The Horse Soldiers
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Actor: Constance Towers, Hoot Gibson, John Wayne, Judson Pratt, William HoldenBrand: WAYNE,JOHN
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of The Horse Soldiers
DVD Review: Great Western
Summary: 5 Stars
At the time that "The Horse Soldiers" (1959) was made, co-stars John Wayne and Richard Widmark, were the #1 and #2 top box office stars, and director John Ford had already made such memorable films as "Stagecoach" (1939), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), and (my personal favorite) "The Searchers" (1956) and Ford had already won 4 Oscars ("The Quiet Man", "How Green was My Valley", "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Informer"), been nominated for "Stagecoach" (he lost to Victor Fleming for "GWTW"), had 3 DGA nominations with 1 win ("The Quiet Man") and 4 wins by the New York Film Critics.
(Interestingly enough John Ford never won a major award for a western, even though he once described himself simply as "I make westerns".)
"Horse Soldiers" tells the true story of Grierson's Raid in which a Union Colonel (Wayne) led 1700 cavalrymen across 600 miles in Confederate territory to disrupt railroad service to reinforce Vicksburg that was under siege. This action set the stage for the Union victory at Vicksburg and, some would say, the ultimate victory in the Civil War. Much of the film's military information is reasonably accurate, although Wayne's character had been a music teacher and not a railroad man as stated in the film.
John Wayne stars as the Union Colonel. Ford and Wayne worked together on 21 films, one of the most prodigious collaborations in film history. Their best work includes "The Quiet Man", "Stagecoach", and "The Searchers", all of which became film classics and top 100 AFI films. Wayne was twice nominated for an Oscar ("Sands of Iwo Jima" in 1949 and "True Grit" in 1969), and once as a producer ("The Alamo" in 1960). Though his best performances were under Ford's direction, he did perform well in a number of his other 140+ films, notably "The High and the Mighty" (1954), "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949), and "The Sons of Katie Elder" (1965). He gives his usual strong performance in this film, and one scenein particular will stand out where Wayne talks about the death of his wife.
"Horse Soldiers" is not in the top tier of Wayne/Ford collaborations, but it clearly leads the second tier and is far superior to films such as "Donovan's Reef" (1963), "The Wings of Eagles" (1957), "Rio Grande" (1950), "3 Godfathers" (1948), and "They Were Expendable" (1945).
William Holden co-stars as a Union physician sent to patch up the inevitable casualties that Wayne's troop will encounter. This was Holden's first and only film with Ford. Holden was a terrific actor, with such memorable performances as writer Joe Gillis in "Sunset Blvd" (1950), Sergeant Sefton in "Stalag 17" (1953), Lt. Brubaker in "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" (1954), Hal Carter in "Picnic" (1955), Shears in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1967), Max Schumacher in "Network" (1976) and my personal favorite, Bishop Pike in "The Wild Bunch" (1969). He won the Oscar for "Stalag 17" and was nominated for "Network" and "Sunset Blvd". He won an Emmy for "The Blue Knight" (1973) and was nominated for a Golden Laurel every year from 1958 through 1964. Photoplay named him most popular male star in 1954 and 1955. AFI named him the 25th greatest screen legend. For his work on "Horse Soldiers" he received $775,000 plus 20% of the profits, the highest figure up until that date given to a film star.
The chemistry between Holden and Wayne is magical, enhanced in part by the fact that they were good friends as well as box office rivals in the 50s.
Constance Towers plays the female lead, a southern Belle who refuses to be cowered by the formidable Colonel. Towers was primarily a TV actress and is best known for her role as Helena Cassadine in "General Hospital". She worked with Ford on "Horse Soldiers" and again on "Sergeant Rutledge" (1960), but gravitated to TV. Though some critics didn't value her quirky performance, I thought she did a good job and showed the ambivalence in her feelings of admiration for the Union soldiers even while she hoped for their defeat.
Look for 67 year old Hoot Gibson in his last film appearance as Sgt Brown. Gibson appeared in more than 200 films and was one of the biggest silent film stars, where he made a number of films with young John Ford - "Cheyenne's Pal" (1917), "Rustlers" (1919) and "Action" (1921), the later was remade as "3 Godfathers" and co-starred John Wayne with Harry Carry Jr. whose father appeared in the 1921 version.
The film was shot in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, since it takes place in the South. Ford fans will miss Utah's Monument Valley which was the setting for 9 Ford films including "Stagecoach", "Fort Apache", and "The Searchers". William Clothier is the cinematographer. Clothier and Wayne worked together on 21 films, and with John Ford they worked on 4 films - "Fort Apache" (1948), "The Horse Soldiers" (1959), "Liberty Valance" (1962), and "Donovan's Reef" (1963). Clothier was nominated for two Oscars - "The Alamo" (1960) and "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964). Clothier's motto was "anything for a shot" and those low angle shots where the cavalry horses ride over the cameraman was one of his trademarks. Clothier is at his best in "Horse Soldiers" and the cavalry scenes are memorable. Also memorable is the fight in the city, which prefigures some of the modern photographic techniques used in films such as "Black Hawk Down."
"Horse Soldiers" includes a few of Ford's stock company regulars, like Ken Curtis (he played Charley McCorry in "The Searchers"), Willis Bouchey (the newspaper man in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"), Anna Lee (played the insane Mrs. Malaprop in "Two Rode Together"), and Hank Worden (played ol' Mose in "The Searchers"). But he was missing Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Olive Carry (Harry's mom, who played Mrs. Jorgensen in "The Searchers"), John Qualen (played Lars Jorgensen in "The Searchers"), Andy Devine (driver in "Stagecoach" ), Woody Strode ("Sergeant Rutledge" in 1960), Victor McLaglen (he died in 1959), and Ward Bond (he died in 1960).
This is the first time the great character actor Strother Martin appeared in a Ford film. Ford used him again in "The Deadly Companions" (1961), and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962), although I remember Martin best for his role as one of the bounty hunters in Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969).
This film has many key Ford elements. We see the dynamic rivalry between the male leads (see John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter in "The Searchers", John Wayne and Henry Fonda in "Fort Apache", John Wayne and Victor McLaglen in "The Quiet Man"), the importance of family (e.g., the Southern belle's slave - played by Tennis star Althea Gibson - insists on accompanying her despite the obvious dangers, a mother rescues her young son from a troop of cadets who, improbably, go to fight the invading Yankees), and Ford's wonderful camera work, not only in the medium shot but in the action sequences. It's rarely mentioned, but Ford was a master at capturing the dynamism of horse soldiers in action, and this film provides one of his best examples.
The film was a commercial and critical success. Ford was nominated for an Oscar and the film earned $3.6 million in its first year. But it's not his best work, and it's possible to examine some of the reasons for this. First, the film's star makes no sacrifice for his beliefs.
- Wayne's boxer in "The Quiet Man" must give up his vow to fight in order to win the heart of the woman he loves (Maureen O'Hara, and who wouldn't love her).
- Uncle Ethan must give up his secret plan to kill Natalie Wood in "The Searchers" and decide to return her to the bosom of her family.
- Captain Brittles in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" must accept his age and decline to go on "one last mission", choosing instead to retire gracefully (another example of Wayne's acting skills).
In these mythic westerns, events change even the firmest beliefs of the main protagonist. But in "Horse Soldiers" Wayne is pretty much the macho Colonel he starts off as, which is perfectly acceptable for almost any film, but it won't earn you mythic status.
Another missing element is the family focus. Although there are examples of family loyalty, pointed out earlier, the family is not the focus of the film, as it is in such classics as "The Quiet Man", "How Green Was My Valley", and "The Searchers". Even in some of his cavalry films (e.g., "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", "Rio Grande") Ford presents the troop as the family. The strength of the family against the harsh reality of the world was one of Ford's strengths and one of the building blocks of his mythic films.
Not being one of the top westerns ever made still qualifies "Horse Soldiers" for being the excellent film it is.The film will appeal to Ford fans and to any lovers of a good Western.
Description of The Horse Soldiers
John Wayne is pitted against William Holden in the chaos of the War Between the States.Genre: Westerns
Rating: NR
Release Date: 18-DEC-2001
Media Type: DVD
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