| She Wore a Yellow Ribbon | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Ford |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | The Big Hunt 1947 story inThe Saturday Evening Post War Party 1948 story inThe Saturday Evening Post byJames Warner Bellah[1] |
| Produced by | Argosy Pictures |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Irving Pichel |
| Cinematography | Winton C. Hoch |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
| Music by | Richard Hageman |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Argosy Pictures |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.6 million |
| Box office | $2.7 million(rentals)[3] |
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a 1949 AmericanTechnicolorWestern film directed byJohn Ford and starringJohn Wayne. It is the second film in Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", along withFort Apache (1948) andRio Grande (1950). With a budget of $1.6 million, the film was one of the most expensive Westerns made up to that time. It was a major hit forRKO. The film is named after "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", a song popular with theU.S. military.
The film was shot on location inMonument Valley utilizing large areas of theNavajo reservation along theArizona-Utah state border.[4] Ford and cinematographerWinton C. Hoch based much of the film's imagery on the paintings and sculptures ofFrederic Remington. Hoch won theAcademy Award for Best Cinematography, Color in1950. It was also nominated as 1950's Best Written American Western (which theWriters Guild of America awarded toYellow Sky).
On the verge of his retirement in August, 1876 at Fort Starke, a small Frontier Army post, aging cavalry veteran Nathan Cutting Brittles is given one last mission: to deal with a breakout by theCheyenne andArapaho from their reservation following the defeat ofGeorge Armstrong Custer at the Battle of theLittle Big Horn, and prevent a newfrontier war.[5]
Brittles' task is complicated by a second order: to deliver his commanding officer's wife and niece, Abby Allshard and Olivia Dandridge, to an eastboundstage. His troop officers,1st Lt. Flint Cohill and2nd Lt. Ross Pennell, vie for the affections of Olivia while uneasily anticipating the retirement of their captain and mentor.
Assisting Capt. Brittles with his mission is his chief scout, Sgt. Tyree, a one-time Confederate captain of cavalry; his first sergeant, Quincannon; and Maj. Allshard, Brittles's long-time friend and commanding officer.
After apparently failing in both missions, Brittles returns with the troop to Fort Starke to retire. His lieutenants continue the mission in the field, joined by Brittles after "quitting the post and the Army". Unwilling to see more lives needlessly taken, Brittles takes it upon himself to try to make peace with his old friend Chief Pony That Walks. When that too fails, he devises a risky stratagem to avoid a bloody war by stampeding the renegades' horses out of their camp, forcing them to return to their reservation ... on foot, trailed at a discreet distance by Lt. Cohill's troop of cavalry.
Brittles is recalled to duty as Chief of Scouts with the rank ofLt. Colonel—aU.S. War Department order endorsed, he is pleased to see, by Gens.Phil Sheridan andWilliam Tecumseh Sherman, and by PresidentUlysses S. Grant. Olivia and Lt. Cohill become engaged. The film ends with the troop of cavalry trotting down the road on patrol.
Director John Ford's older brotherFrancis appears in only one scene as Connolly, the barman. Ford kept Francis on wages "for eight weeks even through Francis could have completed his scenes in less than a week".[6] Other uncredited cast members include:Irving Pichel as narrator (voice),Harry Woods as Karl Rynders, the sutler;Cliff Lyons as Trooper Cliff;Mickey Simpson as Wagner, the blacksmith; Fred Libby as Corporal Kumrein; andRudy Bowman as Private Smith.[7]: 294 Among Rynders' associates is veteran character actorPaul Fix (Harry Carey, Jr.'s father-in-law) in a small uncredited role.[7]: 126
Director Ford initially was uncertain whom to cast in the lead role. However, he knew that he did not want John Wayne for the part—considering, among other factors, that Wayne would be playing a character over twenty years older than he was at the time. Reportedly, Wayne's 1948 performance inRed River changed Ford's mind, causing him to exclaim, "I didn't know the big son of a bitch could act!"[8] Ford realized Wayne had grown considerably as an actor, and was now capable of playing the character he envisaged for this film. When shooting was completed, Ford presented Wayne with a cake with the message, "You're an actor now".[9] The role also became one of Wayne's favorite performances.[9] Wayne himself felt that hisAcademy Award nomination forBest Actor of1949 should have been forShe Wore a Yellow Ribbon instead ofSands of Iwo Jima.
The cast and crew lived in relatively primitive conditions in Monument Valley. Most slept in dirt-floor cabins that only had communal cold-water drum showers. The film was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
Although the film's cinematographer, Winton Hoch, won an Academy Award for his work, filming was not a smooth creative process because of conflicts with Ford. Ironically one of the most iconic scenes from the film was created during a dispute. As a line of cavalry rode through the desert,[10] a real thunderstorm grew on the horizon. Hoch began to pack up the cameras as the weather worsened only for Ford to order him to keep shooting. Hoch argued that there was not enough natural light for the scene and, more importantly, the cameras could become potentiallightning rods if the storm swept over them. Ford ignored Hoch's complaints; completing the scene as the thunderstorm rolled in, soaking the cast and crew. Hoch later had filed a letter of complaint against Ford with the American Society of Cinematographers over the filming of this scene.[2]
The story of Hoch's refusal to shoot in this thunderstorm has often been repeated, but actorHarry Carey, Jr., who was on the set, contests it.[11][12] He says Ford had finished shooting for the day, but when the picturesque storm brewed he asked Hoch if they could shoot in the declining light. Hoch answered, "It's awfully dark, Jack. I'll shoot it. I just can't promise anything". Ford then instructed, "Winnie, open her up [the camera lens] and let's go for it. If it doesn't turn out, I'll take the rap". Winnie complied, saying, "Fair enough, Jack".[11]
This was the second John Ford movie filmed inTechnicolor, afterDrums Along the Mohawk (1939).
A theater poster featured the male lead wearing a yellow neckerchief with his uniform and a yellow banner (with proportions and shape evocative of a stylish ribbon) behind him, that also looped some 270 degrees around the female lead's shoulders.
A 1958 unsuccessfultelevision pilot written byJames Warner Bellah titledCommand starredEverett Sloane as Captain Brittles andBen Cooper as Lt Cohill.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon earned the1950 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color forWinton C. Hoch.
