She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a 1949 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. The academy award winning film was the second of Ford's Cavalry trilogy films (the other two being Fort Apache (1948) and Rio Grande (1950)). With a budget of $1.6 million, the color film was one of the most expensive Westerns made up to that time. It was a major hit for RKO.
The film was shot on location in Monument Valley utilizing large areas of the Navajo reservation along the Arizona-Utah state border. Cinematographer Winton Hoch won an academy award for Best Color Cinematography in 1949. Ford and Hoch based much of the film's imagery on the paintings and sculptures of Frederic Remington.
The film takes its name from the popular US military song, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" is used to keep marching cadence.
Famous quotes containing the words yellow ribbon, wore, yellow and/or ribbon:
“A yellow ribbon, Miss Dandridge. You know what that means in the cavalry—a sweetheart.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“I had a wonderful job. I worked for a big model agency in Manhattan.... When I got on the subway to go to work, it was like traveling into another world. Oh, the shops were beautiful, we had Bergdorf’s, Bendel’s, Bonwit’s, DePinna. The women wore hats and gloves. Another world. At home, it was cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, going to PTA, Girl Scouts. But when I got into the office, everything was different, I was different.”
—Estelle Shuster (b. c. 1923)
“The yellow pool has overflowed high up on Clooth-na-Bare,
For the wet winds are blowing out of the clinging air;
Like heavy flooded waters our bodies and our blood;
But purer than a tall candle before the Holy Rood
Is Cathleen, the daughter of Houlihan.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I’ll tell you how the Sun rose--
A Ribbon at a time--”
—Emily Dickinson (1831–1886)