Fort Apache (hostile place)

Outpost of a university compound in Mogadishu, Somalia, labeled Fort Apache by U.S. infantry.

The "Fort Apache" precinct house at 1086 Simpson Street in the Bronx

Fort Apache is, metaphorically, a building, complex, or defensive site providing shelter from hostile action in the form of crime (in police and crime drama) or native insurrection or enemy attack (in John Ford movies). ^[1]

The metaphor is used by military and police to refer to a post which is beset or besieged. Recent examples may be found in Afghanistan and Iraq. ^[2] Another example is "Fort Apache, The Bronx", a name used in the past for the NYPD's original Station House of the 41st Precinct at 1086 Simpson Street in the Bronx (this name was used in the title of the 1981 film). ^[3]

See also

• Fort Apache (1948 John Ford film)
• Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981 film)

References

1. Poague, Leland (1988). ""All I Can See Is the Flags": "Fort Apache" and the Visibility of History". Cinema Journal . 27 (2): 8–26. doi:10.2307/1225023. JSTOR   1225023.
2. "Fort Apache, Afghanistan". Winds of Change. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
3. Fisher, Ian (June 23, 1993). "Pulling Out of Fort Apache, the Bronx; New 41st Precinct Station House Leaves Behind Symbol of Community's Past Troubles". The New York Times . Retrieved December 26, 2007. He stretched his memory back 25 years to his days as a rookie patrolman in the 41st Precinct, whose station house was known from here to Hollywood as Fort Apache, a solitary outpost in a neighborhood of death and decay and gangs with grandiosely macabre names.