870s era.
In the film, the stagecoach stops at the Blue Bird Mine complex, just as the railroad did in the early 1900s. The mine, discovered in 1871, was primarily known for its silver. The name “Blue Bird” came from blue azurite, a copper mineral found in the silver ore.
Beginning in 1905, after the Switzerland Trail was extended south to the town of Eldora, the Blue Bird stop (only a platform, not a station) was a destination for excursionists who spent hours gathering wildflowers and hiking to the waterfall on North Boulder Creek. Now, the mine complex is part of Boulder County’s Caribou Ranch Open Space.
Although the mines at the Blue Bird site are not part of the 1966 film “Stagecoach,” the still-standing bunkhouse was used as the passengers’ first stage stop. The scene is pivotal, as it is there that the stage’s cavalry escort turns back, leaving the passengers on their own to face the threat of an attack by the Sioux (or, in the 1939 film, the Apache). Even so, all of the passengers agree to continue on to their destination.
Only the exterior of the building was shot on location. The interior scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio, with large photos placed in the windows to show the landscape outside.
Caribou Ranch Open Space (not to be confused with the townsite of Caribou, farther west) was formerly the Tucker Ranch. The Van Vleet family purchased it in 1936. The property became known as the Lazy VV Ranch, where the Van Vleets raised Arabian horses. The site was also used as a backdrop for Warner Bros. westerns and shorts during the 1940s, including “Arabians of the Rockies” and “Sons of Courage.”
In 1971, music producer, songwriter and director James W. Guercio purchased the ranch and opened the Caribou Ranch Recording Studio. It was severely damaged by fire in 1985. Boulder County purchased the ranch (including the Blue Bird complex) in 2002 and landmarked the properties in 2004.
Both the 1939 and 1966 versions of “Stagecoach” contain conflicts with Native Americans. The later version has been criticized for its depictions of Native Americans as “savages.” (The first confrontation is on Caribou Ranch property.) Both films are available online. A 2000 review called the 1966 version a “colorful star-studded western” that “can’t hold a candle to the 1939 masterpiece.”
The trailhead to Caribou Ranch is in Sherwood Gulch, off CO 72, north of Nederland. The Blue Bird Mine complex (including the bunkhouse) is accessible to hikers on the “Bluebird Loop.”
