Soldiers and soldier's wives

Fort Apache

(1948)

Nineteen forty-eight, on the heels of glorious military victory and shivering from an increasingly cold war, seems an unlikely time for a critical examination of the thin margin between valor and vainglory, which is another reason why this is one of John Ford's most complex films and one of his greatest accomplishments. But hey, I really just watched it in honor of the recently departed Shirley Temple. Or not.