It's... MOVIE TIME!
It's been awhile since I posted about a classic western movie and today's film was directed by one of the most preeminent filmmakers in that genre, John Ford.
Released on this very date in 1949, today's movie is She Wore A Yellow Ribbon starring John Wayne. It is the second film in Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", along with Fort Apache (1948) and Rio Grande (1950).
The film centers around Captian Nathan Cutting Brittles (John Wayne), a calvary veteran who is overseeing his last command at Fort Starke, a Western Frontier Army post.
Prior to his August 1876 retirement, Captain Brittles is given one last mission: to deal with a breakout by the Cheyenne and Arapaho from their reservation. They've gotten a bit antsy following George Armstrong Custer getting his ass kicked at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Brittles is tasked with preventing a new frontier war.
Also on Brittles' to do list is doing a favor for his commanding officer, transporting his wife and niece, Abby Allshard and Olivia Dandridge, to an eastbound stage.
As Olivia is the only single female woman of the opposite sex within 500 miles, she naturally becomes of the subject of attention of Fort Starke's soldiers. Troop officers 1st Lt. Flint Cohill and 2nd Lt. Ross Pennell are working double time to win Olivia's affections.
Nothing creepy or awkward about that at all.
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| Joanne Dru as Olivia and John Wayne as Captain Brittles |
Things do not go well for ol' Capt. Brittles.
The womenfolk don't make the stage and the Cheyenne and Arapaho are really riled up to go to war.
Brittles hangs up his uniform and sabre and calls it a day, taking his leave of Fort Starke.
But he hasn't quite given up yet.
Not wanting to see lives lost needlessly in a bloody war, Brittles takes it upon himself to try to make peace with his old friend Chief Pony That Walks.
Well, that doesn't work either.
So he tries to halt the renegage Natives by stampeding their horses, forcing the warriors to walk back to their reservation.
Brittles ain't done with the army yet.
Via a War Department order signed by Gen. Sheridan, Gen. Sherman and President Grant, Brittles is recalled to duty as Chief of Scouts with the rank of Lt. Colonel.
Cohill wins the contest to engage in legally sanctioned heteronormantive sexual intercourse with Olivia.
A few points about She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.
First of all, the movie looks gorgeous. John Ford shot the movie in his favorite location for westerns, Monument Valley along the Arizona-Utah state border.
Hoch won the Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography, in 1950.
Director John Ford did not want John Wayne for the part of Captain Bittles. The character was 20 years older than John Wayne was at the time.
Also John Ford said, "I didn't know the big son of a bitch could act!" unril he saw Wayne in 1948's Red River.
The role of Brittles was the first time John Wayne got to extend his range beyond the typical John Wayne archetype.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon is a compelling treatise on aging, taking responsibility and accepting that things change whether we're ready or not.
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