Fort Apache (hostile place)

Metaphoric outpost in hostile territory

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 41st Precinct Station House at 1086 Simpson Street in the Bronx and the 1981 movie named for it.^[3]

References

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^ 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.
^ "Fort Apache, Afghanistan". Winds of Change. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
^ 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.