Flaming Feather
1952 film by Ray Enright

Flaming Feather is a 1952 American Technicolor Western film directed by Ray Enright and starring Sterling Hayden. The film was shot on location at Oak Creek Canyon and the Montezuma Castle National Monument near Sedona, Arizona. Local Yavapai Indians were employed as extras but refused to enter the cliff dwellings that represented the resting place of their ancestors. Production was delayed for one day while a band of Navajos was imported from a reservation more than 100 miles away to replace them.
Plot
A mysterious outlaw known only as the Sidewinder is terrorizing Arizona settlers. A rancher whose property was raided, Tex McCloud, and a U.S. Cavalry officer named Blaine both resolve to seek justice and make a friendly wager over who will capture the Sidewinder.
Wealthy saloon entertainer Carolina tries to persuade Tex to also pursue Lucky Lee, a mine owner who owes her $20,000. She tries to seduce Tex, but he is not interested. After he changes hotel rooms with Lucky's longtime sweetheart Nora Logan, an ambush is attempted by gambler Showdown Calhoun and his partner, who raid the wrong room. However, they kidnap Nora to their stagecoach, and Tex rides to her rescue.
“Flaming Feather” enters the record as 1952 film by Ray Enright. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flaming, Feather and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5457225. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952.
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This entry incorporates text from “Flaming Feather” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.