Stars: Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Shirley Temple, Victor McLaglen, John Agar, Ward Bond, Dick Foran, Anna Lee, George O'Brien, Guy Kibbee, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Irene Rich

Director: John Ford

Summary: The first film of John Ford's celebrated Cavalry Trilogy, FORT APACHE mirrors the effects of the director's wartime experience on his attitude toward military command. Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda), a West Point-trained Civil War veteran, is sent to command the remote Arizona outpost of Fort Apache. An arrogant, by-the-book officer, he's annoyed at having drawn such an ignominious assignment. Despite the warnings of veteran Indian-fighter Capt. Kirby York (John Wayne), he dismisses the notion that a group of savages could possibly be of concern to one possessing his military prowess. After Thursday's daughter, Philadelphia (Shirley Temple), and young Lt. Michael O'Rourke (Ward Bond) find the bodies of some mutilated soldiers, it's discovered that Indian agent Silas Meacham (Grant Withers) has been stirring the Apaches up by selling them liquor illegally. York persuades Thursday to withhold all action until he can arrange peace talks with Cochise (Miguel Inclan), but when the Indian chief shows up for the palaver he finds that the blindly willful army commander has called out the entire regiment for an attack on the Apache force. A tragic, absorbingly complex study of the problems of command, FORT APACHE benefits enormously from Fonda's superb performance and the exhaustive research of screenwriter Frank S. Nugent into Apache culture and the army outposts of the era.

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John Ford's 1948 classic stars John Wayne as a cavalry officer used to doing things a certain way out West at Fort Apache. Along comes a rigid, new commanding officer (Henry Fonda) who insists that everything on his watch be done by the book, including dealings with local Indians. The results are mixed: greater discipline at the fort, but increased hostilities with the natives. Ford deliberately leaves judgements about the wisdom of these changes ambiguous, but he also allows plenty of room in this wonderful film for the fullness of life among the soldiers and their families--community rituals, new romances--to blossom. Fonda, in an unusual role for him, is stern and formal as the new man in charge; Wayne is heroic as the rebellious second; Victor McLaglen provides comic relief; and Ward Bond is a paragon of sturdy and sentimental masculinity. All of this is set against the magnificent, poetic topography of Monument Valley. This is easily one of the greatest of American films. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Film Synopsis, Interactive Menus
Year:	1948
Release Date:	February 19, 2001
Runtime:	122 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	078 122 2
Keywords:	Apache, Fort, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns