Wonderful character development!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Absolutely Fantastic

There was a General William Barksdale from Mississippi, who died at Gettysburg. I caught the cadet's last name, and wonder if it was a play on words, or was the young man his son? Anyone?

Beginning with 1931's "Arrowsmith" starring Ronald Colman, John Ford had more than his share of impressive directorial efforts. This was not one of them. Likewise, though John Wayne was a somewhat limited actor, what he specialized in he did extremely well (e.g., "Rio Bravo" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence"). Unfortunately, for both Ford and Wayne, this film was less than impressive.If I were to pick only one single problem with this film, that problem would be the horrible acting of Constance Towers. One of the worst performances I've ever seen. While she made a few films, she mostly became a television actress (and as of this writing is still alive at 82). Well, no thank you. Her performance in the early phases of the film -- playing the Southern belle -- actually made me giggle. And it wasn't supposed to. Better she ended up on soap operas on afternoon television.Personally, I think there's also a problem with John Wayne's role here. Not with his performance, but with the way the role was written. He seems -- especially in the early parts of the film -- to just be an ass. He seems to insult pretty much everyone, including a doctor who is just doing his job. There is, in my view, nothing admirable in this John Wayne character.When it comes to William Holden, whether I like him or not depends to a large extent on the individual film (although more often than not, I did like him). Here I like him very much in a performance that is, perhaps, a bit more nuanced than usual.And, despite some weaknesses, there are some strong points to this film. Perhaps the most emotional being the young students at the rebel academy being called to fight. It is reminiscent of a later sequence in the wonderful film "Dr. Zhivago", though here the results are not quite so tragic.The supporting actors here are not, in my view, particularly memorable, but they all do their jobs.Overall, this is a "decent" film, but it still falls short of the typical John Ford/John Wayne collaboration. Some of the location photography is quite good. To be fair, this genre doesn't usually hold my attention, but this film did. So while not great, I was going to give it a "7", the ending left me totally flat. Sorry, now we're down to a "6".

Incredibly lame, and not representative of the genius of John Ford. Very unrealistic and contrived. Just about everything is wrong, militarily. Subordinates question just about every order of their commanding officer, the CO gets drunk in the middle of a raid, US Grant gets called by his nickname by subordinates, after doing well to disguise their intentions the Union soldiers give it all away by showing the towns people the direction they are headed.Then there are the sappy sentimentality's that devalue the movie even more. The doctor who doesn't seem to realise there is a war on, the irritating Southern woman who is just there as a very contrived love interest (and who should have been shot as a spy), the successful attack by a regiment of kids.Add in a few overblown characters that are there just to represent the types of people who fought in the Civil war: eg the politician- officer.Usual one-dimensional swagger-filled performance from John Wayne. William Holden is incredibly irritating as the doctor. Even more irritating is Constance Towers as the Southern woman. Hardly a good performance in the whole movie.The saddest thing is that the movie is loosely based on a real event, the Grierson Raid. Though the characters and many details have been changed, this movie is an insult to the memories of the men who took part in that raid.

John Ford dismissed this movie but in vain, this is a very decent work, a very dynamic and even humorous take on Civil War. John Wayne did a very good job here as Colonel Marlowe, and his performance is very deep, convincing,often wild, often touching. This is not his best work, as say, in The Longest Day, but still, John did a very candid work in here. Another highlight is William Holden as a military medic Henry Kendall - his play here is one of the real crowning achievements of the whole movie. I was surprised to learn that John Ford somehow rued the work, as the movie is really very enjoyable, a good and healthy combination of war and romance, espionage and cowardice, hate and compassion. The battle scenes are incredibly fine, too, the Confederate Railroad station attack is deeply moving and worth Maxwell's grandeur. Watch this movie and you won't be really disappointed, this take on the War is good, honest and rather dry, but realistic