FORT APACHE (BD) [BLU-RAY]

Details

• Release Year: 1948
• Genre: Western
• Plot: John Ford's Stirring Ode to Frontier Heroism.; ; The soldiers at Fort Apache may disagree with the tactics of their glory-seeking new commander. But to a man, they're duty-bound to obey - even when it means almost certain disaster.; ; John Wayne, Henry Fonda and many familiar supporting players from master director John Ford's 'stock company' saddle up for the first film in the director's famed cavalry trilogy (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande are the others). Roughhouse camaraderie, sentimental vignettes of frontier life, massive action sequences staged in Monument Valley - all are part of Fort Apache. So is Ford's exploration of the West's darker side. Themes of justice, heroism and honor that Ford would revisit in later Westerns are given rein in this moving, thought-provoking film that, even as it salutes a legend, gives reasons to question it. ; ; The first film of John Ford's 'cavalry trilogy,' Fort Apache (1948) pits an arrogant Henry Fonda against an Indian-savvy John Wayne in a myth-making confrontation with Apache leader Cochise. A key antecedent to Ford's later The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Fort Apache deflates mythic lore about the cavalry's triumph over the West's 'savages' while revealing how and why such myths were created. Fonda's Custer-esque Col. Thursday is highly disciplined yet fatally racist and self-aggrandizing, while Wayne's Capt. York is an experienced Westerner who sees the wisdom in making peace with Cochise. Still, when Thursday ignores his advice and makes a troop-annihilating charge against the Apaches, York maintains the fiction that Thursday was a valiant leader. Devoting substantial screen time to community dances, domestic details, and a romantic subplot involving Thursday's daughter, Ford celebrates the 'civilization' that the cavalry defends even if the fort itself is not an ideal operation; Wayne's final speech attests to the need to support the honorable tradition of that defense. Hardly politically correct, despite sympathetic acknowledgement of the Apaches' plight, Fort Apache still offers Ford's striking black and white Monument Valley vistas and assured performances from Ford stalwarts Wayne and Fonda.
• Cast: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Armendáriz, Ward Bond, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen, Anna Lee, Irene Rich, Dick Foran, Guy Kibbee, Grant Withers, Jack Pennick, Ray Hyke, Movita, Miguel Inclán, Mary Gordon, Philip Kieffer, Mae Marsh, Hank Worden, John Agar, Cliff Clark, Frank Ferguson, Francis Ford, William Forrest, Fred Graham, Frank McGrath, Mickey Simpson, Harry Tenbrook, Archie Twitchell, John Ford, Frank S. Nugent, James Warner Bellah, Archie Stout, William H. Clothier, Jack Murray, Richard Hageman, James Basevi
• Director: John Ford
• Runtime: 2:08
• Company: Argosy Pictures Corporation, RKO Pictures, Inc., Turner Entertainment Co., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Warner Home Video, Warner Archive Collection
• Media Format: Movie