Classic Tuesdays: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Not Rated
Run Time: 103 min.
March 28, 2023 at 7pm
Main Theater
Starring: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr.
Director: John Ford
Screenplay: Frank Nugent, Laurence Stalling
A masterpiece of mood and heroics, this second film in director John Ford’s renowned cavalry trilogy (Fort Apache and Rio Grande are the others) features one of John Wayne’s most moving performances as a cavalry officer in his final week of service on the frontier.
Under makeup aging him some 20 years, Wayne inhabits the role of a wily veteran who knows the sting of war and vows to make his last mission one of peace.
The ritual of outpost life, the sweep of battle, the advance of the patrol beneath ominous skies: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, an Academy Award winner for its color cinematography, paints a memorable portrait of the honor, duty and courage in the finest tradition of the cavalry. And of Ford filmmaking.
This film is a product of its time. It depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While this film does not represent today’s society, it is being presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.
“A dilly of a cavalry picture. YEEHOOOOO!”
– Bosley Crowther, New York Times
“A western meller done in the best John Ford manner.”
– Variety
