Until the last man

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Movie
German title Until the last man
Original title Fort Apache
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1948
length 125 (German version 90) minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director John Ford
script Frank S. Nugent
production Merian C. Cooper
John Ford
music Richard Hageman
camera Archie Stout
William H. Clothier
cut Jack Murray
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
The Devil's Captain

Down to the Last Man , in the original Fort Apache , is an American western film directed by John Ford . The film was shot in the USA in 1947. The day of the premiere was March 9, 1948. The script was based on the story Massacre (German edition under the title: To the Last Man ) by James Warner Bellah . It was the first film in John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy .

action

The cavalry officer Owen Thursday, who was promoted to general in the Civil War , is bitter about his downgrading to lieutenant colonel after the war . He sees his detachment as commander of Fort Apache , located in the southwestern United States, as further humiliation. He regards the command post merely as a stopover in his career to be continued, which he intends to promote through a prestigious victory. Such a victory over the Indians he despises is easy to achieve in his opinion. Thursday, who appears stiff and distant, quickly makes himself unpopular with his subordinates at the fort. He attaches great importance to maintaining differences in rank and compliance with formal regulations, but subordinates themselves sometimes have to be reminded of their observance. In contrast to him, Thursday's open-minded and fun-loving daughter Philadelphia, who has come to the West with her father, quickly assimilates in the fort. She is being courted by Lieutenant O'Rourke, the son of a sergeant. His father shared the fate of Thursdays and has been downgraded from the officer rank he had achieved in the civil war. Thursday tries to stop the looming relationship because it doesn't seem appropriate to him.

The opponent Thursdays is Captain York, an old warrior who is popular with the subordinates because of his uncomplicated manner and also respected by the Indians. Thursday ignores York's experience and advice, and finally relieves him of command when York warns of a ludicrous action against the Apaches . Because of the machinations of the corrupt Indian agent Meacham, they are on the warpath and have evaded the reach of the US cavalry by evading into Mexican territory. After York's negotiations, the Apaches are ready for peace, but are attacked by Thursday, breaking the promises made by York. Thursday's troop is almost completely destroyed, only York escapes with a few men.

Some time later, the survivors of the Indian battle have made career: Lieutenant O'Rourke went up to lieutenant who (unnamed) Irish recruit, by his compatriot Sergeant Mulcahy beginning to Help Corporal ( Acting Corporal ) appointed, provides as Sergeant ( First Sergeant ) his service In the antechamber of the new regimental commander: Lieutenant Colonel York. When asked by journalists about the role of his fallen predecessor Thursday, York expresses himself deliberately vague after a moment's hesitation. He praises Thursday's personal bravery, but in the knowledge of the public's longing for a hero withholds his military and interpersonal failure: “ A man has never died braver. And never has a man done his regiment more honor. “In the German dubbed version, which is 35 minutes shorter, the sentence is missing.

backgrounds

  • The core plot of the film is a free processing of the story of George Armstrong Custer and his last battle at Little Bighorn . The action was moved to the southwest, the Sioux and Cheyenne became Apaches at Ford.
  • In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, John Ford explained his view of hero worship: “ We have a lot of people who are believed to have been great heroes. And you know damn well they weren't. But it is good for the country to have heroes to look up to; like Custer: a great hero. Well, it wasn't him ”. For Ford, the legend was more important than the often bitter truth. (Quote from Hanisch, p. 218)
  • Shirley Temple and John Agar, who become a couple in the film, were also a couple in real life when the film was made; shortly after filming, they split in a public divorce.
  • The fort used for the film was built specifically for this film in Simi Valley, California , on the Corriganville Movie Ranch. It was then used in numerous other film and television productions.

reception

  • The first film in the so-called cavalry trilogy by John Ford was up to the last man . It was followed by The Devil's Captain and Rio Grande . All three films include exterior shots in Monument Valley .
  • The question of dealing with truth and legend, which is important in many of his films, takes up again in Ford's late work The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance . The final sequence of hero worship there against better judgment appears like a varied new edition of the scene in Until the Last Man .

Reviews

  • A visually captivating glorification of bloody deeds (first performance review by the New York Herald Tribune newspaper on March 10, 1948, quoted here from Hembus)
  • [...] a very impressive, formally significant work of maturity. [...] a clever meditation on questions of the responsibility of the individual towards the community, on individual freedom and subordination to the interests of the community, on the sense or nonsense of military and civil hierarchies, on tradition and lack of tradition . (Hanisch, p. 220)
  • The film by old master John Ford, which is based on historical truth and designed with great skill, combines with its story a harsh criticism of the behavior of whites towards the Indians. As an exemplary western, warmly recommended for ages 14 and up. ( Protestant film observer , review No. 148a / 1966 - new discussion)

Awards

literature

  • James Warner Bellah : Until the Last Man (Original Title: Massacre ). German by Julia Edenhofer . In: James Warner Bellah (et al.): To the last man. Western Stories (Original Title: The Reel West ). Heyne, Munich 1986, pp. 7-26, ISBN 3-453-20612-6
  • Michael Hanisch : Western. The evolution of a film genre . Henschelverlag / Art and Society, Berlin 1984
  • Joe Hembus : Western Lexicon . Heyne, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-453-00767-0
  • Dirk C. Loew: Attempt on John Ford. The Western Films 1939–1964 . BoD, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2124-X , pp. 126-149
  • JA Place: The Westerns of John Ford. Original title: The Western Films of John Ford. Citadel film books at Goldmann. Goldmann, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-442-10221-9 , pp. 76-94

Web links