This blog was started last night but I was unable to complete it due to Dog Tiredness. I just finished it up now, however, and here it is......
(the evening of May 6, 2019) :Tonight I watched a classic Western by John Ford : "Fort Apache" (1948), starring Henry Fonda, John Wayne and Shirley Temple. I had seen it once before, years ago, maybe even back when I was living with my Mom in the early 2000s, and I remembered the basic premise; that the fort was a desolate U.S. Army outpost in Arizona Indian territory, surrounded on all sides by factions of the Apache tribe. Their leader is Cochise, the legendary Apache chief. Henry Fonda arrives at the fort to assume command. He is a Lieutenant Colonel, very arrogant and strict. Captain John Wayne was in charge prior to Fonda. He ran the fort in a more relaxed atmosphere and the men love him. He has also gone out of his way to make peace with Cochise, whose Apache warriors are expert fighters. They outnumber the American troops by a 4 to 1 margin, so Wayne thinks it sensible to negotiate with them.
Colonel Fonda has no such sensitivity to the situation. He is rigid and ruthless. Ultimately, he will use Wayne against his friend Cochise, first by okaying peace talks between the two of them, then pulling the rug out from under the proposal by setting up an Army ambush on the Apaches when Cochise and his men arrive for the summit. Fonda has no scruples or second thoughts about engaging in such a treacherous act because he considers the Indians to be savages.
It is interesting to see John Wayne in the peacemaker role. More often he plays the Hard Guy, as Fonda does here. But Wayne is quite good as the Voice Of Reason (and he was a very good actor in his limited range) and he tries to tell Colonel Fonda about Cochise's skills as a military strategist. "The Apache have never been defeated", Wayne tells him. But Fonda will not listen to any advice from a junior officer. To him, it is close to insubordination.
Fonda has arrived at the fort with his daughter Shirley Temple, who became a stunner as a young woman (and yes, I had to mention it again, lol). She becomes attracted to a sharp looking officer fresh out of West Point, played by John Agar. He falls in love with Shirley, which causes her Dad Henry Fonda to have a fit, even though young Agar is a stand up gentleman. Fonda nevertheless declares his daughter off limits to Agar, who is ready to comply, but daughter Shirley won't accept it.
In real life, she didn't either. She wound up marrying John Agar, whom she met on the set of "Fort Apache".
This is one of the truly great Westerns, on par with "Red River" or "The Searchers". It has the length - 128 minutes - to allow for character development. The soldiers and their wives, who also live at the fort, seem like real people. The women have tried to "dress up" the barren encampment to make it feel more like home. They decorate with shared items of furniture and fabrics, and they throw dances and talent shows that Colonel Fonda at first tries to squelch but has to reluctantly allow as the women won't back down and are not under his command. Neither is his daughter Shirley, who won't give up on John Agar no matter what Dad says.
This will cause a major problem later on, but all of the themes of Life At The Fort, and Fonda's attempts to instill discipline there and quash the fun, will take a back seat in the 45 minutes, when Wayne proposes the peace talks with Cochise. A main obstacle preventing peaceful coexistence on the land is the presence at the fort of a Federally sanctioned Indian Agent, which is a fancy name for a trader, a man who is on site to sell goods to Native Americans. This Indian Agent is a bad man who has gotten many of the Apache men hooked on cheap whiskey. He also sells them rifles in order to provoke war. John Wayne knows what he is up to and reads him the riot act. Wayne is trying to make peace and his friend Cochise wants this man off the land. That is his one non-negotiable demand.
But Colonel Fonda will not hear of it. He sticks up for the Agent and says that if the Indians are drunk it's their own fault, kinda like when the CIA brought crack into the inner cities in the 1980s. He would've supported that, too. :)
The peace talks will ultimately break down, as mentioned, which will lead to a fateful climax. I won't reveal any more, however it is one of the most dramatic endings in all of Western movies.
The entire Fort Apache set was built at Corriganville, which is reason enough to see the film. I walk through that part of the park every time I go there. Signs mark the site, showing which way the buildings were situated. Now that I have it all fresh in my mind, the next time I go back I will be able to picture the set even more clearly (and Shirley Temple, too). :)
Two Enormous Thumbs Up for "Fort Apache", which also brims with the Irish humor often found in John Ford's films. Beautifully shot in black and white, including other non-fort scenes that were filmed at Monument Valley, Utah, Ford's most famous location. This one gets my highest recommendation, especially if you love Westerns. ////
That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon and I will be back with another blog late tonight. Hopefully this time I won't fall asleep while writing it, haha.
See you in a few hours. Much love til then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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