The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

Very disappointing...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's 1862. A group of inexperienced Union soldiers head south to face the enemy. They are full of bravado and excitement although young Henry Fleming (Audie Murphy) has secret fears. In the heat of their first full battle, Henry and others turn and run as the Rebs charge. He is shocked to learn of a victory afterwards and wished to have a battle wound, a red badge of courage.Legendary director John Huston made this anti-war war movie. Like the book, it strips away the glory of the battlefield to give a vision of war from the small humanistic point of view. The battle scenes are big enough and chaotic enough without being overwhelming. It fits the final climax where the big battle actually happens on the other side of the hill. Audie Murphy has his boyish looks and his war veteran bona fide. The only uncertain aspect is the narration which purports to be lines from the book. Certainly, I understand the concept but much of it is unnecessary. Huston loved the work but the studio does get its dirty little hands on the film. The filming and the story really struck at the glorification of wars and is one of Huston's most interesting work.

One of the best movies I've ever seen! It showed true faith in troubling times, and shows how someone can come from running away to a true figure of courage! I totally recommend this movie to anyone! It really showed me what it takes to rise and overcome your fears

The US Civil War brought forth many great novels, treatises and good films. The Red Badge Of Courage depict as the war as it seems to be in real - dusty, horrifying, bloody, not picturesque, grim, deadly and painfully average. People on both sides murder one another at a steady pace, and this is shown very well. The battle scenes are very dry, as was intended, here lies no romanticism, no grandeur, no show - just a grim work of death, some hustle, some cowardice, some bravery as shown in the slow development of the main hero, The Youth. His slow growth from a cowardly youngster to a mature hero is so real, so painfully true. Deaths are all around, and bullets zip, and shells explode - he stands up and he becomes a man. This is shown very well, and this short, but great movie manages to show and deliver one main point - there is nothing beautiful in any war/ Recommended

Civil War film based on the famed novel by Stephen Crane. It gets short shrift among John Huston's films because it's well known that Louis B. Mayer cut 26 minutes out of the film while Huston was away filming The African Queen. Still, what's left is hardly incoherent and works beautifully. It may have been a masterpiece in its 95 minute incarnation, but it's still great and one of Huston's best films in its 69 minute form. Audie Murphy stars as a young private facing his first fighting. The real value of this film is how it really feels like it's right there on the front lines of Civil War battles. It's vivid and frightening, and also quite gorgeously directed and shot. I perhaps would have liked to hear no narration, which comes directly from Crane's novel (and may or may not have been wanted by Huston). It's mostly unnecessary. It may have been confusing without it, but only as confusing as it is for the characters on screen.