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.
- 7.0
- 1948
- Released
- 2h 8m
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)
Philip Kieffer
Cavalryman
Mae Marsh
Mrs. Gates
Hank Worden
Southern Recruit
John Agar
2nd Lt. Michael Shannon O'RourkeAbdullah Abbas
Officer at Dance (uncredited)Danny Borzage
Recruit With Mustache / Accordionist at Serenade (uncredited)
Cliff Clark
Stage Driver (uncredited)Jane Crowley
Officer's Wife (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)Russell Meeker
Officer at Dance (uncredited)Al Murphy
Orchestra Leader (uncredited)John Rice
Officer at Dance (uncredited)Phil Schumacher
Soldier (uncredited)Allen D. Sewall
Officer at Dance (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson
NCO at Dance (uncredited)Leslie Sketchley
Officer at Dance (uncredited)Brick Sullivan
Officer at Dance (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook
Tom O'Feeney (uncredited)
Archie Twitchell
Reporter (uncredited)Eleanore Vogel
Officer's Wife (uncredited)
Released
en
$2,500,000.00
$3,000,000.00
- #apache nation
- #colonel
- #slaughter
- #black and white
- #military
- #tortured to death
- #american civil war
- #19th century
- #john ford's cavalry trilogy
Reviews
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
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 pri