Where was Fort Abraham Lincoln in Paramount's "Warpath" (1951), about Custer's 7th Cavalry and the infamous Battle of Little Bighorn?

"Warpath" (Paramount, 1951): Fort Abraham Lincoln

I let my curiosity get the better of me after I spotted "Fort Abraham Lincoln" in Paramount's 1951 Edmond O'Brien feature "Warpath," about the Battle of Little Bighorn. I wanted to know: Where was this movie fort?

 

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

First of all, there's a real Fort Abraham Lincoln — or at least a Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park — that's still standing today, just outside of Mandan, North Dakota.

 

Historical photo of the real Fort Lincoln, said to be from the 1870s

The real Fort Abraham Lincoln, originally known as Fort McKeen, stood at the North Dakota location, where it was once under the command of Gen. George Armstrong Custer.

 

Gen. George Armstrong Custer

Custer, as most Americans learned in school — at least until we started letting our smartphones and AI do all our thinking for us — was the Cavalry general who famously fought, and lost, the Battle of Little Bighorn.

 

Replica of Gen. Custer's house, as it stands today at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

The original buildings at Fort Abraham Lincoln are long gone now, replaced by modern replicas — including a replica of the house where Custer and his wife, Libbie, lived in the 1870s.

 

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana

But Paramount skipped the North Dakota site entirely, opting to do the bulk of the location filming for "Warpath" in Montana, which was also the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

 

Indian memorial at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Today the battlefield is part of the U.S. National Park Service. In addition to the Custer National Cemetery, the battlefield site today is home to numerous memorials to fallen fighters on both sides.

 

"Warpath": The movie version of Fort Abraham Lincoln

When it came time to pick a site for the movie version of Fort Abraham Lincoln, Paramount found a suitable location in Billings, Montana, about 60 miles west of the battlefield.

 

The fort's fancy sign — an obvious fake

The studio went all out to make sure the movie fort had a sign clearly designating it as Fort Abraham Lincoln. And by "all out," I mean they handed off the assignment to the special effects department.

 

The original Fort Lincoln, top, and the "Warpath" version

But in general, the movie fort bears some resemblance to the original Fort Lincoln.

 

Fort Lincoln in "Warpath," with its nearby butte

Luckily for us, the movie fort has an instantly recognizable butte behind it. This butte turned out to be the key to finding the location where Paramount set up its movie version of Fort Lincoln.

 

The same butte in present-day Billings, Montana

The butte is still there today, right in the middle of Billings. Known as Skeleton Cliff, it's located along 6th Avenue North near its intersection with Main Street/Highway 312.

 

Skeleton Cliff, along 6th Avenue North in Billings

The location was previously a fairgrounds, where the County Inland Empire Fair was held. But Billings has undergone a lot of changes since the early 1950s, and the old fairgrounds buildings are gone now.

 

Billings' modern MetraPark Arena

Today the former fairgrounds site is adjacent to the modern MetraPark fairgrounds complex, which has replaced the old fairgrounds as Billings' go-to location for big events like fairs and rodeos.

 

An enduring landmark confirms the filming location

Fortunately, Skeleton Cliff remains firmly in place as Billings continues to grow up all around it. And the sturdy butte leaves no doubt as to where Paramount set up its fort for "Warpath."

"Plan 9 From Outer Space": Why the "worst movie ever made" continues to fascinate and entertain us, all these decades later

"Locationland," a fun new YouTube video series

We're excited to tell blog readers about a new YouTube series, "Locationland," which takes a fun look at filming locations around Southern California. You can find the series on the PBS SoCal YouTube page by clicking here.

 

Harry Medved visits a key "Plan 9" filming location, San Fernando's Pioneer Cemetery

The series is hosted by Harry Medved, a longtime SoCal filming location researcher and friend of the Iverson Movie Ranch Blog who has been a valued collaborator of ours for years.

 

"Plan 9 From Outer Space": So bad it's good?

"Locationland's" latest subject is low-budget producer-director Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space," an endlessly fascinating science-fiction and horror mashup considered by many to be the worst movie ever made.

 

Two books co-written by Harry Medved, both "honoring" "Plan 9 From Outer Space"

While "Locationland" pokes at some of the history and backstory behind "Plan 9," it's no coincidence that the show's host has already earned his own place in the film's history. Medved was a co-author on two books that helped cement "Plan 9's" place among the biggest turkeys of all time.

 

Vampira does what comes unnaturally in "Plan 9"

First released in 1957, "Plan 9" has pretty much owned the "so bad it's good" category for the past 60-plus years. Thanks in large part to its "worst ever" credentials — not to mention all the quirky casting, bad acting, cheesy special effects and godawful script — the film continues to inspire and engage its sizable cult following.

 

Poster for a "Spook Show" festival in Georgia

"Plan 9" has long been a staple of the "midnight movie" circuit, and is frequently at the center of film festivals celebrating kitschy horror and sci-fi "classics."

 

The "Plan 9 From Outer Space" computer game — check it out here

It has been the focus of countless parodies, remakes, stage revivals, table reads, at least one novelization, and as far back as 1992, a questionable attempt at a computer game. Click here if you can bear to see what a bad 1990s computer game based on a bad 1950s Ed Wood movie might look like.

 

An alien spaceship prepares to land in the Pioneer Cemetery in "Plan 9"

Fans of "Plan 9" have been tracking down its filming locations for decades, making pilgrimages to places like the Pioneer Cemetery in San Fernando, which served as a landing spot for alien craft in the movie.

 

The Pioneer Cemetery as it appears today

The cemetery is still around, although it has lost land to condos and other development over the years, while also suffering the effects of vandalism, minimal upkeep and the theft of headstones.

 

A typical San Fernando Valley home — forever linked to "Plan 9 From Outer Space"

One of the biggest draws for the "Plan 9" faithful is this unassuming house in suburban Sylmar, Calif., which was the home of "Plan 9" star Tor Johnson at the time the movie was being made.

 

Tor Johnson goes around scaring the heck out of people in "Plan 9"

A loyal member of Ed Wood's troupe of actors, Tor wasn't exactly the typical Hollywood leading man — and he's a prime example of that "quirky casting" we mentioned previously.

 

Tor considers what to do with Mona McKinnon in "Plan 9"

Known as a gentle giant, Tor was a professional wrestler whose larger-than-life "acting" was on display in a series of low-budget productions from the '30s into the '60s.

 

Tor finds the most obvious solution to the Mona problem

One of the many charms of "Plan 9" is its persistent reliance on shortcuts, including amusingly finding the most obvious way out of any situation. When the heat is on, Tor just dumps Mona on the ground.

 

"The Beast of Yucca Flats" (1961)

A few years after "Plan 9," Tor had a memorable turn as "The Beast of Yucca Flats," another "classic" that probably deserves its own location feature — and its own place on the "worst movies ever made" list.

 

Bela Lugosi looking uncomfortable outside Tor Johnson's house in "Plan 9"

Tor let Ed Wood talk him into using Tor's San Fernando Valley home as a filming location, setting the stage for a historic shoot featuring some of the last filmed footage of horror icon Bela Lugosi.

 

Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster" (1955)

After becoming addicted to alcohol and opiates, Lugosi was slumming it toward the end of his career and wound up in a series of low-budget productions, including another Ed Wood movie, "Bride of the Monster."

 

In test footage shot in 1956, Lugosi wanders around outside Tor's house in Sylmar

Ed Wood filmed test footage of Bela at Tor's house in 1956, before production began on "Plan 9." It turned out to be some of the last footage ever shot of the "Dracula" star, who died in August 1956.

 

More 1956 test footage of Bela Lugosi, later resurrected for "Plan 9"

Even though Lugosi was dead by the time Ed Wood got started on "Plan 9," Wood made Lugosi one of the stars of the movie, using the footage shot outside Tor's house and additional footage taken nearby.

 

Chiropractor Tom Mason pretends he's Bela Lugosi in "Plan 9"

To fill in some of the plot holes — and there would be plenty of them — Ed Wood hired his wife's chiropractor, Tom Mason, to double for Lugosi. Mason is seen throughout the movie hiding his face behind a cape.

 

The former Tor Johnson house as it appears today, in "Locationland"

Tor's old house is still standing, and today is a Mecca for fans of the movie. Much of "Plan 9" was filmed not far from the house, in the northeastern San Fernando Valley communities of Sylmar and San Fernando.

 

Harry Medved and Dana Gould meet with the current resident of Tor's house

In the "Locationland" episode — which you can click here to watch — Medved and comedian Dana Gould, a huge "Plan 9" fan, pay a memorable visit to the house.

 

"Plan 9 From Outer Space": South Brand Boulevard in San Fernando

Even though a number of "Plan 9'" shooting locations have been well-known among its fan base for years, the "Locationland" team set out in search of sites that were not generally known — and the Iverson Movie Ranch Blog was honored to take part in the search effort.

 

The San Fernando city limit sign in "Plan 9"

Our search was not in vain. One location we identified — with the help of the old San Fernando city limit sign — was this group of buildings in the 800 block of South Brand Boulevard in San Fernando.

 

The same location in modern times — with a new sign

The city limit sign has been updated since the "Plan 9" crew filmed in the area, and today a newer sign stands in exactly the same spot. The palm trees are still there too.

 

The buildings in "Plan 9" still stand, along Brand Boulevard

Several of the same buildings seen in "Plan 9" can still be readily identified along Brand Boulevard.

 

Officers pour out of the police station in "Plan 9," headed for their squad car

Another find was the building where this police station scene was shot for the movie. I believe this was the actual San Fernando Police Station back when "Plan 9" filmed here.

 

The police station in a recent photo — these days it's a VFW post

Today the building is headquarters for the San Fernando Post of Veterans of Foreign Wars, and people take dance lessons here on certain nights of the week.

 

"Plan 9": A distinctive background hill, but an elusive dirt road

One location we put a lot of effort into trying to find is seen in this sequence in which a police car kicks up dust as it speeds along a dirt road. This location proved challenging.

 

Another angle on the filming location

Another shot from "Plan 9" shows the same location from a different angle, with a different hill in the background.

 

Composite shot from "Plan 9" showing a wider view of the hills

By combining elements of both of the above screen shots, we were able to create a composite shot that provides a wider view of the background hills.

 

The same background hills in the 21st century

Then we were able to find those same hills in the real world, looking east from San Fernando. Unfortunately, the roads and other foreground features have changed so much since the '50s that it may be impossible to identify the exact filming location now.

 

The type of model kit used in "Plan 9 From Outer Space"

The "Locationland" episode adds plenty of amusing commentary on "Plan 9," along with fun facts about the movie, such as the model kit used by Ed Wood to create his alien spacecraft.

 

An ambulance speeds down Maclay Avenue through San Fernando in "Plan 9"

"Locationland" also zeros in on a number of other "Plan 9" locations, and fleshes out details on some of the locations discussed above. Click here to watch the episode.

 

Have you seen this gravesite? It's a toughie!

Many other "Plan 9" filming locations still remain to be found, which may be good news for fans of the movie who are ready to put boots on the ground and track down their own locations. Let us know what you find!