Product: Fort Apache (Color Enhanced) [VHS] (1948)
Rating: 4.0
An intriguing example of the John Ford film legacy.....
FORT APACHE, directed by John Ford, features John Wayne in a unusual detour, as the understated Captain Kirby York, Henry Fonda as an arrogant and hardheaded Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, and a grown up Shirley Temple as Philadelphia Thursday, Fonda's on-screen daughter. I viewed this film in a Native American Cinema course. We observed the tensions between soldiers, at the end of the American Civil War, with a local Indian tribe. While York (Wayne) believes that the Indians should be treated with respect, Lt. Col. Thursday thinks otherwise. Meanwhile, his daughter Philadelphia (Temple) is falling in love with Lt. Michael "Mickey" O'Rourke (John Agar). This is much to the great disapproval of her father.This is a film that depicted Native Americans in a rare, sympathetic light. We also see the ample tension that exists in the experience of Irish-American soldiers following the war. The acting, here, is at times interchangeably compelling (John Wayne is great, as is Henry Fonda) as well as annoying (Shirley Temple's character becomes little more than a curiousity--yes, this is the same Shirley Temple best known as a tap dancing three year old with ringlets). John Ford did a great job crafting this film. It is very engaging and well done. I definitely reccomend this as your introduction to his cinematic storytelling.