9. Fort Apache (1948)

In 1947, John Ford and John Wayne kicked off the first of their Calvary Trilogy movies in Fort Apache. Like She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, the movie was filmed in the director’s favoured Monument Valley where the blazing heat, high winds and desert storms proved a challenging shoot for the cast and crew. Set after the American Civil War, Wayne played Captain Kirby York, the acting commander of Fort Apache, an isolated US cavalry post in the Arizona frontier. The officer soon finds himself clashing with Henry Fonda’s stubborn Lieutenant Colonel, who arrives to take over command with his daughter, played by Shirley Temple.