THE HORSE SOLDIERS Movie Review
1959 John Ford
This is the only feature-length film John Ford made about the Civil War, and it's far from his best work. Even so, it has some worthwhile moments and is based, however loosely, on two historical incidents, Grierson's Raid and the Battle of New Market.
As the story begins, Gen. Grant (Stan Jones) is unable to take Vicksburg because the Confederates have it so well defended. Col. John Marlowe (John Wayne) comes up with a plan to take a small brigade of cavalry from Tennessee, ride 300 miles into Confederate territory and destroy the railroad at Newton Station, Mississippi, thereby cutting the supply line to Vicksburg. To do it, he will have to avoid all contact with Rebel forces until he has reached his target.
The first problem Marlowe encounters is Maj. Hank Kendall (William Holden), a doctor who will be accompanying the force. For reasons that are explained late and unpersuasively, Marlowe hates doctors. His plans for taking care of the wounded are simple: “Those too badly shot up to carry on will be left to the clemency of the enemy, civilian or military.” The next problem is Marlowe's second in command, Col. Secord (Willis Bouchey), who makes no secret of his plans to use his military career to further his craven political ambitions. The third problem is Southern belle Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers). The Yankee soldiers stay at her plantation soon after they cross into the Confederacy. When she learns of Marlowe's plans, she must be taken along as a prisoner.
That's a tenuous premise for any film, particularly one made by Ford. Throughout his career, he was attracted to historical and military subjects, and he was cavalier about rewriting history to suit his dramatic purposes. Given a choice between shooting the truth and shooting the legend, he admitted that he always went for the legend. But this material is hardly legendary.
The conflict between the hard-headed Marlowe and the humanist Kendall seems particularly forced. Even when the cause of his dislike for physicians is revealed, Marlowe comes across as a dim-witted bully. Kendall is a much more sympathetic and moving character, and Holden is much more at ease with the role. In most of his confrontations with Marlowe, Kendall is placed in a secondary position—smaller, farther from the camera, to one side of the screen—but he still comes across as the wiser and more important of the two
The relationship between Marlowe and Hannah Hunter is equally unsatisfactory. They are meant to be another variation on the battling lovers Ford created in The Quiet Man, Donovan's Reef, and so many others, but the chemistry just isn't there. That cannot be blamed solely on the actors, though. They're saddled with one ludicrous moment after another. At their first dinner, for example, she passes him a platter of chicken. As she leans over, threatening to spill out of her plunging decolletage, she coos, “Oh come now, Colonel, a man with a great big frame like yours can't just nibble away like a little titmouse. Now what was your preference, the leg or the breast?” Yes, the scene is funny, but not the way Ford means it to be.
Ford handles the political issues even-handedly, though his treatment of black characters is patronizing, and casting track star Althea Gibson as Hannah's maid is blatant tokenism. The battle scenes, the destruction of the railroad, and the relatively realistic medical scenes are the best moments. As for the truth behind the fiction, Ford would have been well advised to stick closer to the facts. Marlowe is based on Col. Ben Grierson. He was a music teacher and bandmaster from Jacksonville, Illinois, who had “an acquired mistrust of horses dating back to a kick received from a pony in childhood, which smashed one of his cheekbones, split his forehead and left him scarred for life.” (The Civil War, Shelby Foote.)
His raid roughly followed the route Ford lays out in the film, covering more than 600 miles in 16 days. It was more successful than anyone could have imagined. He suffered only a handful of casualties while capturing and burning two locomotives and 36 freight cars, some containing artillery ammunition. At Newton Station, his men ripped up miles of track and cross ties, burned trestles and bridges, tore down telegraph wires, and burned a small building filled with small arms and new uniforms—all in about two hours. During their retreat, the Union forces burned two more trains, which ignited nearby buildings. In both cases, the soldiers helped the Southern townspeople put out the fires.
Late in the film, young cadets from a military school attack the raiders who turn and run, but not before they spank some of the adolescents. Apparently, that is based on the participation of Virginia Military Institute cadets at the battle of New Market, where they fought bravely and won, suffering considerable casualties against a much larger Union force.
Cast: John Wayne (Col. John Marlowe), William Holden (Maj. Hank Kendall), Hoot Gibson (Brown), Constance Towers (Hannah Hunter), Russell Simpson (Sheriff Henry Goodbody), Strother Martin (Virgil), Anna Lee (Mrs. Buford), Judson Pratt (Sgt. Maj. Kirby), Denver Pyle (Jagger Jo), Jack Pennick (Sgt. Maj. Mitchell), Althea Gibson (Lukey), William Forrest (Gen. Hurlbut), Willis Bouchey (Col. Phil Secord), Bing Russell (Dunker), Ken Curtis (Wilkie), O.Z. Whitehead (Otis “Happy” Hopkins), Walter Reed (Union officer), Hank Worden (Deacon Clump), Carleton Young (Col. Jonathan Miles), Cliff Lyons (Sergeant), Stan Jones (Gen. Grant); Written by: John Lee Mahin, Martin Rackin; Cinematography by: William Clothier; Music by: David Buttolph. Producer: Martin Rackin, John Lee Mahin, United Artists. Running Time: 114 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, Closed Caption.