Fort Apache (1948)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Frank S. Nugent (screenplay)
James Warner Bellah (story)

Release Date:

9 March 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

In John Ford's sombre exploration mythologising of American heroes, he slowly reveals the character of Owen Thursday...

Plot Keywords:

Military | Last Stand | Fanaticism | Ambition | Cult Western

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

John Wayne	...	Capt. Kirby York
Henry Fonda	...	Lt. Col. Owen Thursday
Shirley Temple	...	Philadelphia Thursday
Pedro Armendáriz	...	Sgt. Beaufort (as Pedro Armendariz)
Ward Bond	...	Sgt. Maj. Michael O'Rourke
George O'Brien	...	Capt. Sam Collingwood
Victor McLaglen	...	Sgt. Festus Mulcahy
Anna Lee	...	Mrs. Emily Collingwood
Irene Rich	...	Mrs. Mary O'Rourke
Dick Foran	...	Sgt. Quincannon
Guy Kibbee	...	Capt. Dr. Wilkens
Grant Withers	...	Silas Meacham
Jack Pennick	...	Sgt. Daniel Schattuck
Ray Hyke	...	Lt. Gates (Adjutant)
Movita	...	Guadalupe (Col. Thursday's cook)

Also Known As:

War Party

Runtime:

125 min | West Germany:84 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Iceland:L | West Germany:6 (nf) | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #12819) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:S | Spain:T | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) (2002)

Filming Locations:

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA

Company:

Argosy Pictures

Trivia:

The plot for this movie was loosely based on Custer's Last Stand with Thursday as Custer and substituting Apaches for the Sioux. The cover-up by the survivors and the military of Thursday's blunder is in line with the cover up of Custer's mistakes and deliberate disobedience of his orders at Little Big Horn.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Throughout the movie a 35-star U.S. flag is carried (5 rows of 7 stars), which was actually used July 4, 1863-July 3, 1865.

Quotes:

[at Meacham's trading post]
Captain Yorke: No troop or squadron or regiment's gonna keep the Apaches on this reservation unless they want to stay here. Five years ago we made a treaty with Cochise. He and his Chiricahuas and some of the other Apache bands came on the reservation. They wanted to live here in peace... and DID for two years. And then Meacham, here, was sent by the "Indian Ring"...
Silas Meacham: That's a lie! I've been endorsed...
Captain Yorke: The dirtiest, most corrupt political group in our history. And then it began: whiskey but no beef; trinkets instead of blankets; the women degraded; the children sickly; and the men turning into drunken animals. So Cochise did the only thing a decent man could do... he left. Took most of his people and crossed the Rio Bravo into Mexico.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Major Dundee (1965)

Soundtrack:

Goodnight Ladies

One of the Best

This is one of my top 3-4 movies made by the Duke. It gets better each time I watch it, and I watch it nearly every time it's on. If you haven't seen a restored version, you'll be amazed at the cinematography. Absolutely gorgeous. I don't think it would have been improved in color, as one of the earlier comments said.

The final scene reminds me of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" as well. In "Valance", at the end of the movie, the newspaperman says upon learning who DID shoot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The same thing happens in Fort Apache, when the newspaper reporters talk about a famous painting of Col. Thursday's bold charge into the face of the enemy, when it was anything but the truth.

One hell of a movie that should be viewed by anyone who likes great entertainment.