Unjust treatment of the Navajo nation
Adapted from Zane Grey's novel, THE VANISHING AMERICAN was filmed on location in Monument Valley and the Betatakin Cliff Dwellings of Arizona. It's in part a history of western Native-Americans and the progression of conquests right up to the white man's defeat of the Navajo and the tribe's relocation to a reservation.

Just after the turn of the 20th Century, a corrupt Indian agent steals and sells to the highest bidder the tribe's best horses. With America's involvement in the Great War in Europe, a captain comes in search of the horses the agent was supposed to have paid for and delivered to the Army.

A kindly schoolteacher convinces a tribal leader (Richard Dix as Nophaie) that if his people help the war effort they will get justice when the fighting ends. Believing her, the leader delivers horses to the military and he and several braves enlist for service overseas. After the Armistice, they return home to "business as usual" and most feel the time has come for revenge. An army of Navajos besieges a government stronghold, and only Nophaie stands between them and all-out war.


THE VANISHING AMERICAN is also available on DVD.
In the early sound era, Richard Dix starred in the first western to win a Best Picture Oscar. CIMARRON is the epic story of the Oklahoma Land Rush and a heroic man who built from scratch a city and newspaper. (VHS version) (DVD version)


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(7.8) The Vanishing American (1925) - Richard Dix/Lois Wilson/Noah Beery/Malcolm McGregor/Shannon Day/Charles Crockett (uncredited: Gary Cooper)