John Wayne & Ward Bond Appeared in 23 Films Collectively, However This 1948 Western With 100% On Rotten Tomatoes Is The Greatest Of Them All

Legendary pioneers of the big-screen Western John Wayne and Ward Bond starred in a staggering 23 films collectively, essentially the most acclaimed of which is John Ford’s seminal Fort Apache. Wayne and Bond went method again collectively, having recognized one another for many of their respective careers within the business. each as actors and associates.

Sometimes, Ward Bond can be utilized as a supporting actor in John Wayne’s films. A well-respected character actor in Hollywood, Bond performed a wide range of roles, typically serving as a secondary antagonist or a pal to Wayne’s cowboy hero. He was with Wayne earlier than he was a star within the Twenties and Thirties, and continued to seem in his movies when he was one among Hollywood’s greatest icons. Notably, the final two Westerns they collaborated on, The Searchers and Rio Bravo are usually thought to be among the best films ever made. However in response to the consensus of movie critics, neither of those cinematic landmarks tops Fort Apache.

Fort Apache Was John Wayne & Ward Bond’s Biggest Film Collectively

It Trumps Extra Well-known Westerns In Storytelling And Characterization

Fort Apache was made in 1948, previous The Searchers by a number of years and Rio Bravo by greater than a decade. As such, it was way more revolutionary for the Western style. What’s extra, the movie’s revolutionary portrayal of Native Individuals, narrative construction, and subversion of the roles Wayne and his most frequent co-star had been anticipated to play, elevate it above its celebrated successors. Fort Apache affords a bolder method to the cinematic Western than the opposite films Ford directed. Its nuanced characterizations and brave narrative selections mark it out for greatness.

Fort Apache isn’t a John Ford Western. Whereas The Searchers and Rio Bravo ship sweeping panoramas and climactic gunfights, this earlier movie makes use of storytelling units and character tropes years forward of its time. The extra genuine and balanced representation of Native American in Fort Apache, for instance, was unheard-of in Western films on the time. Likewise, the movie’s sudden leap ahead in time for its remaining act was a game-changer for Hollywood motion films of all genres, not to mention Westerns.

In the meantime, Wayne taking part in towards kind as a pacifist military veteran who’s cultivated a friendship with tribal Apache chief, Cochise, units Fort Apache other than just about all of his different performances within the Western style. It’s a primary instance of his underappreciated vary as an actor, alongside 1952’s The Quiet Man, Wayne’s best film with Maureen O’Hara. Bond’s unusually quiet supporting position as Fort Apache’s elder statesman additionally runs opposite to his later collaborations with Wayne in different Westerns. Reverse Wayne, Henry Fonda upends nearly each different efficiency in his profession, as an boastful white-supremicist hellbent on defeating the Apaches.

In these methods,

Why John Wayne & Ward Bond Collaborated So Many Occasions

The Two Actors Began Out Collectively Underneath John Ford’s Mentorship

By the late Nineteen Forties, John Wayne and Ward Bond had been serial onscreen collaborators, with a working relationship stretching again nearly 20 years. Each Wayne and John Ford rightly considered Bond as a dependable co-star for the Duke. When he took up his position in Fort Apache, Bond had already starred in 11 of his 13 movies to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. But the pair’s relationship went again even additional than their first appearing look collectively, in 1929’s Phrases and Music.

Wayne and Bond went to varsity collectively on the College of Southern California, and met whereas each taking part in for the college’s soccer crew. They quickly turned associates, and collectively determined to method Ford for extra appearing work after he forged the USC soccer crew as extras in his film Salute. From that time on, the careers of Wayne, Bond and Ford would grow to be inextricably intertwined. Their journey in the direction of Fort Apache, The Searchers and Rio Bravo had begun.

Fort Apache

Launch Date

March 27, 1948

Runtime

125 Minutes

Director

John Ford

Writers

Frank S. Nugent

Stream