Absolutely Fantastic

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

I hated this awful mess of a movie. Mind you again, I like US Civil War Movies a lot and think I have watched them all. Almost all. So, this one is based on a real event of 1864, the premise is cool, actors, Mr. Holden as a main one, are great, the scenery is nice, and yeah there are many beautiful ladies in the plot. What can possibly go wrong? Well, everything. The pace, the tone, the mood, the setting, even the dialogues - all seem to be as odd as oil on vinegar all mixed with water and mercury. The plot is OK, but very quickly loses its momentum and gains only laughable predictability and sheer "Have I seen this before" feeling. Yeah, it reminds all the previously seen films and smack strongly of a half-baked second-rate raw pancake. What is worse, this war movie does not convince. It does not deliver a message or a moral, it only crawls along like a wounded cow (pun intended) and leaves a trail of stench boredom. Yawn. Rating - zero

I have just watched this movie on Spain's Canal Sur, in Spanish, which probably did not make much difference, as the Spaniards are wizards at dubbing, and the main character in any case is an Irish-Mexican. In addition, I avoided by this means Widmark's Southern drawl, said by those better qualified to judge than myself to be hilariously bogus. When I have seen him in films with English dialogue including Westerns, he has always sounded very urban to me, probably hailing from some part of New York and I have never noticed that he has attempted to change his accent before. So this was probably an isolated attempt that didn't work out. He is, nonetheless, an excellent actor, and we must recall that even our late great Sir John Gielgud made a terrible hash of this too, on the very rare occasions he was induced to speak with a different accent from his plum-in-the mouth, silver tones.If you are looking for a Western of the inferior spaghetti type (I do not include Sergio Leone in that description), with non-stop violence and a corpse a minute, be sure to give this one a miss! Although a war film, its mood for the greater part of the footage is great calm, but a calm fraught with tensions. It takes at least three quarters of an hour for the first death to occur (unless there was a fatality at the Alvarez hacienda in the first few seconds, which I happened to miss, and that is unlikely). And immediately after this fatality, a party of Blues capture a party of Greys, who with hardly a pause turn the tables on the former, but without causing any further losses to either side or even anybody getting wounded. The development of the plot is mainly without physical action, so that I must admit it does tend to drag at times. The main protagonists quietly and stealthily pitch their wits against each other: that is why the incident of the severed finger(already mentioned on the general introduction page) comes as such a brutal shock. But the true nature of war, including the American Civil War, is like that: much manoeuvring (Am. maneuvering) without very much happening for most of the time, interrupted by sporadic, sudden flare-ups.The main characters are well-drawn with many quirks and foibles and there is much humour in their interaction and the awkward situations they find themselves in. A good example of this is the frustration of Widmark, the one-eyed Confederate colonel, who with the reluctant help of the devious civilian,but pro tem acting colonel, Holden, tries to turn the dude grey-coated soldiers into competent cow-hands. Both Widmark and Holden take turns in being the butt of the various ironies, but the stiff-necked, self-opiniated and bumbling Union major played by O'Neill, is the object of such ironies for most of his on-screen time, including from his commanding officer.The photography is good, the scenery (supposed to be Virginian although the film was said to be shot in Louisiana) is very beautiful, and the costumery and indoor décor quite colourful and well-researched. The women,however, are rather insipid, especially when compared to those belles in a similar situation in the Wayne-Holden opus "The Horse Soldiers", not to mention the vivacious Vivienne Leigh in "Gone with the Wind", though that is an unfair comparison. Not a movie,then, for those Western fans who like fast action. But, if you are patient enough, there is a terrific finale with a battle, which (to avoid giving too much away), is very reminiscent of a scene from "How the West was Won" which also involved Richard Widmark and, now I come to think of it, also of a sequence in "The Wild Bunch", starring Holden.Although I had already been around for some time when this film first came out, I had hitherto never seen it or even heard of it, despite the fact that I am quite fond of good Westerns, a fan of both the main actors, and have have often been impressed by O'Neill too. I can only imagine that this occurred because it proved a commercial flop, by reason of the faults above-mentioned, and was shelved. It had never been shown before on the channel where I saw it, and there is little that they do not repeat again and again and again.

This is a peculiar western turned American Civil War film. William Holden is Alverez Kelly, a citizen of Mexico of Irish ancestry, and a gentleman cattle herd leader. He has, we learn, had involvement with the U.S. before 1861 - 64. His father, the owner of a large estate in Mexico, was killed in the "Mexican War" (Holden says it has a different name in Mexico) by American troops, some of whom are now Confederates. But he is totally uninterested in the results of the war: he is a foreign citizen intent to sell cattle to the best payer. This means, however, that he has to deal with the Union more than the South (at one point he is asked if he doubts the value of Confederate currency, and starts telling the Confederate Secretary of War what one could do now with Confederate currency). It is Holden's fortune that he gets a Union Army contract for 4500 steers that it takes him three months to bring up from Mexico. Unfortunately he is met by Major Steadmen (Patrick O'Neill) at the point where Holden felt he was supposed to deliver. Steadman is one of the most obnoxious men one can mingle with. A citizen of Boston, he was a lawyer before the war. He prides himself on being able to manipulate people by his brains (an example I will give in a moment). He drew up the contract, and in very fine print (he does apologize for it's tiny size), he had a clause added that the commanding General in the area that needs the meat can insist it be delivered there before payment. That is General Grant: the cattle have to be brought to Richmond.Holden has no choice, but he will be paid. Unfortunately this leads to a 1,400 mile railway trip from Texas through the Midwest to Maryland and into Virginia - accompanied by Steadman. Earlier we saw Steadman as a stiff type - he had to wait an additional ten days for Kelly to appear at the point Kelly thought was delivery point, and does not like being kept waiting (even though the army would have been footing his bill in the border town). But on the ride he tells Kelly his "war stories" about being a lawyer in Massachusetts. The one we hear the great tail end of is about how he trumped a judge on a legal point in a case by use of a writ of certiorari (this legal document demands to know from the judge what is the statutory power the judge is using that is the grounds for his decision). I'm sure that most people would love to hear this type of story....I'd love to know who the Masssachusetts Judge was. Hopefully, for Steadman's career sake, it was not Lemuel Shaw, the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, a man of formidable mind and presence. He looks it from his photos. He was also the father-in-law of a one time sailor and writer, later a customs house man named Herman Melville. Shaw, had he been embarrassed by some idiotic glory seeking lawyer would have swallowed and remembered the idiot. And the idiot would have paid in the long-run throughout Massachusetts' court system.The cattle are delivered at a plantation now in Union hands outside Richmond. But after Kelly is paid, he becomes a target of southerners led by Colonel Tom Rossiter (Richard Widmark). Rossiter sees all that wonderful meat nearby and wants it for the folks in Richmond and for Lee's forces. So he kidnaps Kelly (with the help of the plantation owner Charity Warwick (Victoria Shaw)), and Kelly soon is in Richmond being offered a chance to do the Confederacy a small aid by stealing the herd back. Rossiter is no sweet guy, but a genuine patriot who has already sacrificed an eye for the Confederacy.* He uses methods as vile in their way as Steadman's (including intentional minor maiming) to force Kelly to help him. The interest in the film really centers on the mental warfare between Rossiter and Kelly, as each tries to see how far they can force the other back on track or off track. For Kelly sees that Rossiter's plan is a desperate last chance - and a long shot that he has no real concern about.(*There actually was a noted Confederate Cavalry leader, General Thomas Rosser, who survived the war in tact and ended his career as an engineer on U.S. and Canadian railways. His last military action was in 1876 - he heard his pal George Custer (army differences forgiven) was killed at Little Big Horn. Rosser took leave from his job to join the U.S. forces seeking Crazy Horse's army)The film is well acted and plotted actually - far better than other mad last gasp Confederate tales are (witness VIRGINIA CITY). Kelly finds a way to avenge his maiming through an act of kindness to Elizabeth Pickering (Janice Rule) Rossiter's fiancé. But in the end he is the one who wins - by getting the cattle to the right place, and finding out his own finer senses.Also note the performances of two favorite character actors from television (usually), Howard Caine and Roger C. Carmel. Caine (best recalled as the nasty S.S. Major Hochstadter on HOGAN'S HEROS) is a northern spy who gets most of the cards in his hands, and deals the wrong answer out. Carmel (best recalled for his role as Kay Ballard's husband on THE MOTHERS - IN - LAW, or as Harry Mudd on STAR TREK) is Captain Fergusson, a clever Scotish Blockade Runner (for profit of course - like Rhett Butler was too). Both help enliven an above average adventure flick.

This film is a real, merit-less time-waster. Wm. Holden (passed away drunk, how un-Christian-like) is too old for the role that should have gone to an athletic actor twenty years younger, although the crafty producers got their money's worth action-wise from the old man, considering Holden was an alcoholic and chain smoker! Widmark is all over the map playing a non-Christian Confederate soldier something or other, but I did enjoy O'Neal as the Union Capt., or is it Sgt? Anyways, the film drags until the rousing climax, at which point I thought another movie had come on. The writing could have presented a clearer story about the moral God (good) versus the Devil (impure) conflict inherent in a nation when it goes to war against itself, but that worthy idea is never fleshed out.