I'm sitting here trying to come up with some insightful things to say about this picture but I'm coming up blank. For me it was a so-so cavalry Western with a Civil War backdrop, and what I found interesting more so than the story was a handful of observations made along the way about the way the picture was filmed. Like, was it possible to have a woman as gorgeous as Inger Stevens show up at a Union prison camp as the fiancée of a commanding officer (Glenn Ford)? Now I don't know when eye shadow was invented, but the blue highlights in Emily Biddle's eyes managed to be an early distraction.
Another distraction was the casting of Max Baer Jr. in the role of a lunkhead Confederate soldier under the command of Captain Dorritt Bentley (George Hamilton). His character Luther was a goof-ball maniac, and if that seems an oxymoron, then you need to see him in the role. It would be similar to watching Jethro Bodine as the title character in "Raging Bull". Try to picture that.
So the main premise here is that the Civil War is over but known only to Captain Bentley and Luther when a Union dispatch rider is accosted by Luther in a saloon dust-up. Already on the run from a prison break, Bentley's rage as a Confederate knows no bounds after his soldiers take Miss Biddle hostage. His pent up hostility results in the rape of his captive, so when the Major eventually catches up with the rag-tag bunch, she keeps the War's end a secret to serve her own desire for revenge.
Gosh, there's a glaring continuity gaffe in the filming and I'm surprised no one else mentioned it either in the reviews or on the edits page. When Captain Bentley attacks Miss Biddle he savagely rips off the back of her dress exposing her entire back. Yet just a few scenes later when Major Wolcott (Ford) arrives on the scene, she's shown wearing the same dress with no hint of damage or repair. I can't imagine why no one connected with the film wouldn't have made mention of it because it was such an obvious lack of continuity. Thinking about it, I almost missed the bruise on Emily's face changing size and color in the scenes that followed.
Another distraction was the casting of Max Baer Jr. in the role of a lunkhead Confederate soldier under the command of Captain Dorritt Bentley (George Hamilton). His character Luther was a goof-ball maniac, and if that seems an oxymoron, then you need to see him in the role. It would be similar to watching Jethro Bodine as the title character in "Raging Bull". Try to picture that.
So the main premise here is that the Civil War is over but known only to Captain Bentley and Luther when a Union dispatch rider is accosted by Luther in a saloon dust-up. Already on the run from a prison break, Bentley's rage as a Confederate knows no bounds after his soldiers take Miss Biddle hostage. His pent up hostility results in the rape of his captive, so when the Major eventually catches up with the rag-tag bunch, she keeps the War's end a secret to serve her own desire for revenge.
Gosh, there's a glaring continuity gaffe in the filming and I'm surprised no one else mentioned it either in the reviews or on the edits page. When Captain Bentley attacks Miss Biddle he savagely rips off the back of her dress exposing her entire back. Yet just a few scenes later when Major Wolcott (Ford) arrives on the scene, she's shown wearing the same dress with no hint of damage or repair. I can't imagine why no one connected with the film wouldn't have made mention of it because it was such an obvious lack of continuity. Thinking about it, I almost missed the bruise on Emily's face changing size and color in the scenes that followed.