Western

Fort Apache

- John Ford's Masterpiece of the Frontier!

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.

Release Date : 1948-05-21

Language :EnglishSpanish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Argosy Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles : War PartyCavalry 1: Fort Apache

Cast

Character Name : Capt. Kirby York

Original Name : John Wayne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

Original Name : Henry Fonda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Philadelphia Thursday

Original Name : Shirley Temple

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sgt. Beaufort

Original Name : Pedro Armendáriz

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sgt. Maj. Michael O'Rourke

Original Name : Ward Bond

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capt. Sam Collingwood

Original Name : George O'Brien

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sgt. Festus Mulcahy

Original Name : Victor McLaglen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Emily Collingwood

Original Name : Anna Lee

Gender : Female

Character Name : Mrs. Mary O'Rourke

Original Name : Irene Rich

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sgt. Quincannon

Original Name : Dick Foran

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capt. Dr. Wilkens

Original Name : Guy Kibbee

Gender : Male

Character Name : Silas Meacham

Original Name : Grant Withers

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sgt. Daniel Schattuck

Original Name : Jack Pennick

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lt. Gates

Original Name : Ray Hyke

Gender : Male

Character Name : Guadalupe

Original Name : Movita

Gender : Female

Character Name : Cochise

Original Name : Miguel Inclán

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ma (barmaid)

Original Name : Mary Gordon

Gender : Female

Character Name : Cavalryman

Original Name : Philip Kieffer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mrs. Gates

Original Name : Mae Marsh

Gender : Female

Character Name : Southern Recruit

Original Name : Hank Worden

Gender : Male

Character Name : 2nd Lt. Michael Shannon O'Rourke

Original Name : John Agar

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Abdullah Abbas

Gender : Male

Character Name : Recruit With Mustache / Accordionist at Serenade (uncredited)

Original Name : Danny Borzage

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stage Driver (uncredited)

Original Name : Cliff Clark

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer's Wife (uncredited)

Original Name : Jane Crowley

Gender : Female

Character Name : Newspaperman (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank Ferguson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Fen - Stage Guard (uncredited)

Original Name : Francis Ford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : William Forrest

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cavalryman (uncredited)

Original Name : Fred Graham

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cpl. Derice (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank McGrath

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Clyde McLeod

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Russell Meeker

Gender : Male

Character Name : Orchestra Leader (uncredited)

Original Name : Al Murphy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : John Rice

Gender : Male

Character Name : Soldier (uncredited)

Original Name : Phil Schumacher

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Allen D. Sewall

Gender : Male

Character Name : NCO at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Mickey Simpson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Leslie Sketchley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer at Dance (uncredited)

Original Name : Brick Sullivan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tom O'Feeney (uncredited)

Original Name : Harry Tenbrook

Gender : Male

Character Name : Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Archie Twitchell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer's Wife (uncredited)

Original Name : Eleanore Vogel

Gender : Female

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

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

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-07-09

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.