Westerns are not my favorite film genre, but John Wayne alone can make me enjoy them. In Fort Apache his storyline is second to Henry Fonda's, but it is the friction between the two that makes the movie work.

Fonda plays Colonel Thursday, who is newly assigned to a remote Arizona cavalry outpost. He arrives with his daughter, Philadelphia, and a young officer named O Rourke, who is fresh from West Point. He grew up on the post and has eyes for Philadelphia. Wayne plays an officer on the post.

Colonel Thursday is pretentious and quite stuck up. He feels O Rourke, whose father is enlisted, is not good enough for his daughter. He forbids them from seeing each other. He thinks little of the Indians and the way many of his men drink.

The fist half of the movie is character development as The Colonel and his daughter settle in. Philadelphia and O Rourke fall in love. There are a couple of funny scenes as some new recruits are taught to ride and some soldiers get in trouble drinking moonshine.

The movie takes a darker turn after Thursday orders Wayne to talk the Indians into coming back across the Rio Grande, into American territory. Under Thursdays advice, Wayne tells the Indians they will be safe and unharmed. As soon as Wayne reports that the Indians have returned, Thursday mounts an assault, resulting in a big climactic battle.

Fort Apache was filmed, in black and white, at John Ford's favorite Western locale; Monument Valley, Arizona. As you would expect, he makes great use of the scenery. The rock formations become a looming force all their own. They truly make the film seem like another time and place. The cavalry charging across the landscape got my adrenaline going. If only Ford had filmed more of his movies in color.

At this point in her career, Shirley Temple was a young lady. The actor playing O Rourke, John Agar, was her real life husband at the time. They were married a few years earlier and had a child together. This was his film debut and their marriage ended the next year.

John Wayne plays the secondary role, but still gets top billing. He is what we like to think of when we think of cowboys. He always played tough, but honorable men. He would kill when he had to, but always treat a woman like a lady. It is his portrayal of the western American man that folks from around the world think of when they think of a cowboy. In Fort Apache he is true to his image. He obeys orders even though he knows they are morally questionable. He lets his men drink but then compliments Temple, "Good girl." when she says she does not. Sure, Wayne seems old fashioned, but that is who he was on screen, and he never apologized for it.

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