Civil War Westerns- Worth Fighting For?

[lzcutter]

Again, per StJohnry's idea, a thread on Civil War Westerns. Why? Because they are a different breed of western. Not all westerns take place in the West.

 

Some of my faves:

 

1) Shenandoah with Jimmy Stewart

 

2) The Horse Soldiers with John Wayne

 

I've got more but what are yours?

[movieman1957]

1) *Glory.* A terrific film but not one that I watch that much. It is tough to see.

 

2) *Friendly Persuasion.*

 

3) *The Red badge of Courage.*

[mrroberts]

May I include Alvarez Kelly, with William Holden and Richard Widmark?

[MissGoddess]

1. Gone with the Wind

2. The Horse Soldiers

3. Friendly Persuasion

4. Shenandoah

5. Escape from Fort Bravo

6. The Raid (1954 - Van Heflin)

7. Drango

 

Chris---What? No Operator 13 on your list?

[movieman1957]

>Chris---What? No Operator 13 on your list?

 

Darn. Forgot it already.

[stjohnrv]

well all of the movies on the previous lists would be on mine as well, here a few more:

 

1--Gettysburg-- SAM Elliot and thousands of terrific re-en actors

2-Andersonville-gruesome stuffl but worth a watch

3-Major Dundee- Chuck`s tall in the saddle, James Coburn, Richard Harris

4-Ride with the Devil- Toby McGuire the bloody Kansas Missouri border

5-the Jayhawkers- Jeff Chandler, Fess Parker more kansas Missouri mayhem

6-Dark command- The Duke, Walter Pigeon, more Quantrill type action

7-Gods and Generals- if you can get by the constant preaching by Stonewall this is a good one

8-Blue and the Gray- i have never seen this one buts on my wish list

9-North and the South- saw it years ago & enjoyed it, its on my wish list

10-Sante Fe trail- Errol & Ronnie chasing down Raymond massey's John Brown, good one

11- The Undefeated- The Duke & Rock Hudson

12-Vera Cruz- Coop & Burt in Maximilians Mexico

 

Edited by: stjohnrv on Nov 23, 2009 5:06 PM

[pandorainmay]

A very interesting topic. I'll suggest this one added to the list:

 

*Rocky Mountain* (1950-William Keighley): Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore. A band of Confederates are sent to California to assist Southern sympathizers in the Golden State in fomenting rebellion against the Union. Interesting for Flynn's subdued tone and the elegiac feel of this surprisingly realistic Western, inspired by fact.

 

Good story by Alan Le May.

[cigarjoe]

1. The Good The Bad & The Ugly

2. The Great Locomotive Chase

3. Shenandoah

[pandorainmay]

*Hangman's Knot* (1952-Roy Huggins): Randolph Scott, Donna Reed. Interesting story of Confederates whose mission to capture gold from Union soldiers is complicated when they learn that the war ended a month before. Not a perfect film, but it conveys the chaos surrounding the end of a devastating war rather well on a small scale. Very good supporting cast, with particularly good work by Claude Jarman, Jr. and Frank Faylen.

 

*Belle Starr* (1941-Irving Cummings) Gene Tierney, Randolph Scott, Dana Andrews. The loss of family land to the Yankees and the death of family members helps to turn Gene Tierney (playing Scarlett-lite) into a renegade, refusing to recognize the end of the Civil War while helping her hubby, the Confederate guerilla, Sam Starr. The racism within this movie is mind boggling, though Gene is always alluring, especially when she had one of her few chances to play such conflicted characters.

 

If anyone is interested in an excellent study of the Civil War on film in general, you might like historian's Bruce Chadwick's *"The Reel Civil War: Mythmaking in American Film"*, which examines the reasons why the war remained such a potent subject well into the 20th century.

[ken12]

Shenandoah starring Jimmy Stewart as a Virginia farmer who opposes the War because he doesnt believe in slavery. Glenn Corbitt, Paul Fix, Doug McClure, Pat Wayne, James Best. Andrew McLaglen directed in the John Ford style.

[cinemafan]

This is a good idea, narrowing down the "westerns". Even I can think of

one right now - maybe even more later.

 

*Count Three and Pray* - with Van Heflin and Joanne Woodward. I've seen this twice in the past year. It's really a post Civil War story. Van returns home to the South after serving in the Union Army, to find his house occupied by raggamuffin Joanne Woodward.

[cigarjoe]

Sam Fuller's *Run of the Arrow* starts off At the end of the Civil War maybe fifteen minutes of it takes place in 1865.

[HollywoodGolightly]

I guess most of the good ones have already been mentioned. My personal favorites would include The Good the Bad and the Ugly and also the Civil War segment of How the West Was Won (but my apologies if the idea of the thread is to name movies that are entirely devoted to or set during the Civil War).

[stjohnrv]

Run of the Arrow... Rod Steiger.. reb fires last shot in CW saves the Yank digs out the bullet goes west and years later shots the same Yank with the recycled slug.. this the one?

[cigarjoe]

> {quote:title=stjohnrv wrote:}{quote}

> Run of the Arrow... Rod Steiger.. reb fires last shot in CW saves the Yank digs out the bullet goes west and years later shots the same Yank with the recycled slug.. this the one?

 

Yea that's it, Brian Kieth and I think Ralph Meeker are in it too.