Product Review

Colonel John Thursday (Henry Fonda) is an embittered man. Despite an excellent war record, he's stuck with the command of Fort Apache, a remote southwest garrison. So Thursday comes up with a scheme to make his reputation as an Indian fighter. Captain York (John Wayne), a bootstrap veteran of many Indian campaigns, knows Thursday's plan means disaster. But York also knows a soldier's lot is to do ... and perhaps die. Fort Apache (1948) is the hell-for-leather first of John Ford's acclaimed cavalry trilogy (the RKO videocassette She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the second). As always in Ford's classic works, Fort Apache is rich in character and rampant with thunderous action. More than a western, it's a vivid salty, gritty visualization of men and honor that's not to be missed.