She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Captain Nathan Brittles, six days from retirement, is handed one last assignment. There is movement among the tribes on the frontier, and a separate matter is running at the post between two young officers and the commander's niece. The film is not interested in war. It is interested in letting go: its whole weight is on a man forced into retirement who feels unnecessary. Wayne plays a man far older than he was, and the tiredness of the part sits at the centre. The form was built by looking at Frederic Remington's paintings: the colour palette, the skies and the cavalry compositions come straight out of them. Winton C. Hoch won the Oscar for colour cinematography for the work. The story of one scene became famous. When a real storm appeared on the horizon during filming, Hoch wanted to pack up the cameras, objecting that there was not enough light and that they would act as lightning rods. Ford ordered him to keep shooting, the crew were soaked, and the sequence became the film's best-known image. Hoch filed a letter of complaint about it with the American Society of Cinematographers. Harry Carey Jr., who was on set, has said the story is not as sharp as it is usually told. John Ford directed, with John Wayne, Joanne Dru and John Agar. Who it is for: viewers who love the classical western and follow Ford's cavalry trilogy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the Native characters to be given their own side. The film largely uses them as part of the landscape.