Line #46 Film/FortApache


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fort_apache_1948.jpg]]
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3	''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 Creator/PedroArmendariz. ''Fort Apache'' is considered, with ''Film/SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' (1949) and ''Film/RioGrande'' (1950), a part of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy." The film is an adaptation of the 1947 short story "Massacre" by James Warner Bellah.
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5	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 Bureau of Indian Affairs 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.
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7	The movie's subplot involves Thursday's daughter (played by Temple) Philadelphia (don't get started on where she gets her name) falling in love with the fresh-from-the-academy Lt. O'Rourke (Agar). Colonel Thursday doesn't approve of the potential match, primarily because O'Rourke's father (also stationed at the fort) is an enlisted man, but it's implied also due to then-prejudices against the Irish.
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9	[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Not to be confused with]] the 1981 ''[[Film/FortApacheTheBronx Fort Apache, The Bronx]]'', which is about an [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] precinct in [[TheBigRottenApple South Bronx]] (although the "Fort Apache" part is invoked).
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11	----
12	!!This film is associated with the following tropes:
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14	* AdaptationTitleChange: The film is an adaptation of the short story "Massacre".
15	* TheAlcoholic:
16	** 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.
17	** Also the fort's medical officer, in a more gentlemanly way.
18	** A line from Collingwood suggests he is one as well, though he is never seen drinking to excess. The same conversation also indicates it's probably a case of DrowningMySorrows.
19	* AntiVillain: The Apache, especially Cochise. It's explained early and often in the film that the natives have legitimate issues with the corrupt BIA Agent.
20	* BabiesEverAfter: In the epilogue, O'Rourke and Philadelphia are shown with a young son named Michael Thursday O'Rourke.
21	* BalancingDeathsBooks: A mundane example occurs in Fort Apache. The colonel is dead set on fighting it out to the death against Cochise's forces, but sends back Major York to the supply wagons, telling him to take O'Rourke with him, meaning Sergeant-Major O'Rourke, not his son, the junior officer of the regiment. York tells the Sergeant O'Rourke, who like himself can see that there will be no survivors in the battle, that he is to take O'Rourke with him, and the Sergeant tells him: "Ye will find lieutenant O'Rourke further along," thus indicating that he is to save his son's life.
22	* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Years after Thursday wiped out half his own troops, York is in command of Fort Apache and is preparing a campaign to capture the latest Apache rebel Geronimo. Chatting with reporters covering the campaign, they mention a flattering portrait of Thursday's doomed last stand hanging in Washington DC, discussing how heroic Thursday must have been in leading that charge. York, knowing the real story but also knowing that they probably won't believe him and even if they did, at this point the truth would just hurt army morale, goes along with the false story. This is also [[TruthInTelevision Truth in Television]] as people covered up the blunders made at the real Battle of the Little Bighorn for decades.
23	** Everything York says to the reporters can be considered MetaphoricallyTrue if you take his response being about the reporter's description of the painting and not the painting's historical accuracy.
24	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: In spades with Lt. Mickey O'Rourke, who is very much presented as MrFanservice early in the movie. Inverted with Sergeant Mulcahy, an ugly bastard and a very good guy.
25	* 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, Particularly SGM O'Rourke with his Medal of Honor.
26	* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Col. Thursday. He doesn't want his daughter Philadelphia seeing that dashing young Irish lieutenant, so much so that he sends O'Rourke on a [[TheUriahGambit seeming suicide mission]] to fix telegraph cables as bait.
27	* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: When young Lieutenant O'Rourke seems embarrassed as he is about to train a platoon of recruits, the sergeants comment that young O'Rourke is a gentleman and training recruits is not a job for a gentleman. And then they take it over.
28	* {{Catchphrase}}:
29	** "Any questions, Captain?" "No questions."
30	** Becomes an IronicEcho at the end when Thursday charges back into the massacre to join his doomed men.
31	*** And York picks up the VerbalTic when ''he'' becomes the commanding officer at Fort Apache.
32	* CavalryOfficer: The films of the "Cavalry Trilogy" are all about cavalry outposts in the West and show quite a bit of the conventions and rituals of the cavalry. Various types of Cavalry Officer appear, including some who serve as non-coms or other ranks - veterans of the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar who had either served in the Confederate Army or with Northern commissions that only lasted for the duration of the war.
33	* ColonelBadass: Col. Thursday ... well, sort of... at least until he orders the infamous Thursday's Charge, which results in the [[SuicidalOverConfidence utter destruction of half the regiment]]. Then he becomes this once more when he goes back to die with his men.
34	* 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 (having served with his father, they've known him all his life, and he even calls them his uncles). 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.
35	* CurbStompBattle: The ending is pretty much one of these for the Apaches; they nearly wipe out the entire regiment and seem to take almost no casualties. The only reason any of the regiment survived was that the Apaches ''chose'' to let them live.
36	* DamnedByFaintPraise: On finding barrels of whiskey that Meacham has been illegally 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."
37	* DancesAndBalls: There are two - an officers' ball in honour of Washington's birthday and the Non-Commissioned Officers' Ball. It is no coincidence that ''both'' are rudely interrupted by Colonel Thursday. (Although not before stick-up-his-butt Thursday reveals himself to be [[HiddenDepths a graceful dancer]] at the NCO ball.
38	* DeathEqualsRedemption: To his credit, when Thursday realizes what he'd done, he charges back into the ambush knowing it will mean his death. His death also means that Thursday's daughter Philadelphia will be free to marry the young Lt. O'Rourke, and O'Rourke's father lampshades this by pointing out that Thursday can apologize in the afterlife to their grandchildren.
39	* {{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 Affairs 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 Little Bighorn, while Colonel York grimaces as he lies about his "greatness"]].
40	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: As noted under SceneryPorn below, black-and-white film was used deliberately, for greater contrasts.
41	* DrillSergeantNasty: Subverted when 2LT O'Rourke is training new recruits. After yelling at one who doesn't understand close-order drill commands, O'Rourke apologizes to the recruit and admits that he doesn't really know how to teach this stuff. The Sergeants then take over for him and serve as straighter examples.
42	* EatingTheEyeCandy: When Philadelphia Thursday comes into a changing room to freshen up, she sees Lt. Michael O'Rourke bare-chested and washing up, and she can't help but look...
43	* EndingMemorialService: Yorke's speech at the end: ''Collingwood and the rest. And they'll keep on living as long as the regiment lives. The pay is thirteen dollars a month; their diet: beans and hay. Maybe horsemeat before this campaign is over. Fight over cards or rotgut whiskey, but share the last drop in their canteens. The faces may change... the names... but they're there: they're the regiment... the regular army... now and fifty years from now. They're better men than they used to be. Thursday did that. He made it a command to be proud of.''
44	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Thursday regards Meacham as beneath contempt.
45	* FightingIrish: Three, with only the sober Sergeant-Major O'Rourke an aversion.
46	* FirstNameBasis: Collingwood and his wife to Owen Thursday - a memento of the times when they were equals and close friends.
47	* {{Foreshadowing}}: during the introductions between Thursday and the Apache leaders, one of the Indian lieutenants is presented as Geronimo. At the end of the movie, York is leading his troops out to capture Geronimo, now leading another uprising against unjust conditions.
48	* TheGeneralsDaughter: Philadelphia Thursday. Lieutenant O'Rourke gets into a lot of trouble for courting his CO's daughter.
49	* GeneralFailure: Thursday flip-flops between this and ColonelBadass.
50	* GloryHound: To some extent Colonel Thursday. Defeating the despised Apache becomes a much more attractive proposition to him after he finds out that Cochise is famous enough to make national newspaper headlines.
51	* GreyAndGreyMorality: Neither side is shown as particularly nice. The Apaches torture prisoners while TheGovernment tolerates corrupt treatment of Indians. At the same time there are honorable people on both sides.
52	* HandshakeRefusal: Thursday pulls this on Collingwood in front of his wife and all of the other officers upon his arrival at the fort, firmly establishing himself as a JerkAss.
53	* HeroicSacrifice: Very understated: "You'll find Lieutenant O'Rourke with his troop, sir."
54	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Collingwood got the short end of a NoodleIncident that torpedoed his career and ended with him ReassignedToAntarctica at Fort Apache. Nevertheless, he is AFatherToHisMen and beloved by everyone at the fort (except Thursday).
55	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: The most prominent is the Apache leader Cochise. One of his supporters is Geronimo. Robert E. Lee gets name-dropped by Col. Thursday while giving out orders to set up a trap using Lt. O'Rourke as bait. Thursday himself is a stand-in of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, as the movie is a re-telling of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. York may be a loose stand-in of Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, the two officers who led the remainder of Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment during the battle and held out on Reno Hill until the arrival of General Alfred Terry's column.
56	** Jeb Stuart is also name dropped.
57	* HonoraryUncle: Sergeants Mulcahey, Quincannon, Beaufort, and Shattuck to 2nd Lieutenant [=O'Rourke=]. They have all served with Sergeant Major [=O'Rourke=] since at least the end of the Civil War, have all had a hand in raising young Michael, and he calls them his uncles when not in front of the Colonel. Captain York and Captain Collingwood also qualify to a lesser extent. Mrs. Collingwood is an honorary aunt to Philadelphia, being a longtime friend of her mother's, and does a lot more for Phil than her father can be bothered for.
58	* IGaveMyWord:
59	-->'''York''': I gave my word to Cochise. No man is gonna make a liar out of me, sir.
60	-->'''Thursday''': Your word to a breechclouted savage? An illiterate, uncivilized murderer and treaty-breaker? There's no question of honor, sir, between an American officer and Cochise.
61	-->'''York''': There ''is'' to me, sir.
62	* ILied: York comes back from his peace parley and happily reports that Cochise has agreed to make peace, only to find out that the mission was a ruse by Thursday to lure Cochise back over the border so Thursday can attack him. York is horrified.
63	* IllTakeTwoBeersToo: The four sergeants approach the bar:
64	-->'''Sgt. Beaufort''': Four beers, please.\
65	'''Sgt. Mulcahy''': And I'll have the same. With a whiskey chaser.
66	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The usual pattern from Westerns—where Indians are shown as bad shots who engage in headlong charges that make them easy targets—is inverted in the scene where the cavalry charges recklessly into a canyon and is picked off by Apache sharpshooters from both sides.
67	* InjunCountry: The setting, and the fort's ''raison d'etre''.
68	* JerkAss: Owen Thursday is an arrogant, racist, classist, all-around asshole. He is a condescending douche to everyone except his daughter, and while he loves her, he's far too busy being a GloryHound to pay much attention to her [[DatingWhatDaddyHates until she starts a relationship with LT O'Rourke]]. He introduces himself to his new command by needlessly humiliating his former friend Captain Sam Collingwood in front of everyone, and his occasional gestures of politeness feel awfully fake.
69	* 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."
70	* ManlyTears: Sergeant-Major O'Rourke tries to hide them when his son returns home from West Point.
71	* MetaphoricallyTrue: York's responses to the reporters at the end are all technically true. Thursday did die bravely and brought honor to the regiment which improved the quality of the soldiers at the post. When he responded "correct in every detail," it could be interpreted that he was commenting on the reporter's description of the Thursday's Charge painting, not on the historical accuracy of the painting, itself.
72	* NakedFirstImpression: Lieutenant Mickey O'Rourke is first seen by Philadelphia bare-chested in the stage-coach station's washroom. She does not avert her eyes.
73	* TheNeidermeyer:
74	** 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; looks down his nose at the Apache even more than he does his own men, [[JerkAss which is saying a lot]]; 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.
75	** Owen Thursday's characterization 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, and Custer was privately sympathetic towards the Sioux (his [[GloryHound ambition]] was greater than his sympathy). 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.
76	* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Colonel Owen Thursday is a thinly disguised and revisionist take on Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, i.e. a GloryHound martinet who blindly leads his soldiers into a suicidal charge against the Apache in a manner similar to the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
77	* NoodleIncident: Something happened in the past to bring shame to Collingwood but glory to Thursday, which also ruined their friendship (note how Collingwood still addresses Thursday by his first name). The only hint given is when Thursday makes his way to the climactic LastStand and Collingwood says "This time ''you're'' late, Owen."
78	** There was also an earlier scene where Thursday offers Collingwood a drink and replies that even for him it's a bit early in the day.
79	** SGM O'Rourke warns one of his men not to spike the punch at the ball after what happened at the previous year's dance.
80	* NotSoDifferentRemark:
81	** 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]].
82	** Cochise knows this from the exchanged glance they have at the parley, which is why he stops the Apache attack right in front of York and turns back, showing his respect.
83	* PeelingPotatoes: After a drunken binge, Sgts. Beaufort, Mulcahy, Shattuck, and Quincannon are demoted to privates and are seen shoveling horse manure. They soon get their stripes back out of necessity, but only after they are suitably cowed.
84	* PropagandaHero: Colonel Owen Thursday is mostly an unsympathetic martinet and deeply unpopular with his regiment who he leads into a futile cavalry charge that gets himself and his men killed. In the film's epilogue, he's glorified into a hero under whose memory the regiment will continue to fight Native Americans.
85	* ReassignedToAntarctica: The titular Fort Apache is this for Lt. Col. Owen Thursday He incites Cochise into a battle to turn it into a ReassignmentBackfire. It sort of works, but for his former subordinate Lt. Col. York.
86	* ProductionForeshadowing: The opening music sequence contains a few bars of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". This was the theme music for the film of the same name, the second of Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy".
87	* {{Retirony}}: Captain Sam Collingwood is trying to get moved from the eponymous Fort to an instructing position at West Point. When his wife finally gets the letter saying that his transfer went through, he is riding off with the regiment to confront the Apaches. Someone tells her to go, to run and tell him that he should come back, but she says "Sam isn't a coward," and then twists the knife by handing the letter back to the message-boy, saying "Keep it. For the captain's return."
88	* TheSavageIndian: How the arrogant Thursday views the Apaches. While he speaks less derisively of the Sioux (likely because they are more famous and the conflict against them is seen as more glamorous), he dismisses the Apache as [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain "digger Indians"]] and casually violates every rule of diplomacy and honor when dealing with them. The film shows how wrong he is, though. Captain York, after explaining in detail how the Apache have been betrayed and cheated by federal policy and corrupt government reps, declares that Cochise has only done "what any decent man would do when his children are starving."
89	* SceneryPorn:
90	** It's Creator/JohnFord directing a {{Western}}. There's Monument Valley in all the exterior shots.
91	** Camera-man Archie Stout used infrared black-and-white film stock to create more vivid landscapes. However, it meant the actors had to wear dark-toned make-up to appear normal on screen.
92	* ShoutOut: The ChaseScene with the four Sergeants and Lt. O'Rourke recreates the climactic chase from Ford's own ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', including many individual shots. In all likelihood Ford filmed it in the exact same spot in Monument Valley.
93	* SignatureHeadgear: Colonel Thursday's iconic, if somewhat ludicrous cap-and-havelock combination which in the final scene is also worn by Colonel York.
94	* 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 who are fighting to protect their families.
95	* SoundOff: "It was Sergeant John [=McCafferty=] and Corporal Donahue..."
96	* SouthernGentleman: Sergeant Beaufort is a "fallen" example. A former Confederate officer, he enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry as a private after the Civil War. While not exactly conforming to the stereotype visually — he is played by Pedro Armendáriz — he is easily the most polished of the regiment's non-coms (some of whom had been brevet officers in the Union army).
97	* TheSquad: While there's a whole cavalry regiment in this movie, we really see the Sergeants -- O'Rourke, Beaufort, Mulcahy, Shattuck, and Quincannon -- [[TrueCompanions doing their part]].
98	* TactfulTranslation: Slightly inverted, in that Cochise calls the Bureau of Indian Affairs 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" (Cochise's words literally mean "an evil man, who does not speak the truth"). It's pretty obvious by his tone that Beaufort wouldn't piss on Meacham if he was on fire, so he likely took the opportunity to throw in his own opinion.
99	* ThatsWhatIWouldDo: Why York tells Thursday that the Apache are hiding among the rocks, waiting to ambush the regiment. Thursday, who has no respect for the Apache, doesn't listen, and leads his regiment to destruction.
100	* 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 pointedly refuses (the battle is about to start), tells a soldier to pick up the glove and return it to York before relieving York of his command and sending him back with the supply wagons in seeming shame...
101	* TontoTalk: Averted in the negotiations with Cochise, where we have a somewhat reverse situation: the focus is not on Cochise not being able to speak English, but on the negotiating officer York ''not being fluent enough'' in ''Apache''. Therefore, York decides to use a Spanish interpreter to interpret for Cochise, who is rather fluent in Spanish.
102	* TyrantTakesTheHelm: The villain of this arc is Thursday, yet again.
103	* TheUnreveal: Despite the lengthy discussion of the family tree at the Collingwood dinner table, Miss Thursday never really tells us who was born in Philadelphia.
104	* VerbalBackspace: When Mrs. O'Rourke asks Mrs. Collingwood how her son Michael looked, Philadelphia blurts out, "Oh, he looks wonderful!"; when both ladies look at her, she stammers, "I mean, I'm sure he'll be a fine officer."
105	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: As noted, the main plot is a retelling of the Little Bighorn, transplanted to Arizona; Custer, like Thursday, was regarded as TheNeidermeyer by his men. Custer, like Thursday, led his men blindly into an ambush. As with the cavalry regiment in this film, Custer and the half of the regiment with him died to the last man while the other half of the regiment, commanded by Major Reno and Captain Benteen, survived.
106	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Owen Thursday is a lousy commander who provokes an avoidable war with the Apache and gets a lot of men (including himself) killed for no reason other than his own ambition. Afterwards, the press and the government build him up as a hero.
107	* WeAreStrugglingTogether: As evidence of Apache prowess, York tells of an attempted raid by the Sioux which met with a bloody disaster at Apache hands.
108	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Thursday and Captain Collingwood used to be pretty tight, and their wives were best friends, but some NoodleIncident put an end to it. Collingwood, NiceGuy that he is, seems to hold no grudge and greets Thursday warmly when the latter arrives during the Officers' Ball. Thursday responds by treating Collingwood like something he stepped in, needlessly humiliating him.
109	* WorthyOpponent: York and Cochise regard each other that way, and would prefer not to fight each other unless absolutely necessary (and are both willing to take pains to avoid such a necessity). Colonel Thursday on the other hand...
110	* YouAreInCommandNow: At the end, Thursday realizes he's led half his regiment 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, as the fight didn’t need to happen in the first place and some of the men who died with Thursday were his best friends.

Context Film / FortApache