She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

James Warner Bellah (story)
Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 October 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Wayne's greatest role as an Indian fighting Captain !

Plot:

Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack...

Plot Keywords:

Attack | Retirement | Native American Chief | Watch | Last Stand

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

John Wayne	...	Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles
Joanne Dru	...	Olivia Dandridge
John Agar	...	Lt. Flint Cohill
Ben Johnson	...	Sgt. Tyree
Harry Carey Jr.	...	2nd Lt. Ross Pennell
Victor McLaglen	...	Top Sgt. Quincannon
Mildred Natwick	...	Abby Allshard aka Old Iron Pants
George O'Brien	...	Major Mac Allshard, Commanding Officer Fort Starke
Arthur Shields	...	Dr. O'Laughlin
Michael Dugan	...	Sgt. Hochbauer
Chief John Big Tree	...	Chief Pony That Walks
Fred Graham	...	Sgt. Hench
Chief Sky Eagle	...	Chief Sky Eagle
Tom Tyler	...	Cpl. Mike Quayne, Leader of Paradise River Patrol
Noble Johnson	...	Chief Red Shirt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rudy Bowman	...	Pvt. John Smith aka Rome Clay (uncredited)
Lee Bradley	...	Interpreter (uncredited)
Paul Fix	...	Gun-runner (uncredited)
Francis Ford	...	Connelly, Fort Stark Suttlers Barman (uncredited)
Ray Hyke	...	Trooper McCarthy (uncredited)
Billy Jones	...	Courier (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	...	Badger (uncredited)
Fred Libby	...	Cpl. Krumrein (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	...	Trooper Cliff (uncredited)
Frank McGrath	...	Bugler / Indian (uncredited)
Post Park	...	Officer (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	Sergeant Major (uncredited)
Irving Pichel	...	Narrator (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson	...	Cpl. Wagner (blacksmith) (uncredited)
William Steele	...	Officer (uncredited)
Don Summers	...	Jenkins (uncredited)
Dan White	...	Trooper (uncredited)
Harry Woods	...	Licensed Suttler Karl Rynders (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
James Warner Bellah		(story)
Frank S. Nugent		(screenplay) (as Frank Nugent) and
Laurence Stallings		(screenplay)

Produced by
Lowell J. Farrell	....	associate producer (as Lowell Farrell)
Merian C. Cooper	....	executive producer (uncredited)
John Ford	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Richard Hageman

Cinematography by
Winton C. Hoch		(as Winton Hoch)

Film Editing by
Jack Murray

Art Direction by
James Basevi

Set Decoration by
Joseph Kish		(as Joe Kish)

Makeup Department
Don L. Cash	....	makeup artist (as Don Cash)
Anna Malin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Lowell J. Farrell	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward O'Fearna	....	assistant director
Wingate Smith	....	assistant director
Cliff Lyons	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Jack Colconda	....	properties (as Jack Golconda)

Sound Department
Patrick Kelley	....	sound effects
Clem Portman	....	sound
Frank Webster	....	sound

Special Effects by
Jack Caffee	....	special effects
Jack Cosgrove	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Roydon Clark	....	stunts (uncredited)
Everett Creach	....	stunts (uncredited)
Michael Dugan	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Graham	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bryan 'Slim' Hightower	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Hudkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Billy Jones	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank McGrath	....	stunts (uncredited)
Don Nagel	....	stunts (uncredited)
Post Park	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Rose	....	stunts (uncredited)
Norm Taylor	....	stunt double: Indian (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles P. Boyle	....	photographer: second unit (as Charles Boyle)
Harvey Gould	....	camera operator
Robert Campbell	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Tom Clement	....	grip (uncredited)
Alexander Kahle	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Archie Stout	....	camera operator: second unit (uncredited)
Archie Stout	....	director of photography: second unit (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
D.R.O. Hatswell	....	costume researcher
Michael Meyers	....	wardrobe: men
Ann Peck	....	wardrobe: women

Editorial Department
Stephen Bearman	....	colorist (uncredited)
Barbara Ford	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	conductor
Lucien Cailliet	....	musical arranger
Lucien Cailliet	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Jester Hairston	....	choral director (uncredited)

Other crew
Merian C. Cooper	....	presenter
John Ford	....	presenter
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Philip Kieffer	....	technical advisor (as Major Philip Kieffer U.S.A. Retd.)
Cliff Lyons	....	technical advisor
Morgan Padelford	....	associate technicolor color director
Sid Davis	....	stand-in: John Wayne (uncredited)
Barlow Simpson	....	gun wrangler (uncredited)
Meta Stern	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Argosy Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1954) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1954) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Turner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Reserva Especial (2000) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2000) (Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2000) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Action Gitanes (2007) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1950) (France) (theatrical) (35 and 16mm)
• Regionale (????) (Italy) (theatrical)
• AB Video (????) (Italy) (video)
• Castle Video (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• Fonit Cetra Video (????) (Italy) (video)
• Pan Vision Publishing Video (????) (Finland) (DVD)
• Ricordi Video (????) (Italy) (video)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | France:U | Norway:A | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #13509)

Filming Locations:

Kanab Movie Fort, Kanab, Utah, USA

Company:

Argosy Pictures

Trivia:

John Wayne, who was 41 when the film was made, won great acclaim for his convincing portrayal of the 60-year-old Captain Brittles.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Capt Brittles asks the Post commander's wife if the dress she is wearing is made from Top Soldier Quincanon's britches, she agrees, but the skirt is a full ankle length riding skirt made from much more material than a pair of britches.

Quotes:

[Nathan has retired and speaks to Maj. Mac Allshard before leaving the fort]
Captain Nathan Brittles: Well, on my way. Goodbye, Mac. Say goodbye to Abby.
Abby Allshard: [she walks up] And you'll do no such thing, Nathan Brittles. 'Goodbye' is a word we don't use in the cavalry. To our next posting...
[she hugs him]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and the Searchers (1999)

"...wherever they rode, whatever they fought for, that place became the United States."

The second of John Ford's cavalry trilogy that deals with the life of the professional soldier is the only one that was photographed in color. Lucky are we, the cinema fans two generations away.

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon has John Wayne the embodiment of the thirty year army man. The year of the action of the film which is 1876 has Wayne mentioning in passing that he was at the Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican War which started in 1846. Wayne's Nathan Brittles was by his account a dirty shirt tailed runaway from his father's Ohio farm when he joined the army. And now he's reached mandatory retirement. He's married and has had a family who he's lost for reasons John Ford doesn't explain in the film. But Wayne dutifully, "makes his report" at their gravesides every night he's at the post.

Wayne's seen a lot of military history and a lot of tragedy. With no family left, the United States Cavalry is his home and family. He doesn't like the idea of retiring at all. In a later Ford film, The Long Gray Line, Martin Maher says that all he knows and holds dear is at West Point. Wayne could have said that line himself here.

Even though George O'Brien is the commanding officer at Fort Stark, Wayne is the father figure for the whole post. And not like some of the others don't behave like children. The whole romantic rivalry between John Agar and Harry Carey, Jr. over Joanne Dru seems pretty childish. Cute while in the safety of the post, but when out on a mission downright dangerous and Wayne like the good father scolds his kiddies.

With some makeup to grey his hair and wrinkle him a might, Wayne turns in one of his finest performances on the screen. Harry Carey, Jr. wrote what is probably the most evenly balanced portrayal of the Duke in his memoirs In the Company of Heroes. They didn't always get along, but Carey says Wayne was an inspiration to him and the other younger cast members. In fact during the scene with the gunrunners Paul Fix and Grant Withers being killed in the Indian camp while Wayne, Carey, and Agar watch on the ridge, the whole idea for the chaw of tobacco bit came from Carey himself, but that Wayne encouraged the improvisation as he was wont to do.

Other than the Duke, my favorite portrayal in the film is that of Ben Johnson as Sergeant Tyree. Wayne recognizes in him a younger version of himself. In fact Tyree is a former Confederate Army captain, a fact brought out in the death scene of "Trooper Smith" another former Confederate who in fact was a general in that army. Ben Johnson was a real cowboy, a horse wrangler who John Ford gave a chance to act. He graced many a film with his presence and won himself an Oscar to cap his career in The Last Picture Show.

Like in Fort Apache and Rio Grande, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the story of the professional soldier and the sacrifices he makes when he gives up his civilian status to serve his country. It's a universal theme, not just confined to the USA. No one embodied that theme better than did John Wayne as Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.