She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

James Warner Bellah (story), Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) (as Frank Nugent)

Stars:

John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Wayne	...	Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles
Joanne Dru	...	Olivia Dandridge
John Agar	...	Lt. Flint Cohill
Ben Johnson	...	Sgt. Tyree
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Second Lt. Ross Pennell
Victor McLaglen	...	Top Sgt. Quincannon
Mildred Natwick	...	Abby Allshard
George O'Brien	...	Maj. Mac Allshard
Arthur Shields	...	Dr. O'Laughlin
Michael Dugan	...	Sgt. Hochbauer
Chief John Big Tree	...	Chief Pony That Walks
Fred Graham	...	Sgt. Hench
George Sky Eagle	...	Chief Sky Eagle
Tom Tyler	...	Cpl. Mike Quayne
Noble Johnson	...	Chief Red Shirt

Storyline

After Custer and the 7th Cavalry are wiped out by Indians, everyone expects the worst. Capt. Nathan Brittles is ordered out on patrol but he's also required to take along Abby Allshard, wife of the Fort's commanding officer, and her niece, the pretty Olivia Dandridge, who are being evacuated for their own safety. Brittles is only a few days away from retirement and Olivia has caught the eye of two of the young officers in the Company, Lt. Flint Cohill and 2nd Lt. Ross Pennell. She's taken to wearing a yellow ribbon in her hair, a sign that she has a beau in the Cavalry, but refuses to say for whom she is wearing it.

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Plot Keywords:

retirement | cavalry | yellow ribbon | captain | fort | 

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Taglines:

Wayne's greatest role as an Indian fighting Captain !

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

La charge héroïque

Filming Locations:

Goulding's Trading Post, Monument Valley, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argosy Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The horse that Ben Johnson rode in this film was a famous movie horse used by many stars in many 1940s and 1950s westerns. It was a big sorrel stallion called "Steel" and was owned by Johnson's father-in-law, Clarence "Fat" Jones, who ran one of the most successful horse-renting stables in Hollywood. The horse, which was known for being very quiet but flashy, was ridden by John Wayne in Tall in the Saddle (1944) and The Conqueror (1956), Gregory Peck in Yellow Sky (1948) and Randolph Scott in The Tall T (1957). The horse made stars look like good riders and Fat Jones always insisted if "Steel" was used in a movie, the company hire every other horse used in the movie from his stable, so "Steel" was worth a fortune to him. "Steel" had his own double and the horse that Johnson rides in the galloping scenes was not "Steel" but a spectacular galloper called "Bingo". "Steel" was no movie prima donna, however. Johnson also rode him when he won his world champion calf roping title. He also rode both "Steel" and "Bingo" in Wagon Master (1950).

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Goofs

When Sgt. Tyree stops the paymaster's stage coach, he walks back past the horses to the coach. In the footwell of the driver's seat there are two holes through which the reins pass. The head of the stuntman who was driving the "driverless" coach is visible.

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Quotes

Chief Pony That Walks: Hey, Nathan! Nathan! I am a Christian! Hallelujah! Old friend, me. Long time. Long time.
Captain Nathan Brittles: I come in peace, Pony That Walks.
Chief Pony That Walks: Talk a salt, Nathan. Take salt. Smoke pipe. Good. Good.
Captain Nathan Brittles: Pony That Walks, my heart is sad at what I see. Your young men painted for war. Their scalp knives red. The medicine drums talking. It is a bad thing!
Chief Pony That Walks: A bad thing, Nathan. Many will die. My young men, your young men. No good. No good.
Captain Nathan Brittles: We must stop this war.
Chief Pony That Walks: Too late, Nathan. Young men do not listen to me. They listen ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Searchers (1956)

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Soundtracks

Garryowen
(uncredited)
Traditional Irish tune
In score

User Reviews

Classic

It seems trite to say they don't make them like this anymore. But it's a fact. They don't make them like this anymore. And it seems likely we won't be seeing them making them like this ever again. This is John Ford at the height of his career, at his best, doing what he did best. On location in the Monument Valley, it is more than fair to say the scenery, the colors, even the weather, along with Ford's cinematography, particularly the patient framing of his shots and making full use of the setting and environment in which he filmed, are every bit as much stars of this film as are the featured human stars.

None of which is to say the human stars weren't good. John Wayne in the lead turned in a remarkable performance. Wayne was 42-years old when he made this, but he was playing a character much older than that, perhaps as much as 20 years older, and Wayne pulls it off. He looks and seems like a 60-year old man. He showed his acting chops here.

Ben Johnson had been around awhile at this point, mainly as a stuntman, but here he makes one of his first forays into real acting, and he does well, which no doubt boosted his career.

Perennial John Wayne sidekick Harry Carey, Jr. is here too, at the ripe young age of 28. It occurs to me as I write this in November 2008 that he seems to be the last surviving cast member of this movie.

Joanne Dru. What can be said? While this movie was made before I was born, Joanne Dru plays the fetching young woman wearing the yellow ribbon and stirring the male ashes deep inside as well as anybody ever could, and she was quite fetching indeed. Her performance still striking that chord precisely that way almost 60 years later.

Ostensibly this is a western, but this movie is actually much more a military movie than just a western. John Ford was a military man himself, who ultimately retired as a Navy Reserve Rear Admiral. He knew what the military was all about, he understood and enjoyed military life, military ways, military customs, and military culture, and he clearly relished making military depictions. So that's what we see here. All that military stuff. Oddly, though, it all seems out of time in a way. This movie was made in 1949, just a few years after WWII. While making a movie about the cavalry fighting the Indian wars in 1876, the military culture Ford depicted seems more apropos of the 1940s than of the 1870s. For instance, I'm just not sold on this version of history where US cavalry men were burdened with and hauled around family members in the wild wild west. Maybe they did, but I'm not so sure. It seems much more likely this was a device added to appeal to 1949 audiences. There are other examples of this. This is the only flaw in an otherwise very good movie. And who knows, maybe it isn't a flaw at all, true or not. It's a good movie. Ford made a movie in which he talked to all those recently mustered out veterans he knew were out there populating his audiences. On that level he succeeds.