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Fort Apache (1948)
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:13
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.3/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Westerns
Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]
Starring: Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Shirley Temple
Starring: Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Shirley Temple, John Agar, Pedro Armendariz, Irene Rich, George O'Brien, Victor McLaglen, Anna Lee, Dick Foran, Guy Kibbee
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
Screenwriter: Frank S. Nugent
Producer: John Ford, Merian C. Cooper
Composer: Richard Hageman
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Reviews for Fort Apache
Inspired by the massacre of General Custer's Cavalry, John Ford's superb elegiac Western contrasts legal-rational authority (Henry Fonda) with charismatic type of authority (John Wayne) to an advantage.
One of John Ford's cavalry trilogy, and a near classic on its own. Wayne and Fonda are fine.
Henry Fonda's stubborness reminds me of our occupant in the White House with his Iraq policy.
This one is a reworking of the Custer myth, in a film that over sentimentalizes Army life and chivalry.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 66% 66% | The Merry Gentleman |
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