SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (director: John Ford; screenwriters: James Warner Bellah/Frank S. Nugent; cinematographer: Winton Hoch; cast: John Wayne (Capt. Nathan Brittles), Joanne Dru (Olivia Dandridge), Victor McLaglen (Sergeant Quincannon), Ben Johnson (Sergeant Tyree), John Agar (Lieutenant Flint Cohill), Harry Carey Jr.(Lieutenant Pennell), Mildred Natwick (), George O'Brien (Major Allshard), Tom Tyler (Corporal Mike Quayne ), 1949)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The best of John Ford's trilogy about the 7th Calvary, which includes the initial offering of Fort Apache (48) and concludes with Rio Grande (50). John Wayne is in all three of them, playing a somewhat similar role of a rugged officer who is fighting the Indians. Though, this film has the advantage of the protagonist being in the twilight of his career, having found peace within himself and who can now seek peace with his foes without the need to apologize for it. Wayne has commented that this is his favorite role of all the films he ever made. It is an elegantly sentimental work touching on the rituals observed on an army post. Ford pulls out all the strings of patriotism and what it means to be brave in action, in order show how self-sacrificing the cavalry men were in their dangerous role of staking out and protecting the territories that made up the West of 1876, after Custer's defeat. But it is most of all, the story of John Wayne, an army man, who is retiring after a distinguished career in the service of his country, looking at himself for one last time in uniform, where he commands the full respect of his superiors and the men he leads. He is the ideal of what a soldier is supposed to be like. When a spoiled rich officer who is opting to leave the cavalry, but accepts a chew of tobacco from Wayne and sees a gunrunner selling guns to the Indians, that's it, he's sold on staying in the cavalry. Those were indeed more simplistic times, but not totally out of the realm of how some modern day soldiers may feel.
Captain Nathan Brittles (Wayne) is about to retire in a few days from a job that he more than loves. He is given one last assignment by Post Commander Major Allshard (O'Brien), to escort an attractive single lady (Dru) and the commander's wife (Natwick) out of harm's way, for them to catch a stage away from the remote fort because the Indians have united and are on the warpath.
The twists in the story line come from the quirks the characters display not from the story itself, which is rather ordinary: the comraderie between the captain and the very Irish top sergeant (McLaglen), who likes a bit of whiskey and adds comic relief to the stodginess of the army routine, fits in with the buddy theme of many Ford films. They show complete loyalty to each other and to the army they serve. A virtue that is considered essential for any character in a Ford movie, that he really cares about. The romantic battle over Dru fought by the two lieutenants, Agar and Carey, is played to the hilt, as she willfully flirts with each, until she chooses the one she really loves. The bravery of a corporeal (Tyler) in battle, who even when severely wounded must finish his mission by reporting to the captain what he saw, is looked upon with gushing respect for the soldier's valor. And, finally, the most sentimental moments are savored for the captain talking to his dead wife about what he did for the day, expressing a love for her that is eternal. It adds to the feeling that the past cannot be ignored. It is the future without the army that scares an old soldier like Wayne, the most.
Winton Hoch, the cinematographer, won an Oscar for the visually memorable mesas and haunting loneliness of the Monument Valley landscape, which was used as the film's location sites. It provides the film with an epic scale of the country, as there is a melancholy intermingled in those vistas with a sense of reverie for the men who are so far away from civilization, surrounded by the red sand and barren mountain peaks, yet are greater practitioners of civilized etiquettes than even the citizens back east, through their daily obediance to rank and order and their need to socialize by formal dance and their chilvary toward women, which might seem old-fashioned but is pleasantly accomplished here.
What pulls the film together and gives it a raw power, is something that can only be ascertained by accepting Ford's premise that it is absolutely necessary what the men do and that they are in the right. They have God on their side, a just country behind them, and that the men are fighting a heroic war to make the country safe for democracy. To scrutinize this film in any other way, is to lose track of what direction the film meant to be going.
To add color and more sentimentality to the story, there is the theme song of the yellow ribbon, played countless times, either to the immense pleasure of most viewers or to some, to grate on their nerves. The yellow ribbon worn by Dru, is a signal that she has chosen a boyfriend on the post. That act was given just as much importance in the story as the key moment of the film was, when Wayne rides into the Indian camp to try and make peace, using the rational argument that both sides will lose many of its brave young men who are irreplaceable by carrying on this bloody war. Ford justifies the placing of the Indians in reservations, as long as we treat them with respect and honor their customs. The calvary should follow them to their reservations, but stay out of sight so the Indians wouldn't be humiliated by the men watching them.
This is Ford's look at the West and the cavalry men he adores so much. Perhaps the scene that summarizes the film's intentions best, is when Wayne is given a solid silver watch by the men for his retirement, and the presenting of the gift and the accepting of it, are met with a few well-chosen words, each weighed heavily with an aura of mutual respect, almost bringing tears to Wayne's and the audience's eyes, as he reads the inscription that you know means so much to him. If you can see that as a glorious and magnificent scene, you will have, most likely, fallen in love with this grand and lyrical film. But if you don't, you can still be swept away by the eloquence of the film and its call for some kind of majesty of action one should have, in this beautiful, God created country, that Ford believes has room in it for everyone who acts civilly.
REVIEWED ON 7/30/99 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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