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Show INDIANS SEEK ROLE IN FILMS More than 1,000 Navajos rode for many miles to apply for jobs in "Fort Apache,", when word got around that John' Ford was making mak-ing this picture in picturesque Monument Valley,; Utah. Inspired by Custer's reckless last stand, this picture . called for hundreds of Apache Indians to battle U. S. cavalrymen.- Although the Navajos, ' America's Amer-ica's biggest Indian tribe, have appeared ap-peared in many pictures, usually made up to represent Apaches, they have no opportunity to see these pictures. Their isolation, some 200 miles from the railroad at Flagstaff, Ariz., is so great that they remain the least influenced by the culture of the white man. Less than one in five speaks English. Director Ford had trouble with the Indians, when he wanted to use doubles for them in some of the more dangerous stunts. This they refused, 'as an affront. They explained that Navajos have been practicing just such stunts since the first movie company went on their reservation some 25 years ago. |