Film History
The most notable titles from a century of filmmaking in the Moab to Monument Valley region of southeastern Utah
1925: The Vanishing American is the first film made in southeastern Utah
1939: Director John Ford gives John Wayne his big break in Stagecoach, partially filmed in Monument Valley
1949: George White and friends establish the Moab Movie Committee (later Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission)
1950: John Ford is the first filmmaker to use Moab area locations in the Western Wagonmaster
1950: A military fort is built at the White Ranch for John Ford’s Rio Grande
1953: Taza, Son of Cochise, starring Rock Hudson, is partially filmed at Red Cliffs Ranch
1960: Ten Who Dared, based on John Wesley Powell’s expedition, is partially filmed at Red Cliffs Ranch
1964: Cheyenne Autumn, partially filmed at Red Cliffs Ranch, is John Ford’s last Western
1968: Stanley Kubrik uses Monument Valley for outer space exploration in 2001: A Space Odyssey
1971: The cult classic Vanishing Point is one of the first films in the American muscle-car chase genre. The 1997 remake was also partially filmed in the Moab area.
1983: The Griswolds make an unscheduled stop in Monument Valley for National Lampoon’s Vacation
1989: Steven Spielberg brings River Phoenix to Arches for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1991: Ridley Scott directs an all-star cast in the Oscar-winning film Thelma and Louise
1994: Forrest Gump finishes his cross-country run in Monument Valley
1999: Galaxy Quest brings Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sigourney Weaver to Goblin Valley
2002: Windtalkers celebrates Navajo military servicemembers in WWII
2010: Aron Ralston’s true story of survival in Canyonlands is told in 127 Hours
2013: Johnny Depp becomes Tonto in The Lone Ranger
2014: Mark Wahlberg and Optimus Prime visit Hole ‘N The Rock in Transformers: Age of Extinction
2018: The Coen Brothers apply their signature style to the Western with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
John Ford
Highlights of director John Ford’s career in the Moab to Monument Valley region, also known as “John Ford Country”
1939: John Ford is enticed to Monument Valley by the Goulding’s for the film Stagecoach
1946: John Ford builds “Tombstone” in Monument Valley for My Darling Clementine starring Henry Fonda
1948: Fort Apache is the first film in John Ford’s “cavalry trilogy”
1949: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is John Ford’s second “cavalry” film
1950: John Ford is the first filmmaker to use Moab area locations in the Western Wagonmaster
1950: Rio Grande is the first movie filmed at Red Cliffs Ranch and last of the “cavalry trilogy”
1956: The Searchers is considered to be one of the most influential Westerns ever made
1960: Sergeant Rutledge is the first Western to feature a Black hero, played by Woody Strode
1963: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall direct How the West Was Won
1964: John Ford’s last Western, Cheyenne Autumn portrays Native American hardships
John Wayne
Every film The Duke made in the Moab to Monument Valley region, including the movie that launched him into stardom
1939: John Wayne gets his big break in Stagecoach and reignites America’s love of Westerns
1947: John Wayne plays a renegade who falls in love with a Quaker in Angel and the Badman
1948: John Wayne reunites with director John Ford for a “cavalry trilogy” beginning with Fort Apache
1949: His role in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was one of John Wayne’s personal favorites
1950: John Wayne co-stars with Maureen O’Hara in Rio Grande, filmed at Red Cliffs Ranch
1956: John Wayne is driven by revenge in John Ford’s epic masterpiece, The Searchers
1961: John Wayne makes his first appearance as “Big Jake” when he stars in, and partially directs, The Comancheros
1963: John Wayne plays General Sherman in How the West Was Won
1965: John Wayne makes a cameo appearance in The Greatest Story Ever Told
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Notable Sci-Fi and Fantasy pictures made in the Moab to Monument Valley region
1968: Acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick is the first to use southeastern Utah locations to represent outer space in 2001: A Space Odyssey
1983: Peter Strauss and Molly Ringwald star in Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
1984: Jeff Bridges plays an alien on Earth in Starman, directed by John Carpenter
1988: The water supply in a small Utah town is contaminated, turning locals into deranged killers in Nightmare at Noon
1989: Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat blends comedy, horror, and Western genres with stars David Carradine, Bruce Campbell, and John Ireland
1990: Marty McFly assumes the alias “Clint Eastwood” when he goes back to the past to save Doc in Back to the Future III.
1999: An all-star cast is led by Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver in the sci-fi parody Galaxy Quest
2012: John Carter, based on the influential novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, utilizes landscapes in Moab and Monument Valley for Barsoom