She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Released Oct 22, 1949

1h 44m

Western

Adventure

List

92%

24 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

The last job of Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) before retirement is to soothe relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians after Custer's last stand. At the same time, he must transport the wife (Mildred Natwick) and niece (Joanne Dru) of his commanding officer to a safe destination. After both his missions stall, Brittles attempts a face-to-face meeting with an important Native American chief in order to stave off an impending war.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Apr 16

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent She Wore a Yellow Ribbon on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Alec B

Its often too overtly sentimental but it still has those quiet moments where Ford's imagery more effectively communicates emotions and meaning. Also this is one of the best uses of John Wayne.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/24

Full Review

Steve D

Only Wayne fans need apply.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/04/24

Full Review

Leaburn O

Fairly anti climactic tale of a sergeant on his final patrol before retiring. Wayne is playing a pretty straight up old timer Wild West hero and there's a girl wearing a yellow ribbon as a sign of her affection for one member of the cavalry. You'd think there'd be a lot more to the film but actually that synopsis is effectively a spoiler. Some lovely shots of the desert are the only redeeming feature. A pretty poor western with a strangely good reputation.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/02/23

Full Review

Red T

This is a Ford & Wayne Classic but it does have problems. The acting is solid with Wayne being a very good standout but the supporting cast while good doesn't really stand out that much except for Bond and he's not even in much of the movie. Everyone just sort of blends in and I can't tell much difference between Johnson, Carey and the like. They still are well acted but don't really stand out. And Dru doesn't really add much and isn't bad but shes the weakest thing here and feels unneeded. The music is excellent and is the best thing in this and is really catchy and memorable. The cinematography is really good and has epic sweeping shots that pop and are super memorable. The only issue is during the night scenes scattered throughout including the big horse climax stampede it's so dark you can't really see what is happening too well sometimes not at all. The action scenes though are amazing to look at. The editing and pacing are solid but this has two main issues. First the story of the calvary journey isn't as tight as other Western journeys like Red River or Stagecoach. It feels like things just happen at times like they get attacked, than they go around, than they meet others and it never really builds on each other. Although they are well shot, well acted, and have great music scenes to boot. The other is the romance between Dru and the others feels out of place and sort of hammed in. Not as bad as say Tess in Red River but it doesn't really add much. The scene where Ward Bond goes on a drunken fight for 7 minutes felt completely out of place also, too slap sticky, and didn't add anything. I was very confused why that was in there. Everything is still solidly put together though. Anyone who is a fan of Ford, any actors in this, or classic westerns will like this.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/03/23

Full Review

Russ

The Duke and John Ford return to Monument Valley a decade after Stagecoach, with a 42 year old Wayne no longer "The Kid" but a cavalry officer on the eve of retirement, courtesy of the makeup department. Ford's hand-picked Technicolor wizard of a cinematographer works his magic with the panoramic vistas offered by the location and a lighting director does likewise on the sound stage shots, but unlike 1939's film there's little character development and no Thomas Mitchell or John Carradine to bring a script to life. Of course the post-war American audience is given no reason to think that the assorted tribal nations have any legitimate basis for opposing the US Cavalry or the white settlers taking possession of their ancestral territory. There's a muddled love triangle thrown in to justify the film's title.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

j f

Origin of Erratic Joe's "dog-faced pony soldier." Though he flubbed the line.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/24/24

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

John Ford

Director

John Wayne

Captain Nathan Cutting Brittles

Joanne Dru

Olivia Dandridge

John Agar

Lt. Flint Cohill

Ben Johnson

Sgt. Tyree

Harry Carey Jr.

2nd Lt. Ross Penell

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

83%

63%

Blood on the Moon

100%

69%

Rancho Notorious

93%

74%

Gunga Din

100%

83%

Fort Apache

67%

64%

Rachel and the Stranger

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Milton Shulman

London Evening Standard

It seems a pity then that with all this taking place in rich, luscious Technicolor, Ford felt it necessary to slow up these healthy activities with over-long intervals of adolescent love-making and tedious sentiment.

Nov 24, 2021

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

A western meller done in the best John Ford manner.

Nov 10, 2008

Full Review

Derek Adams

Time Out

A film of both elegiac sentiment and occasionally over-eloquent sentimentality.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

C.A. Lejeune

Observer (UK)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is one of the most rousing films I have seen for years. It is also not without subtlety.

Nov 30, 2021

Full Review

Dudley Early

Austin American-Statesman

In She Wore a Yellow Ribbon [John Wayne] is nothing short of superb. It is a performance that should, in all right, be a challenger for the Academy award.

Jun 23, 2020

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

The Young Folks

The film boasts one of Ford's more uncommon storylines and some of his boldest uses of color cinematography.

Rated: 6/10

Dec 29, 2018

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

The last job of Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) before retirement is to soothe relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians after Custer's last stand. At the same time, he must transport the wife (Mildred Natwick) and niece (Joanne Dru) of his commanding officer to a safe destination. After both his missions stall, Brittles attempts a face-to-face meeting with an important Native American chief in order to stave off an impending war.

Director: John Ford
Producer: Merian C. Cooper, John Ford
Screenwriter: James Warner Bellah, Frank S. Nugent, Laurence Stallings
Distributor: Turner Home Video, RKO Radio Pictures, Image Entertainment Inc., Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc., Argosy Pictures
Genre: Western, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 1949, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 27, 2012
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Mono

Most Popular at Home Now