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Fort Apache

Fort Apache

Western · 1948

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

Movie details

Fort Apache

“John Ford's Masterpiece of the Frontier!”

1948 Western 2h 8m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Fort Apache?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Geronimo: An American Legend

Geronimo: An American Legend

Western · 1993

The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs.

The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Western · 1976

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.

Chato's Land

Chato's Land

Western · 1972

In 1870s New Mexico, a half-breed kills a bigoted sheriff in self-defense but the posse that eventually hunts him finds itself in dangerous territory.

Sergeant Rutledge

Sergeant Rutledge

Western · 1960

Respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father, his superior officer.

Major Dundee

Major Dundee

Western · 1965

During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners and scouts on an expedition into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding U.S. bases in Texas.

Duel at Diablo

Duel at Diablo

Western · 1966

In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Western · 2007

Beginning just after the bloody Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn, the story is told through two unique perspectives: Charles Eastman, a young, white-educated Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation, and Sitting Bull the proud Lakota chief whose tribe won the American Indians’ last major victory at Little Big Horn.

The Man from Laramie

The Man from Laramie

Drama · 1955

Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who sells rifles to the Apache tribe, finding himself unwillingly drawn into the convoluted life of a local ranching family whose members seem to have a lot to hide.

Rio Conchos

Rio Conchos

Western · 1964

Two Army officers, an alcoholic ex-Confederate soldier and a womanizing Mexican travel to Mexico on a secret mission to prevent a megalomaniacal ex-Confederate colonel from selling a cache of stolen rifles to a band of murderous Apaches.

Garden of Evil

Garden of Evil

Western · 1954

A trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband from Apaches.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

John Ford

Written by

James Warner Bellah · Frank S. Nugent

John Wayne

John Wayne

Capt. Kirby York

Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Lt. Col. Owen Thursday

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple

Philadelphia Thursday

Pedro Armendáriz

Pedro Armendáriz

Sgt. Beaufort

Ward Bond

Ward Bond

Sgt. Maj. Michael O'Rourke

George O'Brien

George O'Brien

Capt. Sam Collingwood

Victor McLaglen

Victor McLaglen

Sgt. Festus Mulcahy

Court is in session

Put Fort Apache on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.