The Horse Soldiers (1959)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (written for the screen by) and
Martin Rackin (written for the screen by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

12 June 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | War | Western

Tagline:

John Ford's Thundering Spectacle

Plot:

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply centre...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Sabotage | Train | Spanking | American Civil War

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. John Marlowe
William Holden	...	Maj. Henry 'Hank' Kendall (regimental surgeon)
Constance Towers	...	Miss Hannah Hunter of Greenbriar
Judson Pratt	...	Sgt. Maj. Kirby
Hoot Gibson	...	Sgt. Brown
Ken Curtis	...	Cpl. Wilkie
Willis Bouchey	...	Col. Phil Secord
Bing Russell	...	Dunker, Yankee Soldier Amputee
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Otis 'Hoppy' Hopkins (medical assistant)
Hank Worden	...	Deacon Clump
Chuck Hayward	...	Union captain
Denver Pyle	...	Jackie Jo (rebel deserter)
Strother Martin	...	Virgil (rebel deserter)
Basil Ruysdael	...	The Reverend (Jefferson Military Academy)
Carleton Young	...	Col. Jonathan Miles, CSA
William Leslie	...	Maj. Richard Gray
William Henry	...	Confederate lieutenant
Walter Reed	...	Union officer
Anna Lee	...	Mrs. Buford
William Forrest	...	Gen. Steve Hurlburt
Ron Hagerthy	...	Bugler
Russell Simpson	...	Acting Sheriff Henry Goodbody
Althea Gibson	...	Lukey - Hannah Hunter's maid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sarge Allen	...	Union officer (uncredited)
Danny Borzage	...	Ned (uncredited)
Otis Courville	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Richard H. Cutting	...	Gen. William T. Sherman (uncredited)
Fred Graham	...	Union soldier (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Passenger to Newton Station (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Passenger to Newton Station (uncredited)
Stan Jones	...	Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Roy Kennedy	...	Wrangler (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	Sgt. Maj. 'Mitch' Mitchell (uncredited)
Charles Seel	...	Newton Station bartender (uncredited)
Jan Stine	...	Union General (uncredited)
William Wellman Jr.	...	Bugler (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
John Lee Mahin		(written for the screen by) and
Martin Rackin		(written for the screen by)
Harold Sinclair		(novel)

Produced by
John Lee Mahin	....	producer (uncredited)
Martin Rackin	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
David Buttolph

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier		(director of photography) (as William Clothier)

Film Editing by
Jack Murray

Art Direction by
Frank Hotaling

Makeup Department
Web Overlander	....	makeup artist
Fae M. Smith	....	hair stylist (as Fae Smith)

Production Management
Allen K. Wood	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ray Gosnell Jr.	....	assistant director
Wingate Smith	....	assistant director

Art Department
Victor A. Gangelin	....	set dresser (as Victor Gangelin)
Sam Gordon	....	property

Sound Department
Jack Solomon	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Augie Lohman	....	special effects (as Auggie Lohman)

Stunts
Jim Burk	....	stunts (uncredited)
Everett Creach	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dick Dial	....	stunt double: William Holden (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tom Hennesy	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Hudkins	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Lewis	....	stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ted White	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Frank Beetson Jr.	....	wardrobe (as Frank Beetson)
Ann Peck	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Stanley Scheuer	....	script supervisor
Meta Stern	....	script supervisor
John Veitch	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The (presents) (as The Mirisch Company)
• Mahin-Rackin

Distributors

• United Artists (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1962) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Reserva Especial (2004) (Brazil) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• United Artists (1959) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Runtime:

115 min | USA:119 min (DVD version) | UK:119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:PG | Norway:16 | New Zealand:G | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alexandria, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

The Horse Soldiers is apparently based on the true-life raid by Colonel Benjamin Grierson who, like stated in the movie, started the excursion from LeGrange, Tennessee.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Confederate flags used in the movie are Army of Tennessee pattern and did not come into use until March of 1864.

Quotes:

[after Marlowe gets slapped]
Major Kendall: I suggest you see a doctor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sesión continua (1984)

Soundtrack:

I LEFT MY LOVE

Historically inaccurate but otherwise excellent

This film has the usual Hollywood-style errors about the Civil War -- men talking about Andersonville Prison months before it was established, minor diversions treated as the pivotal event of a campaign, that sort of thing. The biggest error though was the replacement of the fascinating Colonel Ben Grierson with Wayne's railroad man character. Grierson was a music teacher who was afraid of horses because one kicked him in the head as a child. Joining the Union army to fight slavery (he was a staunch abolitionist) he wanted infantry duty but was assigned to the cavalry by mistake. He turned out to be good at it and stayed in the cavalry after the war, becoming the first Colonel of the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo soldiers). It'd have been nice to see Grierson on screen.

Historical inaccuracy aside though the movie did quite well. The film showed multiple viewpoints and a fair degree of respect for most of them. It showed aspects of the war that were generally ignored in other films of the period -- the bloody horror of battlefield amputations, the desire of people to give up on the whole thing (I can't think of an earlier film that talked about deserters and the way they disrupted the southern home front), and the pain of the sheer physical destruction of the war -- a pain that affected the destroyers as well as the victims, something Gone With the Wind never quite admitted.

Some posters have complained about southern belle Hannah Hunter's overuse of sex appeal to spy on Union soldiers -- while there was no historical Hannah Hunter there were plenty of southern women who did just that, including Belle Boyd, Rose Greenhow and others. Some posters have complained about the way the film trivializes slavery -- this is unfair. It underplays slavery but never trivializes it. It shows conflicts within the Union army about the institution and addresses the issue of personal loyalty between some slaves and masters without glamorizing the institution as a whole. Does the film go far enough by modern standards? No. But it goes much farther than its contemporary and treats the slavery issue more honestly than modern travesties like Gods And Generals.

One poster actually complained about how inaccurate southern snipers were -- this is completely unfair. There was no indication that the "snipers" were specially trained men with Whitworth rifles or anything like that. They looked more like ordinary troopers out skirmishing, or perhaps the even more poorly trained militia. Ordinary soldiers fired more than 100 rounds for every hit they scored, so poor shooting on either side is nothing to be surprised about.

8 out of 10