Fort Apache Video

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starring: John Wayne, Henry Fonda directed by: John Ford

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Average Rating: Rating: - colorized is better I have seen Fort Apache ten times in black and white. Every John Wayne B/W DVD should also contain the colorized version when available, otherwise forget it. Rating: - Fort Apache: The Custer Massacre Retold Director John Ford began his trilogy of the bluecoat versus Indian trilogy with FORT APACHE in 1948. The film was such a hit that he quickly followed with a pair of sequels, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON and RIO GRANDE. John Wayne played basically the same character in each, a grizzled, weary veteran of the Indian wars who is one of the few people in any of the three films who sees the Indians sympathetically. In FORT APACHE, he is Captain Kirby York, who has to adjust to being in second command to a martinet of a commander, Colonel Owen Thursday, played by Henry Fonda in only one of two unsympathetic roles in a very long film career (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is the other). Captain York wants to bring an end to the Indian wars, so he meets Cochise and Geronimo and gives them his word that they will be treated fairly. Of course, Colonel Thursday decides to attack the Indians in a surprise assault that fools nobody. Colonel Thursday is seen as a clone of General Custer who had much the same idea of surprising 5,000 Indian warriors. It is hard to find any sympathy for Thursday. Every word that he utters is starkly unemotional. He is about as fair with the Indians as he is with his own daughter Philadelphia (Shirley Temple) when he refuses consent to her marriage with a dashing cavalry lieutenant played by the blandly handsome John Agar, who, in real life, married Shirley soon after the film was released. The highlight of the film is a characteristic of John Ford, a smashingly effective use of onrushing troopers led into a cavalry charge with a bugler tooting the way. The battle scene of trooper versus Indian inevitably draws comparison with the real life massacre of the 7th Cavalry under General Custer. The role of the Indian in this and the other two installments is one of the few instances in which the Indian is not seen as the inherently bad guy. In fact, Cochise and Geronimo were both willing to abide by a verbal treaty and Colonel Thursday's verbal harangue of the two proud chiefs clearly invests them with some sympathy. The viewer is left with the distinct impression that if the west had had more Captain Yorks and fewer Colonel Thursdays, then the history of the wild west might have been written in much less blood. Rating: - One of the best Fort Apache is another wonderful example of Fords amazing directing ability! It's a pity that he is still not around to make more of these classic epics. John Wayne does a spectacular job playing Kirby York. A brilliant if somewhat bitter character, who has spent a major portion of his life fighting Indians and is therefore much more aware of the danger of fighting them as if they were civilized soldiers who obey the tactics of war. Henry Ford, as usual does an incredible acting job, as the ignorant Colonel Owen Thursday, who's pride gets him into much more trouble then it's worth I can't say that I actually ever rooted for the Indians (who did a wonderful job of appearing uncivilized) which I suppose is how it's supposed to be :-) And I was highly disappointed that Owen never made it back. Even if he WAS a disagreeable person. Fort Apache is a must see! A GREAT video!

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