Fort Apache - A Classic Western

'Fort Apache' (1948) is a Western classic directed by the grand old man of American cinema, John Ford. The film paired two giants of screen history - John Wayne and Henry Fonda, and (not surprisingly) focuses on the battle of wills that erupts between them. I think 'Fort Apache' is one of the more memorable of Wayne's films because it's one of the select few that have him going head to head with another actor worthy of his attention.

The film examines the waste of life that can occur under the watch of unsuitable men and the way history is re-written in their wake. John Wayne's cavalry captain is reliquished of command by a strict and bitter senior officer, played by Henry Fonda. The film follows the life of the post-civil war cavalry and the tensions that begin to erupt under the new commander, a man out to make a name for himself no matter the cost. Wayne does what he does best as the hero of the piece, a man sympathetic to the native americans that Fonda selfishly tricks into returning to American soil. Despite it's age the film stands up very well some 65 years down the line, many of the troops in the cavalry are Irish and their incessant alcoholism made me laugh out loud on several occasions.

It's an immensely entertaining film that features a somewhat episodic look at life in the cavalry, and is probably most entertainingly propelled by Victor McLaglen’s alcohol-obsessed Irishman – like I said before, it's a facet of the film that ensures it doesn’t feel too outdated today, seeming as drunks are still ripe for comedic exploitation in cinema and television even today (eg. “Arthur”, “Men Behaving Badly”). The plot/historical details seem almost like deus ex machina in regards to these parts of the film – seeming as the action explicitly comes into play only in the film’s last third – the preceding screen time devoted to this life in the cavalry and the friction between Fonda and Wayne.

Wayne would play this character again in Ford’s third and final cavalry film, “Rio Grande”, although he is written and played very much at odds with what we are shown here in ‘Fort Apache’. Suffice to say, I feel this is a much superior film to 'Rio Grande', mostly due to Fonda's presence and his tempering of Wayne's gigantic screen presence.

Fort Apache

This is easily worth checking out if you are even vaguely interested in Western films or screen history in general. It also features a grown up Shirley Temple.

TRIVIA: Victor McLaglen won the Best Actor Oscar back in 1935 for John Ford's film 'The Informer'. As he got older, and his leading man status fell away from him, he became a valuable supporting player in Ford's films - garnering an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor in Ford's 1950 film 'The Quiet Man' (also starring John Wayne).

The film is loosely based on Custer's Last Stand and the cover-up that followed it.

The fort featured here was specially built for this film and remained standing for many years after it, featuring in many other film and television productions.

'Fort Apache' is often included as part of John Ford's informal 'Cavalry trilogy' - followed by 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' (1949) and 'Rio Grande' (1950).

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