She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

John Ford, perhaps the greatest film director of the last century, was in love with the pioneering men and women that settled the west. Mr. Ford had an amazing eye for the beauty of the land. This is a film where he pays tribute and his undying admiration to the spirit of adventure of those who dared and had a vision of the majesty of what awaited them as the traveled west.

"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", is a beautiful film to look at. The glorious Technicolor utilized for the movie stands on its own as the legacy of the director and his cinematographer Winton Hoch whose photography of Monument Valley will remain the yard stick for which other films will be judged. The atmospheric music of Richard Hagerman adds another layer to the texture of this film.

John Wayne, an actor bigger than life, is at the center of the story. He embodies all that meant justice and fairness when things weren't so orderly in the country. Victor McLaglen makes an excellent appearance as Sgt. Quincannon. John Agar and Ben Johnson did good work as the two cavalry officers in love with the same woman. Mildred Natwick was good as Abby Alshard, a no nonsense woman who has seen a lot. Ultimately, Joanne Dru projects such a beautiful image as the young Olivia Dandridge, the woman who wore the yellow ribbon in her hair and conquered the hearts of the men around her.

This is a classic film that serves to remind us about those people that came before us, and, in the case of Nathan Brittles, Mr. Ford gives us a decent man who wanted peace above all with the Indians that the white man was displacing from their natural habitat.

Fmovies: and he has easily seen it over 200 times. He got me hooked on it when I was a young girl by pointing out all the gentle humor and the repeated comedic bits that separate it from many other westerns. I still love it for those reasons and more.

"Yellow Ribbon" is not John Ford's best movie, but it may be John Wayne's. Capt. Brittles is -- needless to say -- the antithesis of Henry Fonda's Col. Thursday in "Fort Apache." When the film opens, it is obvious Capt. Brittles has earned the respect of his troops and won their loyalty, and by the fade-out they have come to love him like devoted sons.

For someone who was allegedly so difficult to work with, John Ford put together a truly remarkable stock company of actors and technical personnel. They appeared in his films time and again, and there was more or less a core group of professionals on screen and off that gave all of Ford's westerns color, excitement and realism. But "Yellow Ribbon" has something less expected: warmth. And there's not a thing wrong with that.

"She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" is also arguably the most sentimental movie John Ford ever made, and there's nothing wrong with that, either.

This film is the second entry in John Ford's "cavalry trilogy" and may be the best of the three with John Wayne's performance being one of the best of his career. The picture is an ode to the U.S. cavalry in the wake of the Custer debacle with the threat of more Indian uprisings on the frontier. Wayne's escort patrol is the film's focal point which also has an on-going romantic squabble between two young officers and a woman which explains the movie's title. The wonderful lensing captures the natural beauty of Monument Valley, and the scenes of the patrol crossing the wide expanses during a thunderstorm with lightning streaks against the dark clouds are among the picture's best moments. Ben Johnson stands out as an ex-Confederate soldier and point man and other Ford stock regulars such as Harry Carey Jr. and John Agar have supporting roles.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon fmovies. The second instalment of the acclaimed John Ford cavalry trilogy had a lot to live up to after Fort Apache (1948). So it may not be too controversial to state that "Yellow Ribbon" doesn't quite achieve the potential promise that Fort Apache's foundation building had provided. However, here is still a mighty Western of many joys.

The lead theme here is the passing of time, of time and love lost, lest we forget indeed. These themes give the film a strong emotional heartbeat from which to work from - even if on proviso it's noted that elsewhere there is not much in the way of an adrenalin pumping action extravaganza. Accepting it as an affecting character piece is something of a requisite if you want to get the most out of the viewing experience, and of course simultaneously getting wrapped up in the gifted art of film making in the process.

John Wayne gives a top notch performance in what is obviously one of the first out and out serious roles that Ford gave him. His ageing Captain Nathan Brittles requires him to put in a very fallible human type of performance, something that he achieves in spades. He's a believable leader who is ruing the calling of time on his career in the service. Yet even Wayne's affecting turn is trumped by some of the most gorgeous cinematography you could wish to see from the 1940s.

Winton Hoch clashed with Ford on the shoot about various perfections (both parties equally to blame of course), but the final result is incredible. Witness a scene as Brittles visits his dead wife's grave, the backdrop is all purple and red, a storm is imminent, metaphorically and in reality. Has shooting in the desert ever been so colourfully lush? The locations are breath takingly brought to vivid life, Monument Valley in all its glory.

Picture leaves an indelible mark on the conscious for the art and performances (Joanne Dru, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen & Harry Carey Jr bring their "A" game), but temper that slightly for as a story it just about gets by for dramatic purpose. Yet of course John Ford knows his onions and structures it accordingly, bringing precision and a genuine love of the genre and the material to hand. 8/10

The fact that the names of Captain Nathan Brittles and Sgts Tyree and Quincannon have passed, not just into the mythology of the American western, but of movies themselves is testament to the iconic status of Ford's 1949 masterpiece, the second and best of what became known as his cavalry trilogy. That their names are also burned into our collective cinematic consciousness is also testament to the performances of John Wayne, Ben Johnson and Victor McLaglen who are all at their best here and yet are only part of a great ensemble that also includes that very fine and undervalued actress Joanne Dru as well as Mildred Natwick, John Agar, Harry Carey Jr and Arthur Shields.

The period is the Indian Wars that followed from the massacre of General Custer and Ford filmed it mostly in his beloved Monument Valley. It is largely devoid of the sentimentality of "Rio Grande" though it is never as dark nor as serious as "Fort Apache", (it straddles the middle-ground magnificently; even the comic fight scene doesn't sit uncomfortably), and while Ford may make the Indians the villains of the piece he nevertheless bestows on them a kind of dignity and some degree of respect. Ford's sentimentality isn't necessarily for the cavalry but for the passing of the 'old' West and the loss of Native American culture

Like "My Darling Clementine", Ford used the name of a song and even more than in Clementine, he deviated from the pattern of a standard western. Although the basic structure is a story of war with Indians, there is more focus on the people, which are the essence of this great film. Joanne Dru is the beautiful niece of the commanding officer and she thrives on her power of seduction. When she wears the yellow ribbon, both John Agar and Harry Carey Jr hope it is for them. John Wayne is a captain who is going to retire, he is the one who knows it all, and his relationship with Ben Johnson, an ex confederate, is a model of human respect. Victor McLaglen is the strong,loyal Irishman who loves to fight and drink. There are some incredibly beautiful shots of Monument Valley in great color.When Joanne Dru at a certain moment feels guilty about all the trouble she caused and says to Wayne she is sorry, he tells her not to apologize for it is a sign of weakness, and considering all the excitement and joy she brought to the cavalry, he is certainly right.