Review of Fort Apache (1948) by Gerry N — 16 Jun 2007

Fort Apache, loosely based on the story of Gen. George Armstong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, is the first of three movies by director John Ford about the US cavalry and its wars with the Indians in the late 19th Century after the American Civil War.

John Wayne stars in all three, and the movies are usually considered a trilogy, although plotwise the stories are similar but not really connected except for a few recurring characters. In this film, as in Rio Grande, Wayne plays Kirby York, here a captain, in Rio Grande a Lt.

Colonel. The position of Lt. Colonel in this film belongs to Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, played by Henry Fonda. Much of the plot revolves around the tension between Thursday (the "Custer" character) and the men assigned to him at the Fort of which he has been given command against his wishes.

An arrogant and inflexible man, he repeatedly refuses to listen to the advice of Captain York who is inevitably proven the wiser of the two. Shirley Temple appears as Thursday's daughter (named Philadelphia showing Thursday's lack of sense to extend beyond dealing with the Apache), whose romance with 2nd Lt.

Michael Shannon O'Rourke (played by John Agar) is opposed by her father for reasons of class, but championed by York.