Main Cast: William Holden, Jean Arthur, Warren William, Porter Hall, Paul Harvey
Release Year: 1940
Country: US
Run Time: 125 minutes
Plot
Wesley Ruggles's Arizona is an epic western set in an impoverished Arizona outpost. It tells the story of the feisty, no-nonsense Phoebe Titus (Jean Arthur). Wearing leather breeches, with a bullwhip and gun, she can out-shoot and out-fight nearly every bad hombre in town, and manages to transform the down-and-out community into Tuscon, one of the most respected towns in the West. When handsome Peter Muncie (William Holden) arrives, on his way to California, Phoebe asserts that he is the perfect person to help her run her cattle ranch, and the two fall in love. But one obstacle makes their plans extremely difficult: con man Jefferson Carteret (Warren William), who secretly hatches a plan to cheat Phoebe out of the property and annihilate Peter on the couple's wedding day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wesley Ruggles - Director, William Lyon - Editor, Otto Meyer - Editor, Victor Young - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lionel Banks - Production Designer, Robert A. Peterson - Production Designer, Fayte Browne - Cinematographer, Joseph Walker - Cinematographer, Harry Hallenberger - Cinematographer, Wesley Ruggles - Producer, George Cooper - Sound/Sound Designer, Claude Binyon - Screenwriter, Clarence Budington Kelland - Short Story Author
The story is set in the pioneer days of Tucson, Arizona in 1860. Life there is fit only for tough men and one very tough woman, Phoebe Titus (Jean Arthur). She catches the eye of Peter Muncie (William Holden), a handsome young man with a wagon train through Arizona but he soon leaves for California. Phoebe stays in Tucson and pursues her plan of founding a freight line to service the town's booming economy. She meets up with a Confederate dandy named Jefferson Carteret (Warren William) who pretends to help her, but secretly is in cahoots with the town's established shipper. The treacherous pair try everything from slandering her to bribing the Apaches to attack her wagons. Defeat seems inevitable, but Peter returns just in time to help Phoebe.
Set
Arizona was filmed on a set located just outside the city of Tucson in the Sonoran Desert. After filming, it lay dormant for a few years during World War II, but was revived and made into a full studio after the war. The studio continues today as Old Tucson Studios.
