Fort Apache (film)

Fort Apache
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Ford
Written by	Frank S. Nugent
Based on	"Massacre" 1947 story The Saturday Evening Post by James Warner Bellah
Produced by	Merian C. Cooper John Ford
Starring	John Wayne Henry Fonda
Cinematography	Archie Stout, ASC
Edited by	Jack Murray
Music by	Richard Hageman
Production company	Argosy Pictures
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	March 27, 1948 (1948-03-27)[1]
Running time	125 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.1 million[2]
Box office	$3 million (US rentals)[3]

Fort Apache is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda.^[4][5] 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 also starring Wayne. The screenplay was inspired by James Warner Bellah's short story "Massacre" (1947). The historical sources for "Massacre" have been attributed both to George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn and to the Fetterman Fight.^[6]

The film was one of the first to present an authentic and sympathetic view of Native Americans. In his review of the DVD release of Fort Apache in 2012, The New York Times movie critic Dave Kehr called it "one of the great achievements of classical American cinema, a film of immense complexity that never fails to reveal new shadings with each viewing" and "among the first 'pro-Indian' Westerns" in its portrayal of indigenous Americans with "sympathy and respect".^[7]

The film was awarded the Best Director and Best Cinematography awards by the Locarno International Film Festival of Locarno, Switzerland. Screenwriter Frank S. Nugent was nominated for best screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.