The Horse Soldiers (1959)

Great Film overall

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The premises of this movie are hokey Hollywood nonsense. No medical staff would be insubordinate like Holden portrays, and in the field he'd be required to keep to his assignment and jump to when ordered. Nor would his commanding officer be fetching his bag upon orders, etc. Utter nonsense. The female lead, knowingly spying, if not shot would have been tied up and gagged and never gotten away with the rubbish she carries on in this movie. And the politician was so overly bad as to be something from a Laurel and Hardy slapstick comedy. Ugh.

To begin with, this has nothing to do with the historical events movie was based on. Now we come to the "Southern Bell" Spaying and how she was treated. Any self respecting commander with a battalion behind the enemy lines, discovering a spy would first and foremost have the responsibility towards his me. She would be shot on the spot. She would not be dragged with the company. Then she tried to escape. Again, she was not being dealt with. Then she tried to warn the Southern patrol, nothing again. Seriously. . Now about John Wayne's "Tough guy" character. His representation of an army officer in all the movies I saw him in such a role is totally over acted, unrealistic and down right stupid.

Based upon a book about an actual Civil War campaign, "The Horse Soldiers" is a story, not history. But oh what a story.Union troops, operating behind enemy lines, encounter all manner of Southerners and soldiers, illuminating the tragedies and horrors of war. There are light moments, too, and some uplifting stories about the human spirit.A trio of wonderful performances drives this film directed by John Ford, whose photography and framing are considered and sometimes creative. Colonel John Marlowe is played by John Wayne with his usual steadfast solidity. Major Henry Kendall, a physician, is played by William Holden. Like some of Holden's other roles ("Stalag 17", "Bridge on the River Kwai"), Kendall is an irreverent pragmatist. Wayne and Holden complement each other very well. To this mix is added a Southern belle, Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers), who resents the harsh impositions of the Yankees and their disregard for Southern sovereignty. The supporting cast is also wonderful and it includes a wealth of actors who are fun to spot.The script is tight, with no wasted moments. By the final act, the viewer has experienced a microcosm of the conflict. This is one of the best films about the American Civil War.

"The Horse Soldiers" is an average secret mission war movie about the Union cavalry. Principally, the casting of John Wayne and William Holden, who are at each other's throats throughout most of the action, is reason enough to watch William Clothier's gorgeously photographed American Civil War epic. "Fort Apache" director John Ford and his long-time lenser Clothier present the eponymous Union troops and occasional Confederate cavalry strung out in formation and skylined against horizon. As with most Ford films, the soldiers warble familiar war-time, folk songs to stress the difference in their nationality. This colorful adventure opus concerns Grierson's historic, 600-mile raid through central Mississippi on the eve of the siege of Vicksburg. Naturally, Wayne plays Colonel John Marlowe, a fictional alter ego of the real-life Colonel Benjamin Grierson, the gung-o leader of the Union Army who led a cavalry brigade on a hell-bent-for-leather foray from northern Mississippi down across the state to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Grierson's objective was to cut the railroads that provided supplies to Vicksburg on the western side of the state. Interestingly enough, Grierson was a music teacher in real-life before he suited up in Union blue. Comparably, Marlowe is a former railroad construction engineer who rose up the ranks of his profession by the sweat of his brow. Presumably, the author of the novel, Harold Sinclair, must have felt it would be far more appropriate for Marlowe to be a railroad man, since he was ordered to destroy a railroad and all the rolling stock. When the film unfolds, General Grant informs our protagonist that things aren't going well for the Union. Grant complains, "To put it mildly, with less men and less resources, the South has whipped us to a standstill." As sensational as the raid was, the action itself was virtually bloodless. The first skirmish with the Confederates occurs about 17 minutes into the raid, with a few of Marlowe's men ambushed. This disturbs Marlowe considerably because the ambush could mean that 'the cat is out of the bag' and every Confederate for miles around will know about this so-called secret mission. No Hollywood movie from the 1950s would be complete without the presence of a heroine. About ten minutes after the initial skirmish, the most memorable scene occurs when Colonel Marlowe and his command ride into Greenbriar Plantation. Plantation mistress Miss Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers of "Sergeant Rutledge") arranges a sumptuous repast of southern fried chicken for Marlowe and his officers. During this splendid meal, she offers Marlowe a chicken breast while she hovers above him with his low-cut dress revealing her magnificent breasts. Marlowe blushes in humiliation. The crafty Miss Hunter arranges matters so when Marlowe and his men confer over strategy, she and her maid Lukey (one-time-only-actress Althea Gibson) can eavesdrop. Again, Marlowe cannot afford to leave Miss Hunter behind, so she is forced to accompany them for the remainder of the raid. Not surprisingly, Miss Hunter makes a terrible nuisance of herself. She tries to escape on horseback at one point and her horse spills her in a swamp. Later, she tries to warn a cavalry patrol, but Kendall thwarts her, and she has to give her word of honor to Marlowe to refrain from such activities.The biggest action set-piece occurs about an hour into "The Horse Soldiers" when Marlowe and his command arrive at Newton Station and receive a surprise when a Confederate troop train trundles in and scores of soldiers pour out of the boxcars. Confederate Colonel Jonathan Miles (Carleton Young of "Reefer Madness") is a sneaky, one-armed officer who coordinates the attack and eventually charges down Newton's main street carrying the Stars and Stripes with his men behind. After they repulse the attacking Confederates, Marlowe's men rip up the railroad tracks and twists the rails into bowties. During the lull in the action, we learn the source of Marlowe's rage against Kendall because two surgeons cut into Marlowe's wife in search of a tumor that they never found. When Marlowe's men aren't torching the railroad ties, they are sending contraband cotton up in smoke. In a last ditch effort, the Confederates assemble cadets from a nearby military academy to coordinate with a cannon battery. This takes place when Marlowe and Kendall tangle for a knuckle-buster in the middle of the woods. Rather than ride against the cadets, Marlowe and his men skedaddle away from them after they cadet give them a volley or two. Naturally, forty miles from their Baton Rouge objective, Marlowe and is command encounter Confederates at a wooden bridge. After Marlowe is wounded in the leg, he leads a charge across the bridge and routes the Confederates. For the record, Marlowe and Hunter fall in love, and Kendall remains behind after the bridge is blown up to tend the wounded. Whatever "The Horse Soldiers" lacks in spectacular action, it struggles to compensate with the friction between Wayne and Holden. Major Henry Kendall, William Holden brings his liberal sensibilities to the fore as the Union surgeon to plies his trade and vents his wrath at the stalwart Marlowe. Despite William H. Clothier impressive cinematography and robust performances by a seasoned cast, the story is just a little too humdrum. Nevertheless, mediocre John Ford is better than no John Ford.