Fort Apache (film) Quotes

Fort Apache (film) is a television show that appeared on TV in 1970 . Fort Apache ended in 1970.

It features Merian C. Cooper; John Ford as producer, Richard Hageman in charge of musical score, and Archie Stout, ASC as head of cinematography.

Fort Apache (film) is distributed by RKO Pictures.

The cast includes: Henry Fonda as Lt. Col. Thursday, Ward Bond as RSM Michael O'Rourke, George O'Brien as Captain Collingwood, Grant Withers as Silas Meacham, Shirley Temple as Philadelphia Thursday, Anna Lee as Mrs. Emily Collingwood, Henry Fonda as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, Dick Foran as Sgt. Quincannon, and Irene Rich as RSM O'Rourke.

Fort Apache (film) Quotes

Ward Bond as RSM Michael O'Rourke

• (Ward Bond) "How's the boy doin' Festus?"
• (First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy) "Oh, fine, Michael, but -- well -- he's an officer and a gentleman, and that's no job for a gentleman."

• (Ward Bond) "How's the boy doing, Festus?"
• (First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy) "Aw, he's doin' fine, Michael; but, nevertheless, he's an officer and a gentleman -- and that's no job for a gentleman."
• (Ward Bond) "Well, then. Come on."
• (Ward Bond) "Would Lt. O'Rourke please step over to the stables, sir?"

• (Captain Yorke) "A charge. Mounted in fours."
• (Ward Bond) "Why the madman."
• (Captain Yorke) "And I'm to stay with the wagon train -- and take O'Rourke with me."
• (Ward Bond) "You'll find Lt. O'Rourke with his troop, sir. And thank you."

• (Ward Bond) "Sound officers' call."
• (Unnamed) "Now?"
• (Ward Bond) "No, next Christmas, you looney."

Henry Fonda as Lt. Col. Thursday

• (Henry Fonda) "What is this scale used for?"
• (Captain Yorke) "Weigh government beef, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Seems I've gained seventy pounds since I've been in Arizona."

• (Henry Fonda) "Sergeant-Major O'Rourke -- my apologies, sir."
• (Ward Bond) "You can save them, sir, for our grandchildren."

• (Captain Yorke) "Cochise has crossed the river, sir. He's coming in with all his people; wants to talk peace."
• (Henry Fonda) "He's returned to American soil?"
• (Captain Yorke) "Yes, sir. Now with the Colonel's permission, I'd like to shake some of this Mexican 'dobe dust and get back to the dance."
• (Henry Fonda) "There'll be no time for that, Captain. The regiment moves out at dawn."
• (Captain Yorke) "The regiment? Cochise says he'll meet with you and me and Meacham. We'll take a small detail and go unarmed. I've arranged a rendezvous this side of the drygoons."
• (Henry Fonda) "Sergeant-Major, you'll stop the dance. Pass the word to the first sergeants to prepare their troops to march at dawn. Troop commanders will oblige me by meeting at headquarters at once."
• (Captain Yorke) "Colonel, if you send out the regiment Cochise'll think I've tricked him."
• (Henry Fonda) "Exactly. We have tricked him. Tricked him into returning to American soil and I intend to see that he stays here."
• (Captain Yorke) "Colonel Thursday, I gave my word to Cochise. No man is gonna make a liar out of me, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Your word to a breech-clouted savage? An illiterate, uncivilized murderer and treaty-breaker? There's no question of honor, sir, between an American officer and Cochise."
• (Captain Yorke) "There is to me, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Captain Yorke, you may have commanded your own regiment in the late war; but so long as you command a troop in mine, you will obey my orders."

• (Henry Fonda) "Captain Yorke?"
• (Captain Yorke) "I'm Captain Yorke, sir. I bid you welcome, General Thursday."
• (Henry Fonda) "I'm not a general, Captain. A man is what he's paid for. I'm paid in the rank of Lt. Colonel."
• (Captain Yorke) "I'd remembered you as a general from the war, sir."

• (Henry Fonda) "Trouble you for your sabre, Captain."
• (Captain Yorke) "My sabre?"
• (Henry Fonda) "I must rejoin my command."
• (Captain Yorke) "The command is wiped out, sir, and there's nothing we can do about it."
• (Henry Fonda) "I'm not asking your opinion, Capt. Yorke. When you command this regiment; and you probably will; command it. Your sabre, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Any questions, Captain?"
• (Captain Yorke) "No questions."

• (Henry Fonda) "Have the trumpeter sound officer's call."
• (Ward Bond) "Officer's call?"
• (Henry Fonda) "How long have you been in the army, O'Rourke?"
• (Ward Bond) "The United States army; fifteen years, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Then you've heard of officer's call. Have it sounded."
• (Ward Bond) "Yes, sir."
• (Ward Bond) "Sound officer's call."

• (Henry Fonda) "Assuming you found Cochise, would he listen to you? Would he believe you?"
• (Captain Yorke) "Cochise knows me, sir. I've never lied to him. And if you can assure him decent treatment for his people --"
• (Henry Fonda) "I'll confess he interests me. These eastern newspapers -- I hadn't realized Cochise was so well known."
• (George O'Brien) "Oh, he's known. He's had the laugh on every troop in the southwest, these three years. Six campaigns -- out-generaled us, out-fought us, out-run us."
• (Captain Yorke) "That's just the point, sir. There aren't enough troops in the whole territory to MAKE Cochise come back. But, one man; a man he trusts; might persuade him."
• (Henry Fonda) "Carbine against his spine might be more persuasive."
• (Captain Yorke) "Well, I'll go in unarmed, sir. I can't fight my way in. Either walk in or --"
• (Henry Fonda) "The man who brought Cochise back --"
• (Henry Fonda) "I'm for it, Captain. How many men will you need?"
• (Captain Yorke) "One, sir. Sergeant Beaufort."
• (Ward Bond) "PRIVATE Beaufort, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Why him?"
• (Henry Fonda) "He speaks Spanish; so does Cochise. My Apache has its limits."
• (Henry Fonda) "Shouldn't you take another officer instead?"
• (Henry Fonda) "Well, Sergeant Beaufort was --"
• (Ward Bond) "PRIVATE Beaufort, sir."
• (Captain Yorke) "Private Beaufort was a major in the Confederate army -- an aide to Jeb Stuart."
• (Henry Fonda) "Hmm. I remember "Kaydet" Stuart. He was --"
• (George O'Brien) "Quite."
• (Henry Fonda) "Were you saying something, Captain?"
• (George O'Brien) "I said, "Quite," sir."
• (Captain Yorke) "I'd like to leave at once if the Colonel has no questions."
• (Henry Fonda) "Hmm? What?"
• (Captain Yorke) "Questions, sir?"
• (Henry Fonda) "No. No questions. Proceed, Captain -- take your ex-rebel."

• (Henry Fonda) "Come, Phil."
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "Col. Thursday, sir, I would like --"
• (Henry Fonda) "Mr. O'Rourke, I want no words with you at this time."
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "But, Colonel, sir --"
• (Henry Fonda) "You heard me, sir. Now get out of here before I say something I may regret."
• (RSM Mchael O'Rourke) "This is my home, Colonel Owen Thursday. And in my home I will say who is to get out and who is to stay. And I will remind the Colonel that his presence here; uninvited; is contrary to Army regulations -- not to mention the code of a well-mannered man."
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "Dad, please. Col. Thursday, sir, what I've been trying to tell you, sir, is that I love your daughter; and I ask her now, in your presence,"
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "to be my wife."
• (Shirley Temple) "Yes, Michael."

• (Henry Fonda) "Still, it was my impression that Presidential appointments are restricted to the sons of winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor."
• (Ward Bond) "That was my impression, too, sir."

• (Henry Fonda) "I don't see them. Not a one."
• (Captain Yorke) "Well, they're down there, sir -- among the rocks."
• (Henry Fonda) "Have you seen 'em, Captain?"
• (Captain Yorke) "I don't have to; I know."
• (Henry Fonda) "How?"
• (Captain Yorke) "'Cause if I were Cochise, that's where I'd take up position."
• (Henry Fonda) "And that dust cloud beyond?"
• (Captain Yorke) "It's an Apache trick. Probably squaws and children draggin' mesquite."
• (Henry Fonda) "Very ingenious, Captain. You make me suspect your Cochise has studied under Alexander the Great, or Bonaparte at the least. Gentlemen, march your troops. We'll charge in a column of fours."
• (Captain Yorke) "Mounted in fours? That's suicide, Colonel. I tell you they're down there --"
• (Henry Fonda) "Captain Yorke, you're relieved of command of your troop. There's no room in this regiment for a coward."
• (Captain Yorke) "At your service, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Bugler, pick up Captain Yorke's gauntlet. I'm no duellist, Captain. I will decide whether I will answer you with pistols or a general court martial. You will remain on the ridge -- in safety -- with the supply train. Take O'Rourke with you."

• (Henry Fonda) "Gentlemen, I did not seek this command, but since it's been assigned me, I intend to make this regiment the finest on the frontier. I fully realize that prolonged duty in a small outpost can lead to carelessness -- and inefficiency and laxity in dress and deportment. I call it to your attention that only one of you has reported here this morning properly dressed. The uniform, gentlemen, is not a subject for individual, whimsical expression. We're not cowboys at this post -- or freighters with a load of alfalfa."

• (Henry Fonda) "We here have little chance for glory or advancement. While some of our brother officers are leading their well-publicized campaigns against the great Indian nations; the Sioux and the Cheyenne; we are asked to ward off the gnat stings and flea bites of a few cowardly 'digger Indians'."
• (Captain Yorke) "Your pardon, Colonel. You'd hardly call Apaches 'digger Indians', sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "You'd scarcely compare them with the Sioux, Captain."
• (Captain Yorke) "No, I don't. The Sioux once raided into Apache territory. Old-timers told me you could follow their line of retreat by the bones of their dead."
• (Henry Fonda) "I suggest the Apache has deteriorated since then, judging by a few of the specimens I've seen on my way out here."
• (Captain Yorke) "Well, if you saw them, sir, they weren't Apaches."

• (Henry Fonda) "This Lt. O'Rourke; are you by chance related?"
• (Ward Bond) "Not by chance, sir, by blood. He's my son."
• (Henry Fonda) "I see. How did he happen to get into West Point?"
• (Ward Bond) "It happened by presidential appointment, sir"
• (Henry Fonda) "Are you a former officer, O'Rourke?"
• (Ward Bond) "During the war, I was a major in the 69th New York regiment -- The Irish Brigade, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Still, it's been my impression that presidential appointments were restricted to sons of holders of the Medal of Honor."
• (Ward Bond) "That is my impression, too, sir. Will that be all, sir?"

• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) "He says, "The Apaches are a great race," sir. "They've never been conquered. But it is not well for a nation to be always at war. The young men die -- the women sing sad songs -- and the old ones are hungry in the winter. And so I led my people from the hills. And then came this man."
• (Henry Fonda) "What did he say?"
• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) "Well, sir, a free translation would be that "Meacham's a yellow-bellied polecat of dubious antecedents and conjectural progeny." Cochise's words, of course, sir; not mine."
• (Henry Fonda) "That's a matter of opinion."
• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) ""He is worse than war. He not only killed the men, but the women and the children and the old ones. We looked to the Great White Father for protection. He gave us slow death. We will not return to your reservation while that man"
• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) "is there or anyone like him. Send him away and we will speak of peace. If you do not send him away, there will be war. And for each one of us that you kill, ten white men will die."
• (Henry Fonda) "Are you threatening us?"
• (Captain Yorke) "Don't interrupt, sir, it's an insult."
• (Henry Fonda) "I'll not sit here and be threatened. Beaufort -- no preliminary nonsense with him -- no ceremonial phrasing. Straight from the shoulder as I tell you, do you hear me? They're recalcitrant swine and they must feel it."
• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) "He's only speaking the truth, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Is there anyone in this regiment that understands an order when it's given?"
• (Sgt. Johnny Beaufort) "What does the Colonel wish me to say, sir?"
• (Henry Fonda) "Tell them I find them without honor."
• (Henry Fonda) "Tell them they're not talking to me, but to the United States government. Tell them that government orders them to return to their reservation. And tell them that if they have not started by dawn, we will attack. Tell 'em that."

Grant Withers as Silas Meacham

• (Grant Withers) "I'll protest. I'll write Washington, I'll have you busted."
• (Henry Fonda) "Mr. Meacham, you're a blackguard, a liar, a hypocrite and a stench in the nostrils of honest men. If it were in my power I'd hang you from the nearest tree, leave your carcass for the buzzards. But, as you are a representative of the United States government, I pledge you the protection and cooperation of my command. Good day, sir."

• (Captain Yorke) "No troop or squadron or regiment's gonna keep the Apaches on this reservation unless they want to stay here. Five years ago we made a treaty with Cochise. He and his Chiricahuas and some of the other Apache bands came on the reservation. They wanted to live here in peace -- and DID for two years. And then Meacham, here, was sent by the "Indian Ring" --"
• (Grant Withers) "That's a lie. I've been endorsed --"
• (Captain Yorke) "The dirtiest, most corrupt political group in our history. And then it began: whiskey but no beef; trinkets instead of blankets; the women degraded; the children sickly; and the men turning into drunken animals. So Cochise did the only thing a decent man could do -- he left. Took most of his people and crossed the Rio Bravo into Mexico."
• (Grant Withers) "He broke his treaty."
• (Captain Yorke) "Yes, rather than stay here and see his nation wiped out."
• (Grant Withers) "The law is the law and I DEMAND that you soldier boys enforce it."
• (Henry Fonda) "Any demands you wish to make, you will make through official channels, Mr. Meacham. Do not again employ that word in my presence."
• (Grant Withers) "No offense, sir, no offense."

Anna Lee as Mrs. Emily Collingwood

• (Anna Lee) "I can't see him. All I can see is the flags."

Dick Foran as Sgt. Quincannon

• (Dick Foran) "Bibles, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Sergeant, pour me some scripture."
• (Henry Fonda) "What's in this? Brimstone and sulfur?"
• (Grant Withers) "You know what it is and I'm entitled to keep it."
• (Henry Fonda) "Your license may permit you to keep a medicinal store of whiskey, but this is no whiskey."
• (Grant Withers) "Perhaps you're not used to frontier whiskey."
• (Henry Fonda) "I don't know -- I've tasted most everything."
• (Henry Fonda) "Sergeant, you a judge of whiskey?"
• (First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy) "Uh, well, sir, some people say I am and some say I'm not, sir."
• (Henry Fonda) "Tell me what you make of this."
• (First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy) "Well, uh, it's better than no whiskey at all, sir."

George O'Brien as Captain Collingwood

• (George O'Brien) "You did what you did -- rode to glory. I did what I did -- wound up at Fort Apache. Well, you've wound up here, too."
• (Henry Fonda) "No, by thunder, I've not wound up; not by a jugful. They've pushed me aside, sent me out to this ten-penny post; but they'll not keep me buried. I'll find something."
• (George O'Brien) "This isn't a country for glory, Owen."
• (Henry Fonda) "I'll take my risks. I always have."
• (George O'Brien) "Well, then all I can do is wish you good luck; and I wish you that sincerely."

Shirley Temple as Philadelphia Thursday

• (Captain Yorke) "Were you born in Philadelphia?"
• (Shirley Temple) "No, Pomfret, Connecticut. I was named after my mother."
• (Captain Yorke) "Oh, she was born in Philadelphia?"
• (Shirley Temple) "No, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She was named after grandmother. Grandmother was the first Philadelphia in our family."
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "Oh, then she was --"
• (Shirley Temple) "No, Provincetown, Massachusetts."

• (Captain Yorke) ""An officer, upon reporting to a new post, must wait upon his commanding officer at the first possible moment. He will leave his card.""
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) ""He will leave an additional card for each lady in the commanding officer's family.""
• (Captain Yorke) ""All other officers on the post will, in turn, leave their cards at the quarters of the incoming officer.""
• (Captain Yorke) "Right?"
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "Right."
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "Now do you understand?"
• (Shirley Temple) "It was just a duty call?"
• (Captain Yorke) "That's it; just a duty call. But there's nothing in the regulations that says the commanding officer's daughter should receive such cards on her backporch -- in her nightie."
• (Shirley Temple) "Pish tosh. This is not a nightie."
• (Shirley Temple) "It's a dressing gown, isn't it?"
• (2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke) "I wouldn't know."

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