TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Wayne) [1949]
![She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Wayne) [1949]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51q%2BFbcUyfL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £0.75 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
The second installment of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (which also includes Fort Apache and Rio Grande), this meditative Western continues the director's fascination with history's obliteration of the past. It features one of John Wayne's more sensitive performances as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a stern yet sentimental war horse who has difficulty preparing for his impending military retirement. All things considered, he refuses to leave before fulfilling his obligation to the local Indian tribe. It's a film about honor and duty as well as loneliness and mortality. And Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch beautifully photographs it in Remington-like Technicolor tones (you've never seen such stunning cloud-covered skies). The combination of melancholy and farce (Victor McLaglen makes a perfect court jester) evokes comparisons to Shakespeare. Best of all, the scene in which Wayne fights back tears when receiving a gold watch from his troops is unforgettably bittersweet. If you view the whole trilogy, it actually makes sense to save this for last. --Bill Desowitz
Editorial
Synopsis
A lament for the passage of time and the second in the director's acclaimed series of cavalry films, John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon stars John Wayne as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a cavalry officer stationed in the Southwest. While contemplating his retirement, which is only a week away, Brittles is assigned to escort the wife and niece of his commanding officer, Maj. Mac Allshard (George O'Brien), to the stage line at Sudros Wells. Although he would prefer to battle the rampaging Cheyenne Indians as his final action, Brittles obeys orders. En route, two of the men in Brittles's patrol, Lieutenants Cohill and Pennell (John Agar and Harry Carey Jr.), get an eyeful of the major's distracting niece, Olivia (Joanne Dru), and nearly kill each other trying to attract her attention. Brittles then gets word from a scout, Sergeant Tyree (Ben Johnson), that a group of Arapaho Indian warriors is heading straight toward Sudros Wells. Wayne is at his best in his sensitive portrayal of an older man reluctantly stepping away from the only life he's known. Despite the constant skirmishing of Ford and cinematographer Winston Hoch, the cameraman won an Oscar for his work on the film and would go on to shoot the director's The Quiet Man and The Searchers.
Oscarized photography... why not the rest eludes me!
Review date: 2007-10-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is not going to be a diatribe against the puzzling nominations and awards of the academy...
Just let me say John Wayne and John Ford deserved it many times over.
Once this out of my chest... the second (of the "Cavalry Trilogy" and the only one in color) film dedicated to the US cavalry (which in fact is a recurrent theme of the director... see my review of "Fort Apache")...
This time the main (and secondary played by Victor McLaglen) characters are both waiting for retirement for the Army... and have to do a last patrol... from there on... duty, decency and common sense take care of the script. In parallel runs a love affair between the first lieutenant and the commandant niece which is also pretended by the second lieutenant... son of a general and rich family... guess who got the girl!...
I do not know how many times I've seen it, in TV, cable TV, Video, DVD... you name it... even every time it is scheduled in some chain I fall for it...
100% Ford/Wayne.
A must see sometime... and do not forget a great Ben Johnson riding like a devil... (scouting yes but a sergeant in the US cavalry! and ex-officer of the Confederate Army... but I am not going to spoil all of the history).
Not until the release of THE HORSE SOLDIERS we will be treated again to a full color version about the US cavalry (in fact probably his greatest cavalry film... and the ACW "reference film" for decades up to GLORY and GETTYSBURG).
ADB
PS: The use of images of this film on that piece of futuristic trash by Kevin Costner (THE POSTMAN or something like that...) would have had to be forbidden for whoever had the rights...
Similar Products
- Fort Apache (John Wayne) [1948]
- Rio Grande (John Wayne) [1950]
- The Quiet Man (John Wayne) [1952]
- The Horse Soldiers [1960]
- Stagecoach (John Wayne) [1939]
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
John Agar
Harry Carey Jr.
John Wayne
Joanne Dru
Ben Johnson
Creators:
John Wayne (Primary Contributor)
Joanne Dru (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Pictures Video
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures Video
EAN: 5050582418040
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-06-05
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 99 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1949
Language: English (Original Language)