This is the epitome of what westerns were like when we were growing up - John Wayne, Indians, cavalry, battles, dust, horses being worked too hard
One of several collaborations between Wayne and John Ford (Director) in the western theme, most of which are regarded as classics, and this one is no different AND with a theme that you can't stop whistling!
The second of his cavalry trilogy is either customary or classic John Ford, depending on your position on his reputation. It’s the usual bundle. John Wayne stars as the doughty captain on a final tour of the former ‘Indian’ territorial heartlands before retirement… as frontier war threatens.
And there are all the other Ford signifiers: the spunky dowager and the capricious maiden; Victor McLaglen drilling the recruits while finagling his next glug of whiskey; the singalong male baritone choir and the witless punch up; the boggy sentimentality. Plus scant regard for the dignity or rights of Native Americans....
Ford claimed this is the picture that convinced him Wayne could act... Though it's just a typical Duke performance. There’s a salty caricature from Mildred Natwick, but the support cast is otherwise forgettable. Joanne Dru and John Agar are inert romantic leads.
There are also the usual positives, with the photogenic locations in Monument Valley, Utah- in buzzy Technicolor! And a decent, if brief, action sequence towards the end. Yet the bad squeezes out the good. The director’s many enthusiasts will love it, but maybe not one to win over any western agnostics.