By Stuart Rosebrook
In 1961 MGM’s film company for How the West was Won came to Yavapai County to film a major railroad sequence at Perkinsville’s historic train depot. Director Henry Hathaway’s production crew renamed the station “Gold City,” where stars Debbie Reynolds, Karl Malden, George Peppard and Caroll Baker acted in “The Outlaws” chapter of the 164- minute Technicolor, Cinerama-style film. Hathaway, well known as a director of Westerns, was one of four to helm the ambitious picture: John Ford, George Marshall and Richard Thorpe, uncredited for his direction of transitional historical sequences. Producer Bernard Smith received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, one of eight nominations for the blockbuster Western. Screenwriter James R. Webb, Editor Harold F. Kress and Sound Manager Franklin Milton all received Academy Awards, making it one of the most nominated and award-winning Westerns to date.
Just 49 years before Hathaway’s film company rolled into central Arizona, the fledgling Lubin Motion Picture Company chose Prescott to make the first movie, The Cringer, in Yavapai County. Forty-five-year-old Romaine Fielding directed himself as the Sheepherder. The Cringer received national distribution, and the mild, four-season climate and beautiful Yavapai County locations inspired filmmakers to make Prescott the first film capital of Arizona. True, Tucson is recorded as the first location for the production of a fictional film (In Old Arizona, 1909) and was a popular choice for early filmmakers in the Grand Canyon State, but more movies were made in Prescott between 1911 and 1920 than anywhere else in Arizona, with many, if not most, starring cowboy hero Tom Mix.
Prescott put Arizona on the map internationally as a preferred location for motion picture production. Producers and directors loved the beautiful locations of the state and with its wide vistas, natural beauty, historic locations and small population, it was easy for community boosters to promote their young state as a prime location for filmmakers to spend production dollars. Arizona became one of the most popular states to produce movies outside of Hollywood’s home state of California.
Following Prescott’s silent era role in Arizona film history, producers returned to Yavapai County decade-after-decade, but with improved roads, sound production and the introduction of color film, moviemakers pushed outwards into all corners of the state.
Monument Valley, made internationally famous by John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939), has remained a favored location for film directors. Old Tucson Studios opened the same year, later to become a favorite location for John Wayne, the star of Stagecoach. After World War II, film sets and back lots were constructed to assist filmmakers in Arizona, including Bradshaw Ranch in Sedona, Apacheland Movie Ranch in Apache Junction, Cudia Studio in Phoenix and Mescal Movie Set in Benson. Recently, the Mescal Movie Set and Old Tucson have received makeovers and modernization and are attracting filmmakers back to Arizona.
Closer to home, 2026 will mark the 55th anniversary of the production of what most consider Prescott’s most famous film, Junior Bonner. Producer Joe Wizan hired star Steve McQueen and director Sam Peckinpah to make Jeb Rosebrook’s original screenplay entirely on location in Prescott, much to the credit of local Arizona film commission representative Bill Pierce. The success of such a star-powered film, more than a half-century later, is a great reminder to our local city and county boosters of the economic and cultural importance of movie making in Prescott and its starring role in making Arizona famous worldwide through America’s greatest artform—Western cinema.
Stuart Rosebrook, Ph.D., executive director of Sharlot Hall Museum, is the son of filmmaker Jeb Rosebrook and a film historian. He will lecture on the history of Western film at Sharlot Hall Museum at 2 p.m., on November 15, 2025.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1. The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.