Ride with the Devil (1999)

During the American Civil War, two friends join the Bushwhackers, a militant group loyal to the Confederacy.

Director:

Ang Lee

Writers:

Daniel Woodrell (novel), James Schamus (screenplay)

Stars:

Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jewel Kilcher

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tobey Maguire	...	Jake Roedel
Jeremy W. Auman	...	Guard
Scott Sener	...	Guard (as Scott C. Sener)
Skeet Ulrich	...	Jack Bull Chiles
Glenn Q. Pierce	...	Minister
Kathleen Warfel	...	Mrs. Chiles
David Darlow	...	Asa Chiles
Zan McLeod	...	Wedding Musician - Guitar
John Whelan	...	Wedding Musician - Accordion
Roger Landes	...	Wedding Musician - Mandolin
Jeffrey Dover	...	Wedding Musician - Drummer
Tyler Johnson	...	Wedding Musician - Drummer
Kelly Werts	...	Wedding Musician - Fiddle
Michael W. Nash	...	Horton Lee, Sr.
John Judd	...	Otto Roedel

Storyline

Jake Roedel and Jack Bull Chiles are friends in Missouri when the Civil War starts. Women and Blacks have few rights. Jack Bull's dad is killed by Union soldiers, so the young men join the Bushwhackers, irregulars loyal to the South. One is a Black man, Daniel Holt, beholden to the man who bought his freedom. They skirmish then spend long hours hiding. Sue Lee, a young widow, brings them food. She and Jack Bull become lovers, and when he's grievously wounded, Jake escorts her south to a safe farm. The Bushwhackers, led by men set on revenge, make a raid into Kansas. At nineteen, Jake is ill at ease with war. As his friends die one after another, he must decide where honor lies.

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Plot Keywords:

missouri raider | william quantrill | laundry drying on a clothesline | movie flop | reading a letter | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic war violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scenes of the Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Kansas were filmed in Pattonsburg, Missouri. Pattonsburg was flooded out during the great flood of 1993, and the town was relocated leaving many empty buildings and homes available.

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Goofs

Civil-war era skirts did not have even one in-seam pocket, let alone two. Fancy Chatelaines were used to hold purses and other items by the wealthier women, and the poorer classes made do with cloth pockets suspended from a strap that was pinned to the waistband. Flat surface pockets came in after the closing of the civil war.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: On the western frontier of Missouri, the American Civil War was fought not by armies, but by neighbors. Informal gangs of local southern Bushwhackers fought a bloody and desperate guerrilla war against the occupying Union Army and pro-Union Jayhawkers.
Title Card: Allegiance to either side was dangerous. But it was more dangerous still to find oneself caught in the middle.

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Connections

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005)

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Soundtracks

Sally in the Garden
Traditional
Arranged and performed by Dirk Powell

User Reviews

Powerful, accurate and genuinely moving

Taiwanese director Ang Lee, whose previous films include 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'The Ice Storm', turned to the American Civil War for his latest feature. Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, it follows the exploits of a group of Southern guerrillas, known as bushwhackers, as they fight their Northern equivalents, the jayhawkers in the backwater of Missouri.

As one might expect, there is plenty of visceral action, but the focus is on the tension that the war put on the young men who fought it - many of whom were fighting against their former neighbours and even family. Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) is such a man, or rather, boy, as he is only seventeen when the war reaches Missouri. He is the son of a German immigrant, but instead of following his countrymen and becoming a Unionist, he joins his lifelong friend Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich) and rides with the bushwhackers. Despite a lack of acceptance because of his ancestry and an unwillingness to participate in the murder of unarmed Union men, he remains loyal to the cause. So does his friend Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright), a black slave freed by another bushwhacker and so fighting for the South.

Lee handles the subject with aplomb, never rushing the deep introspection that the plot demands in favour of action and this lends the film a sense of the reality of war - long periods of boredom and waiting interposed with occasional flashes of intensely terrifying fighting. The action is unglamorised and admirably candid, recognising that both sides committed a great number of atrocities.

The performances are superb, with Maguire and Wright both courageous and dignified. Up-and-coming Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is particularly chilling as a cold-blooded killer, while Skeet Ulrich is enjoyably suave and arrogant. Lee never flinches from the reality of war, but his actors do an admirable job of showing the good that comes from it - the growth of friendship, the demonstration of courage and, on a wider scale, the emancipation of oppressed peoples. Ride With the Devil is a beautiful and deeply compassionate film that regularly shocks but always moves the audience.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

5 November 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Civil War

Filming Locations:

Doniphan, Kansas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$38,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$64,159, 28 November 1999

Gross USA:

$635,096

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$635,096

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Good Machine

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min 148 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1