Fonda as Villain

Thursday was a villain. He could have shown sympathy as well as laid down the law, but didn't, and instead charged a war band against all odds.

He deserved to die, and the film makers made sure of that.

I agree, Frank. I am not a huge Fonda fan and I didn't find him a convincing authoritative figure in Fort Apache. I do think though that Frank is arguably his best performance alongside his Manny Balestrero in Hitchcock's The Wrong Man.

I never thought of Colonel Thursday as being a villain. He was definitely an antagonist, the person who opposes the protangonist, but it is too simplistic to call them villain (antagonist) and hero (protagonist).

Colonel Thursday was not evil. He was rigid and infuriating, but wasn't really evil. He was a by-the-book soldier. Thursday had spent years doing desk duty and, if I remember correctly, a stint in Europe. He had never experience combat. He was leading by what was written in army manuels and regulations. He wanted to carry out his commission without taking common sense into consideration. My opinion is that he was so by the book that he couldn't adapt, and that brought abought his downfall. Philadelphia, on the other hand, was able to adapt, and by the end of the film she became a true army wife, as shown by her appearance on the balcony, stoically watching the troops ride out, just as the older wives did earlier in the film.

Spin

In my opinion,
From the very beginning of the movie, Thursday came off as an obnoxious, blue-nosed easterner, disgruntled with what he viewed as a demotion, and had contempt and disdain for everything and everybody in the territory. It was also evident that he would do absolutely anything to get back into the good graces of those in DC. This became clear in his conversation with Collingwood. Collingwood implied that he, Thursday, with all his connections, spotless record and past glories, had also ended up at Ft. Apache. To which Thursday replied, “Not by a jug full.”

There may have been other villains whom I disliked more, but having seen this movie just recently, his character is still fresh in my mind and I can think of no other who deserves so much enmity. He did make me smile when this omniscient, arrogant, A-hole ,in total disbelief, learned that a lowly NCO could be a MoH recipient. But predictably, a few scenes later, he was regurgitating his anachronistic, blue-blood mantra of how marriage between classes was unacceptable. His demeanor reminds me very much like that of the George Macready character in “Paths of Glory”. I understand the by-the-book martinet, tight a$$ed, rigid disciplinarian, after all, he is an officer. But his egomania and insatiable lust for glory, is totally unacceptable for a person who has been entrusted with lives of those in his command and eventually lead to the decimation of same. I don’t think villain is a strong enough word to describe a human who would purposely send his troops to their deaths, in exchange for his immortality.

I saw this movie for the first time, maybe 50 years ago, and to this day, I can’t understand the ending. Capt. York, the beloved veteran, the compassionate officer is in his office, surrounded by reporters. He doesn’t go out of his way to focus the spotlight on Thursday, but on the troops. And because he is so compassionate, he doesn’t dish up any truth either (De mortuis nihil nisi bonum) because of the daughter. That behavior appears to be consistent with his character. What I can’t understand is, at the very end, he seems to be paying homage to or emulating a piece of human filth, when he dons the very cap that Thursday made famous. York and the other survivors were witnesses to the massacre of their comrades and they must certainly have a profound hatred for the man who was directly responsible. These men were forced into a predicted, albeit avoidable situation, by a man who viewed them as nothing more than mere steppingstones on his path to glory/immortality. I can’t believe that the York character, who I came to know throughout the movie, the selfless, seasoned veteran, who displayed so much reverence and respect for his fallen comrades, would exhibit this 180° behavior.

Four bottles of cool beer, Ma.
And I'll have the same... with a whiskey chaser.

He was an american.
Americans can never be villains.
What are you talking about?

Ford came through with the legend becomes fact segment at the end when the press kept wanting to talk of Thursday's heroism. Wayne obliged them but tried to brush them off at least somewhat. Stressing the competence of the everyday cavalry soldier.