Fort Apache
is a retelling of Custer’s Last Stand, only substituting Apache for the Sioux, and
one Colonel Owen Thursday, played very sternly by Henry Fonda. The movie, as
well as being a portrait of life in a US Cavalry regiment on the American
frontier, is a meditation of how heroes are made. Colonel Thursday, a competent
enough soldier, is also a martinet. He is unimaginative, resents being assigned
such an out of the way post, and has nothing but contempt for the American
Indians whom he is obliged to fight. This last failing will be his and many of
regiment’s undoing.
Colonel Thursday comes into conflict with Captain Kirby York, played by John
Wayne. York is an experienced
officer and knows something about dealing with the Indians, for whom he has a
measure of grudging respect (This is often a surprise to many who have an image
of Wayne as a remorseless and
relentless killer of Indians in his movies.) Another cause of conflict comes
from the Colonel’s beautiful daughter, Philadelphia Thursday, played by an
adult Shirley Temple as she causes her father’s wrath to he incurred by Lt.
Michael Shannon O’Rourke, played by her then husband John Agar.
The film provides a charming portrait of life on the cavalry post, showing
the concerns of the wives and officers who live there. There are various
vignettes that stand out, including a training session of new recruits that
turns into a comedy of galloping horses with the recruits falling off of them.
It soon becomes apparent that the local Apache reservation is run by a
corrupt, government Indian agent, who sells the Indians horrible whisky and
cheapo, shoddy goods. The Apache war chief, Cochise, played with steady dignity
by Miguel Inclan, would seem to be well justified in leading his people off the
reservation and away from that degradation. Nevertheless, the regiment is
obliged to force Cochise and his people back onto the reservation. Instead,
Colonel Thursday leads most of his command into a disastrous charge, thus
becoming a hero to the newspapers. The last scene with Wayne,
now in command of the regiment, trying to answer the reporters’ ill informed
questions about Thursday and his “heroic charge” is a classic about how heroes
can be made.
The film has some marvelous performances by supporting actors, including
Ward Bond as Sergeant Major Mickey O’Rourke (the father of the same Lt.
O’Rourke), George O’Brian as Captain Collinwood, and Victor McLaglen as
Sergeant Festus Mulcahy.