Argosy Pictures

RKO Radio Pictures

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Fort Apache

Name: Fort Apache
Released: 1948-05-21T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 7.0

John Ford's Masterpiece of the Frontier!

1948 • 128 min • ★ 7.0 (421) • Released

Western

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Fort Apache
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: $2,500,000
Revenue: $3,000,000

Reviews & Ratings 2

CinemaSerf

Jul 9, 2022 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

Certainly, I think, the best of the John Ford US cavalry trilogies this one. Henry Fonda is cracking as the honourable, but out of his depth, by-the-book colonel sent to run a ramshackle army post just as the Apache are on the rise again. He replaces the far more practically experienced John Wayne and soon it all gets a bit sticky. John Agar and Shirley Temple provide an amiable romantic sub-plot as the very green lieutenant son of the Sergeant Major (Ward Bond) and the daughter of the Colonel who fall in love - despite the disapproval of (for different reasons) both sets of parents. The photography is, as usual, quite stunning - George O'Brien; Pedro Armedáris, Dick Foran and the inimitable Victor McLaglen all contribute hugely (and frequently humorously) to a tight little, and occasionally quite thought-provoking, Frank Nugent screenplay and the Admiral maintains a decent degree of jeopardy - between the two, on-form, leads and between them and the Apache - until the very, gallant, end. It's held up remarkably well, nodding subtly - but distinctly - to the appalling way the native American tribes were treated during the pioneering, expansion of the United States.

John Chard

May 29, 2019 · via TMDB

★ 9.0

Any questions? Fort Apache is the first film of what came to be known as John Ford's US Cavalry trilogy. Just like the other two, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon & Rio Grande, this is also based on a short story by James Warner Bellah. Originally intended to be shot in colour, it was however filmed in black and white with Ford still making spectacular use of the Monument Valley location. The story primarily deals with opposite factions within the same army. On one hand is Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda), stiffly rigid in his beliefs, a stickler for the rules and pig ignorant and hostile towards the Indians he has been sent to control. On the other hand is Captain. Kirby York (John Wayne), more relaxed towards those under his command, he's also knowledgeable about, and respectful towards, the Indian race. Thursday is also something of a chauvinist and a snob, he is determined to stop a burgeoning union between his daughter Philadelphia (Shirley Temple) and Lieutenant O'Rourke (John Agar), with O'Rourke's homely family seen as too low for his daughter. All of this is played out in a far out military outpost, something else that Thursday also resents - that he was sent here instead of some place where a chance of glory was imminent. Ford's film is also intriguing in its view of army life for the women at the post. As the men go about their military chores, the women have to remain lady-like even in the face of stupidity and ignorance. And Ford also occupies much of the piece with military etiquette, rank and file and social standing. This is also one of his most overtly sympathetic movies as regards the Indians. Here it's the Apache, led by the wise and stoic Cochise, they are not painted as villains, instead they are victims of trouble stirred by vile Indian agent Meacham (Grant Wthers). It's this thread that leads us to the fabulous last thirty minutes of the film. Ford's action sequences are a given, highly impressive as always, but it's his parting shot that leaves the greatest indelible mark. The myths of the West and the need for heroes is given close scrutiny by the master director - food for thought as the close caption booms out of the screen. Fort Apache takes its lead from George Armstrong Custer's folly, and covers it with intelligence, wit and panoramic delights. 8.5/10

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 8

19th century american civil war apache nation black and white colonel military slaughter tortured to death

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Cast 30

John Wayne

Capt. Kirby York

Henry Fonda

Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

Shirley Temple

Philadelphia Thursday

Pedro Armendáriz

Sgt. Beaufort

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

Movita

Guadalupe

Miguel Inclán

Cochise

Mary Gordon

Ma (barmaid)

Mae Marsh

Mrs. Gates

Hank Worden

Southern Recruit

John Agar

2nd Lt. Michael Shannon O'Rourke

Cliff Clark

Stage Driver (uncredited)

Frank Ferguson

Newspaperman (uncredited)

Francis Ford

Fen - Stage Guard (uncredited)

William Forrest

Reporter (uncredited)

Fred Graham

Cavalryman (uncredited)

Frank McGrath

Cpl. Derice (uncredited)

Clyde McLeod

Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Mickey Simpson

NCO at Dance (uncredited)

Harry Tenbrook

Tom O'Feeney (uncredited)

Archie Twitchell

Reporter (uncredited)

Crew 18

Ben Johnson

Stunts

Cliff Lyons

Stunts

Frank Baker

Stunts

Frank McGrath

Stunts

Fred Graham

Stunts

Gil Perkins

Stunts

John Hudkins

Stunts

Richard Farnsworth

Stunts

Ted Mapes

Stunts

Terry Wilson

Stunts

Jack Pennick

Assistant Director

John Ford

Director

Cliff Lyons

Second Unit Director

John Ford

Executive Producer

Merian C. Cooper

Executive Producer

Merian C. Cooper

Producer

Richard Hageman

Original Music Composer

Frank S. Nugent

Screenplay

Gallery

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US Release Dates 3

Mar 27, 1948

Phoenix, Arizona

Premiere

Mar 28, 1948

Chicago, Illinois

Premiere

Jun 24, 1948

New York City, New York

Theatrical