2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. William Holden plays the livestock businessman while Richard Widmark and Patrick O'Neal play opposing Confederate/Union officers. 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. When a confederate . [2], The film was generally well received by critics. This film fits within that genre - both as a "civil war" film, which is also a bit of a "western", considering the cattle-rustling angle. Richard Rust Sgt. The two men do not get along. Sometimes you have to be gentle. Mexican cattleman Alvarez Kelly (William Holden) is delivering a herd of cattle to the Union under Major Albert Stedman (Patrick O'Neal)'s directions. Lincoln called the real Beefsteak Raid that inspired the generously embellished film the slickest piece of cattle-stealing he ever heard of, while the narrator coyly notes that Ulysses S. Grants cruder reaction was unquotable. Besides being a neat piece of grand theft bovine, the affair involved painstaking long-range cattle driving by both sides, and so the film mingles elements of multiple genres including war, heist, melodrama and Western (though the action is confined to the Middle Atlantic states) and is a fine entry in the subgenre of cattle driving films. This is a true story of the civil war. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. William Holden, Richard Widmark, Janice Rule, Patrick O'Neal, Harry Carey Jr., Victoria Shaw, Roger C. Carmel, Indus Arthur; D: Edward Dmytryk; W: Elliott Arnold, Franklin Coen; C: Joe MacDonald; M: Johnny Green. Outdoor action sequences, including an exciting stampede, enliven a tame script, routinely directed and performed erratically. ." William Holden Alvarez Kelly Not filmed in Virginia, but I am from near Richmond and played as a child on some of the land the actual raid crossed over and it has the same feel. PrisonerofWar Camps, Civil War. . Encyclopedia.com. Kelly is "persuaded" to help shanghai and deliver the stolen herd to Richmond. 'Alvarez Kelly' did have things going for it. Kelly first teaches Rossiter's men how to drive cattle. Directors Dmytryk,Edward Starring William Holden, Richard Widmark, Janice Rule Genres Western Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English The film was based on the real-life Beefsteak Raid of September 1864. Based on a true US Civil War incident, Alvarez Kelly concerns successful cattle grab engineered by Southern forces and executed under the noses of Northern troops. Towers Hatcher and Don Red Barry as Lt. Farrow, catching their first glimpse of the herd in Alvarez Kelly (1966), Patrick ONeal as Maj. Albert Steadman, concerned someone is out to steal his herd of cattle in Alvarez Kelly (1966), Alvarez Kelly: Make jokes, Steadman, about the war, about God and about me. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Director Edward Dmytryk has achieved uneven response from his players, in part due to scripting which overdevelops some characters and situations, and underdevelops others. To succeed against increasing competition from the new medium of television, movies of that era depended largely on widescreen photography, epic action scenes and a good dose of sexual innuendo. But William Holden?! It was made when the Old Hollywood was Dying and this Dud was released during the Death March of the Studio System. Before 1861, Americans had never had to face the problem of internment of large numbers of captured enemy soldiers., The American historian, author, and educator William Archibald Dunning (1857-1922) was an authority on the Civil War and Reconstruction periods and a, McClellan, George B. The heroes, or antiheroes, of both films pursue selfish pecuniary ventures as a conscious alternative to becoming committed in a pointless destructive war".[5]. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alvarez_Kelly&oldid=1124196543, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 November 2022, at 20:20. The real lvarez-Beln family used the traumatic event to shape the rest of their lives in service of others as a way to honor those that did not manage to survive. [4], Author John H. Lenihan compares the film to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, in that both films "offer no consolation in their vivid deglamorization of war. The Confederacy desperately needs the beef to feed its soldiers besieged in Richmond. He certainly does not favor his Mexican side. But after a long drive to deliver cattle to the Union he finds himself kidnapped by Confederate Colonel Tom Rossiter. It starred William Holden and Richard Widmark. Holden, well removed by decades of hard living from his baby-faced Golden Boy breakout, has real gravity here, presaging his weathered Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch (1969) but with a romantic, even sexy charisma in his scenes with Rule and Victoria Shaw as a two-faced plantation widow. 2 out of 5 action rating. That brings the quote listed in my summary to bear. Outdoor action sequences . Kelly is "persuaded" (after having one of his fingers shot off by Rossiter) to help steal the herd. Don Red Barry Lt. Farrow The 1960s Western holds a unique place in the history of American cinema. At least, the velvety smooth Holden voice is pleasing. Despite the hatred between the two men, they manage to work together. Because it is about showing the confrontations between the northerners and the Confederates who are fighting over a herd of cows that will be used to feed a regiment on one side and a besieged city on the other. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. pt:Alvarez Kelly. Meanwhile, Widmarks otherwise solid performance is marred by a phony southern accent he cant quite pull off. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. The forgotten weapon is.. Food. Even though it is a Civil War tale, loosely based on the "Great Beefsteak Raid" that Confederate cavalry carried out near Richmond in 1864, its genre is pure Western. Franklin Coen and Elliott Arnold scripted Coens story, which pits Mexican-Irish William Holden (hence, the title) against Confederate officer Richard Widmark, eyeing Holdens cattle as food for a starving South. Even though I would realistically find myself on the side of the Union, I couldn't help but enjoy the irony of this lively "southern" (which I have stashed in my western collection) that finds two adversaries, William Holden and Richard Widmark, working together to steal cattle from General Grant's troops to deliver to the South. The picture was based on the historic Beefsteak Raid of September 1864 led by Confederate Major General Wade Hampton III . This leads to a nice little adventurous Journey with lots of action and plenty of comical moments as well, giving them a little bit of romance with Janice Rule and Victoria Shaw before dealing with sneaking hundreds of cows across the enemy's line. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"jGJBuHPC3Yr9anBrELYopsigZdOOU2D7l1cVUk1zmCY-86400-0"}; and often beautiful, open American terrain (cinematographer Joseph MacDonald captured Alvarez Kellys landscapes in Pathcolor in Baton Rouge) makes for readily compelling cinema. In addition, I avoided by this means Widmark's Southern drawl, said by those better qualified to judge than myself to be hilariously bogus. It's 1864. Set during the Civil War, Alvarez Kelly stars William Holden and Richard Widmark in a tale based on the historic Beefsteak Raid of September 1864, led by Confederate Major General Wade Hampton III. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. Plot [ edit] Richard Widmark plays the eyepatch-wearing Confederate villain. VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever. Aided by the traditional women in the midst of men intent on double-crossing each other, a fierce hatred develops between the two, erupting into violence. Arthur Franz as Capt. Description This is the story of a renegade adventurer, ALVAREZ KELLY (William Holden), who gets caught in the middle of the Civil War. An illustration of an open book. Peterson Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. To facilitate the haul, patrician Bostoner Major Steadman (Patrick ONeal) enlists the eponymous cowboy-adventurer (William Holden), a Mexican national with no partisan sympathies except to what are accurately summarized by Steadman as his three deitiesmoney, whisky and women. Rossiter gently but firmly persuades Kelly (by shooting off one of his fingers) to switch sides and help his raiders redirect the beasts to needy Confederate strongholds. Imagine a film where Quinn actually got to play his TRUE ethnic background instead of an American Indian, Philipino or so many other odd casting choices that plagued much of his early career. In his full redemption by films end, Widmarks Rossiter resembles Harriss Captain Tyreen and Waynes Rooster. If Hawkss Red River (1948) remains probably the greatest example of the type, other worthy entries include Raoul Walshs also Civil War-set The Tall Men (1955), in which veterans of the Confederate Armys inglorious Quantrills Raiders assist with a drive, and Robert Aldrichs sleazier The Last Sunset (1961), in which Joseph Cotten plays a drunken ex-CSA soldier who served with cowardice during the war. Which is one thing, but then you have to know how to manage the cows and the herd. According to Esquire, the project took two. The film was shot in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.substituting for central Virginia and the Civil War battlefield areas around the Confederate and state capital of Richmond and Petersburg encircled and under siege in 1864. Despite the hatred between the two men, they manage to work together. He Was a Fast-Rising Judge in Arkansas. Except for a few shocking holes in the script and underproduced scenes (e.g. Movie Info. Civil War Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Watch Alvarez Kelly: Pity Is The Real Empty Room. The scenario is rich and invites an interesting story with multiple twists on an original theme. Watchlist. //]]>. Victoria Shaw also has a key role as Charity Warwick, a Southern belle just as determined as Rossiter to do anything necessary to defeat the North. Colonel Rossiter of the Rebels is planning to steal it, and he needs an expert cattleman to do it. An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine. Because it is about showing the confrontations between the northerners and the Confederates who are fighting over a herd of cows that will be used to feed a regiment on one side and a besieged city on the other. Originally published in the August 2008 issue of Civil War Times. Peterson Menu. Read Next: Amitabh Bachchan to Headline Courtroom Drama Section 84 (EXCLUSIVE), Variety Promotes Michelle Fine-Smith to Senior VP of Global Consumer Partnerships, Variety Promotes Sales Veteran Dawn Allen to Senior VP of Film, Breaking Down the Artistic Choices Behind the Production Design of Glass Onion, Severance and More Art Directors Guild Nominees, Woody Harrelson Slams COVID Set Protocols as 'Nonsense,' Urges Hollywood to 'Stop' Forcing 'Vaccination': Thats 'Not a Free Country', Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Writer Surprised by Terrible Reviews: I Was in a Low Spot and Really Sad About It, Super Mario Bros. 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