Fort Apache

"The Apaches as a tribe are yellow curs without any fighting ability," says Colonel Henry Fonda about five minutes after the RKO rooster quits yawping at the audience. The remainder of this courageous-last-stand-in-the-sage-brush saga sets out to disprove the good Colonel's thesis, a problem that involves numerous horsey charges, much sword waving, and about sixteen gallons of ketchup.

Shot in glorious black and white, "Fort Apache" introduces John Agar as a brash young 2nd Lt with a lantern jaw and a gay twinkle in his blue, blue eyes. He provides the love interest and very little else. His opposite, Shirley Temple, is now a Woman, let it be announced. Her acting is competent and mature, if a trifle too cute. Fonda plays the stiff-backed, knuckle-headed Colonel skillfully, but even so experienced an actor as he cannot carry this trite and sloppy picture.