John Ford's 7 Women (1966)

What 7 Women ultimately affirms is the necessity of individual integrity in the face of nihilism.
Joseph McBride and Michael Wilmington, John Ford, Da Capo Press. 1975

It is not until 7 Women that Ford can bear to look at women with a degree of sexual ambiguity.
Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema, The University of Chicago Press, 1968

I thought it was a hell of a good picture.
John Ford, quoted in John Ford by Peter Bogdanovich, University of California Press, 1968

7 Women was Ford's last film; it explored Ford's traditional themes, expressed his unhappiness with the Vietnam War and events of the sixties, and explored new ideas about the roles of religion and women that he was unable to pursue (he died in 1973, without an opportunity to make another film after 7 Women).  It takes place in China in 1935, where a mission composed of one man and several women gets caught up in a civil war and are saved by the sexual sacrifice of a doctor with little faith in God.  She kills the bandit leader and helps the missionaries to escape.  The setting is not unlike one of Ford's Westerns and the bandits are an extreme version of Ford's Indians:  unlike the Indians in Ford's Westerns they have no redeeming virtues and no explanation is given for their anarchic behavior.

This last film of Ford's expresses the pessimism of all his later films, especially The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance:  as tradition and patriotism recede it is up to individuals to assert honor and integrity.  The film is shot on claustrophobic sets in beautifully muted colors of grays, browns and blues.  As Dr. Cartwright goes to kill Tunga Khan and herself she emerges from the darkness in traditional Asian dress with a bright red sash.  Veteran cinematographer Joseph Lashelle shoots impressive wide-screen compositions and Elmer Bernstein provides an appropriately low-key score.  Sue Lyon leads the children at the mission to safety singing "Shall We Gather at the River," one of Ford's favorite songs.  The final words in the script are "so long, you bastard," as Dr. Cartwright poisons Tunga Khan; it serves as Ford's farewell to all the producers and studio heads who interfered with his films, including this one.