Film Stories From The Book:
Hollywood of the Rockies
By: Frederic B. Wildfang
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
1949 — RKO/Argosy — produced by John Ford and Merian C. Cooper —written by Frank Nugent and Laurence Stallings (based on a story by James Warner Bellah), directed by John Ford, photography by Winton C. Hoch, music by Richard Hageman — starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson, Victor McLaglen, and Harry Carey, Jr.
Academy Award: Cinematography
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, a tribute to the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian wars of the mid-1800’s, features John Wayne in the part of Captain Nathan Brittles — a soon-to-be-retired cavalry officer called into action one last time. Harry Carey, Jr. plays the troubled Lieutenant Pennell, who — inspired by Brittles — decides to stick with the cavalry rather than resign, as he originally intended. Winner of an Academy Award for color cinematography (by Wynton “Winnie” C. Hoch), this movie (according to The Hollywood Reporter) “adds one more to the long list of [John Ford’s] superb achievements as one of — if not the finest — director in the world.”
As Harry Carey, Jr. elaborates in his book:
There’s a shot that every lover of Ford films asks me about. It’s after the operation on Tyler [who was wounded by an Indian arrow], and the troops are leading their horses away from the camera....
Jack was ready to call it a day. The weather was too bad. There was no light, except for flashes of lightning, which were getting so close you could smell them — loud cracks of thunder and a freezing, misty rain....
Ford had called a wrap, and then he looked around and said to Winnie, ‘Winnie, what do you think?’
Winnie answered, ‘It’s awfully dark, Jack. But I’ll shoot it. I just can’t promise anything.’ He was being as honest as he could.
Jack said, ‘Winnie, open her up...and let’s go for it. If it doesn’t come out, I’ll take the rap....’
Well, “It sure as hell came out!” says Dobe. “It was Technicolor breakthrough.” “So there’s the cavalry walking along, leading their mounts, the saddles and harness creaking, the sabers and canteens rattling, and the horses snorting and coughing” — all “under that black, eerie sky” — complete with flashing lightning.
