Product: Fort Apache (Color Enhanced) [VHS] (1948)
Rating: 4.0
Fools rush in
DVD newcomer "Fort Apache" (1948) looks great, with minimal wear on its crisp black-and-white images (from original nitrate elements) and bugle-brisk audio. The film, ironically, finds Henry Fonda playing the maddeningly hawkish cavalry commander against John Wayne's humanistic officer willing to risk all for peace and justice.The (single) DVD has no documentary on the exciting and heartfelt film, a shame. It does include a 15-minute piece on Monument Valley, covering Ford's significant and seemingly beneficial role in the Indian reservation's history. The Navajo, paid good wages for their appearances, called him "Giant Soldier." "I've kissed more babies than a politician," Ford said."Part of his vision of the world was that we're all very small in the scheme of things," film historian Joseph McBride says. "I think (Monument Valley) gives a dimension of moral seriousness to his work that was intensified as he went along."[...]