Lt. Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) has been reassigned from Europe to Fort Apache, a small, dusty cavalry
post. Joining him is his daughter, Philadelphia (Shirley Temple). Thursday dislikes the remote outpost. He also
encounters trouble with Captain Kirby York (John Wayne), whom he replaces as highest-ranking officer. Meanwhile,
his daughter falls for one of the cavalry officers.
Fonda's brash coldness.
John Wayne stars as Nathan Brittles, Captain of the
Cavalry at Fort Starke and five days from retirement.
He is assigned one final task, to survey and control
problems on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservations.
Along the way, he must safely transport his commanding
officer's wife Abby (Mildred Natwick) and niece Olivia
(Joanne Dru), the object of the affections of his
lieutenants Flint Cohill (John Agar) and Ross Pennell
(Harry Carey, Jr.).
the dusty and bleak look of other Ford westerns. It won
an Academy Award for Color Cinematography in 1950.
John Wayne as Kirby Yorke, now a Lieutenant Colonel at a
cavalry post in Texas. A group of new recruits includes
Yorke's estranged son, who has joined the cavalry
after failing out of West Point, and Yorke's wife
Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Yorke is caught
between wanting to reunite with and
protect his family and following the
orders of his superior officer, all in the
midst of trouble with the Apaches.
It is both a classic western
and a romance; Wayne and
O'Hara have tremendous
chemistry together
as fighting but
loving spouses
separated by
years and
miles.