Hi Hi Sanada
That cat is also in "Rooster Cogburn," I don't know if its the same cat (in real life) or not as the one in "True Grit,"I would assume it probably is not.
Regarding dogs there is also one in "The Searchers," which plays quite an important role within the movie as does the dog in "The Green Berets".
Bill
I also rather enjoyed this story and thanks for sharing it with us. On another note I think you should centralise your website with a homepage and links etc to the different topics. There is quite a lot of good information on your site at the moment and with a little bit of organisation it would be a good site to visit.
I didn't expect to come across this, one of John Wayne's finest films and only four posts about it from Keith and Bill. I'm as guilty as the next person for overlooking the hard work done by Keith and its such a shame because most of Dukes westerns in the 1940's have very little discussions on them. Upon doing a search for 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' it was difficult to find a meaningful review. The one I'm posting is by Emanuel Levy its a reasoable review and really the best of a bad bunch.
John Ford's Western takes place after the massacre of General Custer at the Little Big Horn. A narrator sets the movie's sentimental tone, when he announces: "And wherever the flag rises over some lonely army post there may be one man--one captain--fated to wield the sword of destiny."
That man is John Wayne's Captain Nathan Brittles, an elderly officer who has spent 40 years in service and is about to retire to civilian life in a few hours.
The Indians begin a war and Brittles wants to trail them, but his Major objects. Instead, he assigns Brittles to escort his wife and daughter to a safer place, and Brittles reluctantly accepts.
At the station, Brittles is devastated by the sight of mutilated bodies, all victims of the Indian raid. "About time I did retire!" he tells himself. However, realizing that he has only four hours of service, he decides on a bold move against the Indians, outwitting them by stampeding their horses; humiliated and helpless, they sue for peace. Having turned a failure into a successful mission--the raid has no casualties—Brittles is now ready to retire.
The picture's real hero, as in Fort Apache, is not Brittles but the larger collective he stands for, here, the Second Cavalry Regiment. At the end of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the narrator tells the audience: "So here they are. The dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the fifty-cents a day professionals riding the outposts of a nation. From Fort Reno to Fort Apache...from Sheridan to Stockton...they were all the same. Men in dirty-shirt blue...and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rose and whatever they sought for, that place became the United States."
The two-generational plot in this Western differs from that in Hawks' Red River, which was released the same year. More nostalgic in his approach, Ford comments int his Western on the passing of heroes like Captain Brittles, an aging cavalry officer who has spent all his life in the army. Whereas Ford mythologizes the Old West, Red River looks ahead to the future and signifies social change.
Brittles doesn't trust the younger generation and is reluctant to hand over the command to Lieutenant Flint Cohill (John Agar) because he lacks experience. Major Allshard (George O'brien) has to remind him that the youths have to learn the hard way, just as he himself had. Allshard protests that, "Every time Cohill gave an order, men would turn around and look at you, they'd wonder if he was doing the right thing."
But in the end, the younger generation adopts Brittles' way of life. Lieutenant Pennel (Harry Carey Jr.) decides to renounce an easy and comfortable life in the East in favor of military career, just like Brittles.
Some of the movie's most touching sequences describe the ritualistic ceremonies in which tradition is transmitted from the older to the younger generation. On Brittles' last review of his troops, he gets a present, a silver watch. Brings out his glasses, he sniffs back a tear as he reads the inscription, "Lest We Forget!" with a slight choke in his voice.
This is the only personal and informal interaction between Brittles and his men. It takes Brittles long time to soften, show his heart. Hence, only when he hands over the command to Cohill, Brittles calls him, for the first time, by his Christian name.
