History Film / FortApache

* YouAreInCommandNow: At the end, Thursday realizes he's led half his army to their deaths, and he refuses York's offer to drag him to safety. Asking for York's saber (to rejoin his doomed men), Thursday snorts "When you command this regiment, and you probably will, '''command it!'''" With Thursday's death, York ''does'' gain command, and is clearly not happy about it.

* LeeroyJenkins: Against orders Thursday picks a fight with Cochise (who's willing to negotiate), then leads a cavalry charge into a well-laid Apache ambush. Needless to say, things don't go well. Thursday becomes a martyr for the US Army, with even his subordinate Captain York (who despised him while alive) claiming "no man died more gallantly."

''Fort Apache'' is a 1948 Creator/{{RKO}} {{Western}} film directed by Creator/JohnFord, starring Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/HenryFonda, Creator/ShirleyTemple, her then-husband John Agar, Ward Bond, Victor [=McLaglen=], and Pedro Armendariz. ''Fort Apache'' is considered, with ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' (1949) and ''Rio Grande'' (1950), a part of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy."

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: As noted, the main plot is a retelling of the Little Big Horn, transplanted to Arizona.

Not to be confused with the 1981 ''Fort Apache, The Bronx'', which is about an [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] precinct in [[TheBigRottenApple South Bronx]] (although the "Fort Apache" part is invoked).

Essentially a fictional retelling of the Battle of Little Bighorn, relocated to Monument Valley and using Apache instead of Sioux, the film details the arrival post-Civil War of by-the-book West Point graduate Colonel Owen Thursday (Fonda) to a remote and run-down cavalry post deep in Indian territory. Thursday quickly works to shape up the ragtag group of soldiers, occasionally butting heads with his underling Captain York (Wayne), a less educated but more experienced officer especially with dealing with the local tribes. When the Apache under Cochise rise up against the corruption of a government Agent, Thursday sees the brewing conflict as a chance to reclaim some of the glory he had during the Civil War, despite the protests by York that the Apache have legitimate grievances, and that the Apache are better fighters than Thursday thinks.

* AntiVillain: The Apache, especially Cochise. It's explained early and often in the film that the natives have legitimate issues with the corrupt Agent.

* BlingOfWar: Thursday insists that his officers' uniforms conform strictly to regulations, putting a stop to the more practical dress they had worn until then. And at the big dance they are all wearing full dress uniforms and medals.

* {{Deconstruction}}: This was one of the earliest Westerns to [[FairForItsDay depict with some sympathy the plight of the Indians.]] The Apache are suffering at the hands of a corrupt government Indian Agent, with little recourse but to flee the reservation to force the military's hand to get rid of that agent. Instead, it's the racist Thursday, who's dismissive of Apache fighting skills and itching for a glorious military victory, who aggravates the situation and leads half his men to their doom. And when Captain York stands alone as the Apache charge at him, they stop right in his presence and turn back, demonstrating that they honor soldiers who respect them and aren't the violent savages depicted in other Western films of the day. The ending also shows how history is WrittenByTheWinners when [[spoiler:Thursday gets a posthumous HistoricalHeroUpgrade similar to Custer after Big Horn, while Colonel York grimaces as he lies about his "greatness"]].

** Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (modeled on the real-life George Armstrong Custer) is an arrogant martinet to his own men (even after explicitly saying that he is ''not''); out of class snobbishness, obstructs the path of True Love between his daughter and a young lieutenant because the latter is the son of an Irish noncom; sees war as a path to personal glory; provokes a conflict with the Apaches that better diplomacy could have avoided; and, worst of all, gets most of his regiment slaughtered through tactical incompetence and stubborn refusal to listen to Captain York, who knows the Apaches much better. For all of that, York credits him with improving the quality of the regiment through his strict discipline.
** Owen Thursday's charactization as an arrogant, aging martinet with no social skills whatsoever, is actually rather different from the flamboyant Custer, whose attitude to non-regulation dress and hair was actually the opposite of Thursday's. What they have in common is bitterness towards the government which in their view did not properly recognize their brilliance in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and a fatal show of incompetence in their last battle.

* PeelingPotatoes: After a drunken binge, Sgts. Beaufort, Mulcahy, Shattuck, and Quincannon are demoted to privates and are seen shoveling horse manure.

* TheSavageIndian: How the arrogant Thursday views the Apaches.

* SoldierVsWarrior: Bluecoats(soldiers) vs Apaches(warriors). The cavalry are [[PunchClockHero Punch Clock Heroes or Villains]] or both (depending on how you look at it) doing their job for TheGovernment, while the Apaches are an individualistic ProudWarriorRace.

* TactfulTranslation: Slightly inverted, in that Cochise calls the Indian agent Meacham "''un hombre malvado, que no dice la verdad''," which Sergeant Beaufort renders as "a yellow-bellied polecat of dubious antecedents and conjectural progeny." (It literally means "an evil man, who does not speak the truth.")

* WorthyOpponent: York and Cochise regard each other that way. Colonel Thursday on the other hand...
* YouAreInCommandNow: At the end, Thursday realizes he's led half his army to their deaths, and he refuses York's offer to drag him to safety. Asking for York's saber (to rejoin his doomed men), Thursday snorts "When you command this regiment, and you probably will, '''command it!'''" With Thursday's death, York ''does'' gain command.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: As evidence of Apache prowess, Yorke tells of an attempted raid by the Sioux which met with a bloody disaster at Apache hands.

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FortApache.jpg]]

''Fort Apache'' is a 1948 Creator/RepublicPictures {{Western}} film starring Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/HenryFonda, Creator/ShirleyTemple, her then-husband John Agar, Ward Bond, Victor [=McLaglen=], Pedro Armendariz, and directed by Creator/JohnFord. ''Fort Apache'' is considered, with ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' (1949) and ''Rio Grande'' (1950), a part of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy."

* TheGeneralsDaughter: Philadelphia Thursday. Lieutenant O'Rourke gets into a lot of trouble for dating his CO's daughter.

Not to be confused with the 1981 ''Fort Apache, The Bronx'', which is about an [[NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] precinct in [[TheBigRottenApple South Bronx]] (although the "Fort Apache" part is invoked).

''Fort Apache'' is a 1948 Republic Pictures {{Western}} film starring Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/HenryFonda, Creator/ShirleyTemple, her then-husband John Agar, Ward Bond, Victor [=McLaglen=], Pedro Armendariz, and directed by Creator/JohnFord. ''Fort Apache'' is considered, with ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' (1949) and ''Rio Grande'' (1950), a part of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy."

* DamnedByFaintPraise: On finding barrels of whiskey that Meacham has been selling to the Apaches (stored in crates marked "Bibles", no less), Colonel Thursday asks Sergeant Mulcahy for his opinion of it. After he takes a sip, he gives Meacham a DeathGlare and responds, "Well, uh, it's better than no whiskey at all, sir."

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: In spades with Lt. Mickey O'Rourke, who is very much presented as MrFanservice early in the movie. Inverted with Sergeant Mulcahy.

* ConflictingLoyalty: The film explores this a lot especially with family relationships vs. army, starting with a scene at the beginning in which the Sergeants first flawlessly salute 2nd lieutenant O'Rourke, then playfully spank him. And then big softy Sgt. Mulcahy goes all misty-eyed as he proudly introduces his godson to Philadelphia. The thing is that these concurrent relationships result in different hierarchies -- Sgt.-Major O'Rourke is his son's and Col. Thursday's inferior on duty, but still on occasion can assert his authority as a father on Lt. O'Rourke (unless Mrs. O'Rourke decides to assert hers as Woman of the House) and can show Col. Thursday the door when he intrudes into his home.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHamed: Colonel Owen Thursday is quite obviously derived from General George Armstrong Custer, as was admitted by John Ford himself to Peter Bogdanovich in later interviews.

* ThrowingDownTheGauntlet: York spends half the movie trying to explain to Thursday that the Colonel needs to respect the Apache better. When Thursday derisively slams one last suggestion back in York's face accusing the Captain of "cowardice," York has had enough and throws down his glove at Thursday's feet, [[DuelToTheDeath demanding satisfaction]]. Thursday ignores it and relieves York of command, sending him back with the supply wagons in seeming shame...

%% * DeliberatelyMonochrome:

%% * TheWildWest

* TheAlcoholic: Most of the Sergeants play up this trope, especially Mulcahy ([=McLaglen=]). When the Sergeants spike the drink at the dance, it's Mulcahy who finishes off the whole bowl when the dance is cut short.

* CatchPhrase: "Any questions, Captain?" "No questions."

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: See SceneryPorn.

* TheNeidermeyer: Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (modeled on the real-life George Armstrong Custer) is an arrogant martinet to his own men (even after explicitly saying that he is ''not''); out of class snobbishness, obstructs the path of True Love between his daughter and a young lieutenant because the latter is the son of an Irish noncom; sees war as a path to personal glory; provokes a conflict with the Apaches that better diplomacy could have avoided; and, worst of all, gets most of his regiment slaughtered through tactical incompetence and stubborn refusal to listen to Captain York, who knows the Apaches much better. For all of that, York credits him with improving the quality of the regiment through his strict discipline.

* NotSoDifferent: York clearly empathizes with Cochise and would probably do just what he did in his place. But he continues [[JustFollowingOrders to do what he feels is his duty]].

* SceneryPorn: It's Creator/JohnFord directing a {{Western}}. There's Monument Valley in all the exterior shots.

* TheWildWest

''Fort Apache'' is a 1948 Republic Pictures {{Western}} film starring Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/HenryFonda, Creator/ShirleyTemple, her then-husband John Agar, Ward Bond, Victor [=McLaglen=], Pedro Armendariz, and directed by Creator/JohnFord. ''Fort Apache'' is considered, with ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' (1949) and ''Rio Grande'' (1950), a part of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy."

* IllTakeTwoBeersToo