Jeff (actionrating.com) See it - William Holden plays his trademark role as a smooth-talking womanizer caught in a war he doesn't want to be a part of. He's a rich cattle driver in the Civil War looking to sell his horses to the highest bidder. Richard Widmark plays the eyepatch-wearing Confederate villain. Some might say these two actors can't carry a movie by themselves, but together they are fantastic. The script in this movie is surprisingly sharp and smart. This is rare for a western. The dialogue is very witty and actually pretty funny at times. The movie has also aged very well, meaning that it is still relevant and doesn't have that "old" feel to it. For example, the things that are supposed to be funny are funny, etc. The only problem with this movie is that there's not much action until the end. This is easily forgivable because of the good story. After seeing the movie, I immediately compared it to Horse Soldiers, which Holden co-starred in with the Duke. Worth seeing once. 2 out of 5 action rating

whitec-3 Most reviews here range from mixed to egregious. Except for a few shocking holes in the script and underproduced scenes (e.g. the Confederate ambush at the apple cellar and Stedman's escape with Ruthie and her subsequent death), just like a kid at the movies I felt swept up in the film's patched-together, on-with-the-show spirit. Given the production's reliance on a cattle herd as its main prop and the health problems of its aging stars, much credit goes to the film's editors. Plus one must bow to the astonishing gift of William Holden, reportedly a wreck throughout the making, but managing his horse like a pro and looking like a man you or any woman would keep giving another chance. Overall this film probably represents a pathetic last gasp of the studio system whose problems are worthy of dismay, but once again that studio system produced a work that soldiers on to some kind of colorful, noisy, almost dignified end.

theowinthrop 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.

Psalm 52 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.