Fort Apache

Fort Apache is a 1948 western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. The film was the first of the director's "cavalry trilogy" and was followed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950), both starring Wayne. The story, which screenwriter James Warner Bellah based loosely on George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn, as well as the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, was one of the first to present an authentic and sympathetic view of the Native Americans involved in the battle (Apache in the film, Sioux in the real battles). The film was awarded the Best Director and Best Cinematography awards by the Locarno International Film Festival of Locarno, Switzerland. After the end of the American Civil War, the veteran, well-respected Captain Kirby York (John Wayne) is expected by the regimental personnel of Fort Apache, an isolated U.S. cavalry post, to replace the outgoing commander. York had commanded his own regiment during the Civil... full article at wikipedia