text: The film was based on the 558-page novel Blood Brother (1947) by Elliott Arnold, which told the story of the peace agreement between the Apache leader Cochise and the U.S. Army, 1855–1874. The studio employed nearly 240 Native Americans from Arizona's Fort Apache Indian Reservation; many location scenes were shot in Sedona, Arizona. The story of Cochise actually occurred in what is now the Dragoon Mountains in the Douglas Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona. The studio attempted to portray Apache customs in the film, like the Social Dance and the Girl's Sunrise Ceremony (the girl's puberty rite). For the character of Cochise, director Daves eliminated the traditional style of broken English and replaced it with conventional English so that White Americans and Native Americans would sound alike.
  Portrayal of Native Americans
  Although many Western films of the pre-World War II period portrayed the Indigenous peoples of the Americas as hostile to the European settlers, others showed them in a positive light. Broken Arrow is noteworthy for being one of the first post-war Westerns to portray Native Americans in a balanced, sympathetic way. However, most of the Native Americans were played by European American actors, with Brooklyn-born Jeff Chandler portraying Apache leader Cochise. An exception was that Native Canadian Mohawk actor Jay Silverheels was noted for his role as Geronimo in the film.
  Some scholars have said that the film appealed to an ideal of tolerance and racial equality that would influence later Westerns and indicate Hollywood's response to the evolving role of Native Americans in the society of the United States. Chronicle of the Cinema praised the film: "Based on verifiable fact, it faithfully evokes the historical relationship between Cochise and Jeffords, marking a historical rehabilitation of Indians in the cinema".