She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Rio Grande is still tops in my books.

I've watched all the titles in director John Ford's cavalry trilogy in recent weeks.

Fort Apache had too much comedy for my taste. I didn't buy the romance between John Agar and Shirley Temple - even though the couple was married in real life at the time.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is better than Fort Apache, but comes nowhere close to Rio Grande's power.

The romance doesn't work here either. 2nd Lt. Ross Pennell (Harry Carey, Jr.) and Lt. Flint Cohill (Agar) are both wooing Olivia Dandridge (Joanne Dru). There's a lot of squabbling, but not much romance. The yellow ribbon in Dandridge's hair suggests she has a fella in the cavalry, but she won't identify her sweetheart. Is it Pennell or Cohill?

Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles (John Wayne) is nearing the end of his command days. The timing is not great. Various Indian tribes are putting aside old differences and teaming up to drive settlers from their land. Ten thousand warriors are itching for a fight. General Custard and his men have been wiped out. Brittles is ordered on patrol, in part to make sure Dandridge and Abby Allshard (Mildred Natwick) get out of harm's way.

Brittles, literally just days away from punching out, struggles for success on his mission. He's frustrated because everything he was supposed to accomplish fails. It's not the way he wants to leave his post.

Death gets plenty of attention in this film. Brittles regularly visits the grave of his wife. How she died we don't know. A United States' paymaster is killed in an Indian attack. One of Brittles' men is gravely injured by the Indians. Time is tight for the life-saving surgery he needs. Another veteran trooper is killed in battle.

Victor McLaglen's characters have a definite thirst for liquor in each of these films. What starts out as a fun way of Top Sgt. Quincannon hitting the bottle for a quick jolt turns into an extended sequence involving civilian clothing, plenty of booze and six other cavalry members. This scene goes on much too long.

Fortunately, things pick up when Brittles decides to keep serving the cavalry after his official retirement. He rides into the Indian camp to make an appeal to Chief Pony That Walks (Chief John Big Tree) to avoid war. When that fails, Brittles has a Plan B that's impressive to watch.

There is, again, some beautiful images in this colour film. Wayne is great as a veteran leader at the end of his days. Natwick and Ben Johnson offer solid support work.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon has its moments, but Rio Grande is easily the best of Ford's cavalry films.

RATING: 7/10

FUN FACT: Last week I lamented Fred McMurray's last film role was in disaster maestro Irving Allen's The Swarm. Poor Joanne Dru. Her last appearance on the big screen was Super Fuzz in 1980 with Ernest Borgnine and Terence Hill.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was Chief John Big Tree's second last movie appearance. His career began in 1915 with Author! Author!

Rio Grande (1950)

There's a lot of rivers to cross in Rio Grande.

The actual body of water is the biggest one.

Apache Indians are causing major problems for Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne) and his United States cavalry troops. But his orders stop him from pursuing the Apache when they cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, and safety.

Plenty of symbolic crossings have to be made too. Yorke's estrangement from his wife, Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara), is long-standing. He hasn't seen his son, Jeff (Claude Jarman, Jr.) in 15 years. The younger Yorke wants to serve in the military too, but he fails at West Point. Instead, he enlists in the cavalry and is posted as a trooper to serve under his father. He's with two other new recruits - Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Boone (Claude Jarman).

Kathleen shows up because she wants to get her son out of the service. Neither he, or Kirby, agree with her mission.



"What kind of man is he?" Jeff asks his mother of Kirby.

"He's a very lonely man," she replies.

Tyree is wanted by a deputy federal marshal (Grant Withers) for manslaughter. He's on his own journey too. Will he be taken into custody or make a bid for freedom?

Rio Grande is a much more satisfying view than Fort Apache, the first of director John Ford's cavalry trio. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the second installment. The on-going humour that dragged down Fort Apache is much more muted here. The romance between Wayne and O'Hara is on solid ground compared to young lovers Shirley Temple and John Agar in Fort Apache.

The most impressive action scene in this film isn't a battle between the Apache and cavalry, but a training sequence when troopers stand, and ride, two horses. This long-time movie fan has never seen such a stunt before. It's jaw-dropping viewing.

Sons of the Pioneers make several welcome appearances with low-key music that enhances the film's mood, especially a romantic tune when Kirby and Kathleen first dine together.

Military folly was explored in Fort Apache. What stands out here is Kirby's early warning to his son not to expect a life of glory in the military, but one of sacrifice and hardship. How many times do you see those themes trumpeted in recruiting posters? An early scene as the movie opens finds wives of soldiers watching anxiously as Yorke and his men return from a mission. Who is dead? Who is wounded? Who is safe? That's war.

Rio Grande ends this trilogy in fine form.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Hey, that's Karolyn Grimes, Zuzu Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life, as Margaret Mary.

J. Carrol Naish, who appears as Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, made his last screen appearance in Dracula vs. Frankenstein.

Sons of the Pioneers appeared in nearly 100 films and television shows between 1934 and 1984.