The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

Truncated adaptation of Stephen Crane's novel about a Civil War Union soldier who stuggles to find the courage to fight in the heat of battle.

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Stephen Crane (novel), John Huston (screenplay),

Stars:

Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, Douglas Dick

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Audie Murphy	...	The Youth
Bill Mauldin	...	The Loud Soldier
Douglas Dick	...	The Lieutenant
Royal Dano	...	The Tattered Man
John Dierkes	...	The Tall Soldier
Arthur Hunnicutt	...	Bill Porter
Tim Durant	...	The General
Andy Devine	...	The Cheery Soldier
Robert Easton	...	Thompson (as Robert Easton Burke)

Storyline

Plot centers around how a young recruit (Audie Murphy) faces the horrors of war. Character vascilates between wanting to fight and doubting his own courage. In midst of first bloody encounter, Youth runs away. After seeing dead and wounded, sense of shame leads him back to his unit, where he distinguishes himself in the next battle. Having overcome his fear of "the great Death" he knows e can face whatever comes. Somewhat sentimental "coming of age" tale was pet project of John Huston, who fought MGM over casting of Murphy and Bill Mauldin in lead roles.

---

Plot Keywords:

battle | courage | union soldier | death | fear | 

---

Taglines:

Stephen Crane's Great American Story of the Civil War

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alma de valiente

Filming Locations:

Bidwell Park - Manzanita Avenue, Chico, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,640,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

69 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director John Huston lost control of this picture when, over his objections, his bosses at MGM recut it, editing out over 20 minutes. Whole scenes, including one featuring Royal Dano, were discarded. Huston did not waste any time fighting over it, as he was focused on the pre-production of his next picture, The African Queen. Lillian Ross wrote about the trials of producing "The Red Badge of Courage" in her book "Picture".

---

Goofs

None of the soldiers is wearing the proper cartridge box which would have been slung over the shoulder and which had a round "Eagle" breastplate.

---

Connections

Referenced in John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989)

User Reviews

A really good movie and a really good performance

This is really a very fine film and after seeing it on has to wonder why Audie Murphy never had more substantial roles in his career, as he was quite good in this film. As was mentioned in a previous post he was playing himself in the movie To Hell and Back and was essentially a B-Western actor the remainder of his career. This films shows that he was much more talented than one would ever know from watching the bulk of his films.