ThiefHott Too much of everything

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

adrian-43767 HORSE SOLDIERS is full of director Ford's touches but it does not gel. Wayne was never a first class actor, and he is quite unmemorable here (all the surrounding action distracts one from his performance) , and in the process also manages to reduce the performance of the immensely more gifted William Holden.I am not American, but I have always loved the American cinema and culture. By all accounts, including Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH THE WIND, the Union troops were nowhere near as chivalrous as they are portrayed in this movie. Moreover, a would-be confederate spy like the woman played by Constance Towers, would probably have been killed the moment Holden informs Wayne of her eavesdropping. Certainly, Union troops on a guerrilla raid would not want their movements slowed down by a woman who would tell on them at the first opportunity.So, to my great disappointment, I could not believe any part of this film, and it one of Ford's worst works by far.

calvinnme Made in the period between two John Ford masterpieces, The Searchers and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", it lacks the completeness of both as well as that wonderful, overarching grandness of a larger theme that enriches Ford's finest efforts. I think this movie works in many of its parts, even if the sum is less than we've come to expect from the director. The "Horse Soldiers" of the title are a Union cavalry company under command of Col. John Marlowe (John Wayne) who have to venture deep into southern territory to cut off confederate supply lines. Since they are our titular characters and because of the traditional slant of history on the war between the states, we would assume all our sympathies are supposed to be with the boys in blue. But Ford, a lifelong student of civil war history and a Yankee married to a flower of the southern aristocracy, does not ever really give either side the satisfaction of triumph (there are no decisively won battles in the film, only skirmishes and constant fight-and-flight) because he knows that there is no real victory in systematic destruction. Defeat, as usual in Ford films, is where more richness is to be found and by putting the Union army inside southern territory potential for casualties both mortal and moral is escalated. Neither side emerges unsoiled by their descent into what Col. Marlowe calls "this insanity". Southerners are often depicted as alternating clowns and gallant heroes; genteel (Russell Simpson) and degenerate (Strother Martin & Denver Pyle); compassionate and sadistic. The Union soldiers under Marlowe's command are a ragtag bunch, some out for personal glory (the politician, played brilliantly by Willis Bouchey who seemed made for such roles); misfits that found themselves in uniform while doing what comes most naturally to them: wreaking violence and killing (Judson Pratt);ordinary men who will do whatever their fellows do and will follow most anyone who leads; and Bill Holden's doctor - doctors being a tribe hated by Marlowe because of his own wife's death at their hands. Holden was perfect for the part of Dr. Kendall. No one may have played cynical like Holden and he does it well for the entire film.John Wayne's Col. Marlowe has to keep this disparate bunch in line, deal with his own disgust at being forced to destroy what he spent his whole life building up (the railroad--and by extension, his country)and on top of everything, he has to escort a most unwilling and uncooperative enemy lady and her servant. Needless to say, Marlowe has enormous pressures to pursue his objective, keep his temper and above all, keep these people alive. This tension fills the movie and along with the constant movement, keeps it from ever being static. This film is somewhat long but it moves. Nobody in the company likes Col. Marlowe much at all until deeper into the film when both Hannah and Holden's Dr. Kendall come to appreciate him and his paradoxes in their respective ways.

TheLittleSongbird John Ford was a truly great director, even one of the finest, where even minor or lesser works still had interest value and were much better than a lot of directors at their best. While whether John Wayne was a great actor or not has always divided people, he was definitely a great star and very charismatic.'The Horse Soldiers' is not their best collaboration, my personal favourite is 'The Searchers' and not quite among their best. This said it is very hard to say that, because they made so many great films together, and their best efforts being masterpieces. In no way though is that knocking the quality of 'The Horse Soldiers', because regardless of any inaccuracies it is stirring enough, often the very meaning of epic and while very fondly remembered here it deserves to be better known and it is quite a shame that apparently it wasn't particularly well-liked on release.It isn't perfect by all means, at least to me. Constance Towers is radiant and the chemistry with her fellow actors is good, but she does have a tendency to overplay the feistiness so the character can come over as irritating. The romantic elements weren't as interesting as the rest of the film and elements, and felt shoe-horned in, and while almost all the music is sensational the opening song is an ill-fit, both in the context of the film and doesn't come over as a particularly great film now.However, 'The Horse Soldiers' is a visual wonder. Throughout there is stunning use of landscape and even more stunning cinematography that make for so many striking, rousing and sometimes poetic images. Ford's direction is exemplary and a strong example as to what made him so revered as a director. David Buttolph's music score couldn't have been more superbly fitting, and it is an absolutely outstanding music score in its own right with rousing and affecting use of army choruses that capture the film's mood wonderfully.Scripting is literate and thoughtful, if occasionally a little talky, and dramatically 'The Horse Soldiers' is convincing and the characters are ones that are developed nicely and ones that are easy to care for. Seeing Wayne and William Holden together is particularly well-realised, their contrasting personalities are incredibly interesting, when it could easily have been an awkward mismatch, and adding a nostalgic value. The story, not a western despite being what Ford and Wayne were particularly famous for, rarely feels dull and has enough marvellous set pieces and emotional impact to satisfy. The most memorable sequence is the one with the southern military cadets laying down their young lives on order. The whole ending is powerful and very poignant.Wayne is very charismatic in his role, but brings more than just that and star power, there is also complexity and nuance. Holden is more subdued than usual, and while not one of his best performances it is a suitably nuanced turn that fits the character perfectly and makes him mesh well with everything else. Towers aside, the rest of the cast are fine though some Ford regulars are sadly missed.Overall, a stirring, underrated and very watchable epic, even if there are better Wayne/Ford collaborations around. 8/10 Bethany Cox

vincentlynch-moonoi 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".