Fort Apache

Year:  1948

Director:  John Ford

Screenplay:  Frank S. Nugent, based on the short story "Massacre" by James Warner Bellah

Starring:  John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple

Running Time:  125 minutes

Genre:  Western

Arrogant, embittered Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Fonda) and his teenage daughter, Philadelphia (Temple), arrive at Fort Apache, an isolated U. S. Cavalry outpost, where Thursday is to assume command.  While Philadelphia adapts well to life at the Fort, Thursday's high-handed manner and strict adherence to military rule and discipline, alienate him from his troops, particularly his second in command Captain Kirby Yorke (Wayne).  To make matters worse, Thursday's ignorance and bigotry towards the indigenous Apache tribes threatens to lead to war.

This was the first of director John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", which also included She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950), both of which also starred John Wayne.  For the first hour or so, the film feels almost like a comedy, as the strict, strait-laced Lieutenant Colonel finds himself at odds with the ragtag bunch of soldiers he finds himself commanding, while his daughter falls for a dashing young officer (played by John Agar), much to her father's displeasure.  However, it becomes more somber and surprisingly dark as it goes along.   Despite having star billing, John Wayne really has more of a supporting role here, with Henry Fonda's Owen Thursday being the main character.  Thursday was a General in the Civil War and is bitter at being busted down to the ranks and posted to some isolated fort in the middle of nowhere.  From his appearance here, it seems that Thursday was at best an armchair general, who might be able to recite chapter and verse of Genghis Khan's campaigns, but is terrible at the business of real leadership.  His attitude towards the local Native American tribes, in whom he is completely uninterested, veers from hostility to contempt.  In fact it's his daughter Philadelphia who is far better able to adapt to life at the Fort and, while he immediately dismisses the Fort and it's surroundings, Philadelphia is interested and curious about the country and the people who live there.  Fort Apache is notable for Westerns of it's time in taking a sympathetic view of the Native Americans.  While it is still very much from the view of the white settlers, the Native Americans are willing to come to a peaceful solution and their demands are perfectly reasonable, it's Thursday's racism that escalates the conflict.  The film was shot in Ford's favourite location, Monument Valley.  The film takes it's time to get into it's stride and the story doesn't really get into it's stride until it's second hour.  The climax is well staged and exciting and there is a moving epilogue which shows how the myth of the West was being written even while it was happening.  Henry Fonda is good as Thursday, managing to humanise a pretty unlikeable character.  John Wayne does well as Yorke, trying his best to counter Thursday's bigotry and avoid disaster for all concerned.  Shirley Temple is good as Philadelphia, and it is a pity that she isn't even more to do.