Approaching the end of his military career, "Capt. Brittles" (John Wayne) is charged with one final patrol whilst trying to reconcile two hormonal lieutenants who have the hots for the prim "Miss Dandridge" (Joanne Dru). One is from military gentry "Pennell" (Harry Carey Jr.) the other a more working man "Cohill" (John Agar) and she is having quite good fun playing the cat with two balls of wool. Just to compound his misfortunes, "Brittles" has to take this woman, and the major's feisty wife "Abby" (Mildred Natwick) on his tour too. Yikes, maybe the Apache would be a welcome relief from all these shenanigans. Perhaps not though, as it transpires that the Indians are very much on the warpath and it might not matter for very long for whom "Dandridge" wears her yellow ribbon. There's a solid cast here, as you'd expect from a John Ford who has pretty much assembled a team to follow his adventures through the genre with the Duke. Ben Johnson's confederate veteran "Tyree" as well as Victor McLaglen's mischievous top sergeant "Quincannon" and his cohort of fellow whiskey lovers all keep the film moving along entertainingly with plenty of action and just a little slapstick humour to raise a smile as Wayne continues to engagingly rule the roost.
