FATHER GEEK here with a report from Chicago and our man about town Capone. He's set his sites on Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL this time. This film deals with a reoccurring cinema theme over the years. The Grey Ghost Riders of Bloody Bill Anderson, William Clark Quantrill, and other militia leaders who fought and defended their homes and farms in the border states during the Civil War. Bloody Kansas and Missouri being the real hot beds of the problem. Alot of film has been shot on the subject THE LONG RIDERS, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, and THE UNFORGIVEN have more recently dealt with the aftermath. In the 30's, 40's, and 50's several movies such as THE DARK COMMAND, THE SANTA FE TRAIL, MOSBY'S MARAUDERS, QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS, and BLOODY TRAIL treated the subject head-on like Lee's motion picture, and in the 1950's there was even a TV series called THE GREY GHOST. The early 60's saw another TV treatment titled JOHNNY YUMA: THE REBEL.
Infamous (and too real) old west outlaws Jesse and Frank James; Cole Younger and his brothers Jim, Bob and John; Tombstone's Johnny Ringo; and Texas' deadly gunman John Wesly Hardin all were graduates of these killing fields. Even true life notorious she-bandit Belle Starr worked as a spy for Quantrill's Raiders as a teenaged girl. Over the years we filmgoers have been treated to Roy Rogers, Gene Tierney, Laurence Tierney, John Wayne, Tyrone Power, Randolph Scott, Pamela Reed, Frank Lovejoy, Abby Dalton, John Ireland, Jimmy Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Claire Trevor, Audie Murphy, Henry Fonda, Ruth Roman, Robert Duvall, Steve Cochran, Clayton Moore, Linda Stirling, Raymond Massey, Peggy Castle, Cliff Robertson, Clint Eastwood, The Keach Brothers, The Carradine Brothers, The Quaid Brothers, and The Guest Brothers (to name only a few) playing the roles of the true life vets of these border wars.
Ol' Father Geek is looking forward to the addition of RIDE WITH THE DEVIL to this long-lived Civil War sub-genre. By the way the upcoming American Revolution screen epic THE PATRIOT starring Mel Gibson deals almost totally with the same sort of behind the scenes Home Militia terror warfare, only from the point of view of the Rebels in that conflict vs. the British leaning Tories. In these types of hostile encounters, as our boys learned in Vietnam, there are NO real civilians. Everyone eventually ends up supporting one side, or the other. PATRIOT'S script reads very very gritty, no-holds-barred, and that's another one Father Geek can't wait to see explode on the big screen with big sound.
Ol' Father Geek is looking forward to the addition of RIDE WITH THE DEVIL to this long-lived Civil War sub-genre. By the way the upcoming American Revolution screen epic THE PATRIOT starring Mel Gibson deals almost totally with the same sort of behind the scenes Home Militia terror warfare, only from the point of view of the Rebels in that conflict vs. the British leaning Tories. In these types of hostile encounters, as our boys learned in Vietnam, there are NO real civilians. Everyone eventually ends up supporting one side, or the other. PATRIOT'S script reads very very gritty, no-holds-barred, and that's another one Father Geek can't wait to see explode on the big screen with big sound.
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with my review of Ang Lee's new movie RIDE WITH THE DEVIL. I was fortunate enough to see two movies this past weekend with mucho blood and guts: RIDE WITH THE DEVIL and THE MESSENGER. I won't review THE MESSENGER for you because it seems to have been covered extensively on your site. (I really like it, by the way, but it did feel long at times)
Like THE MESSENGER, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL has several stellar battle scenes. The former uses swords and catapults, the latter rifles and guns that shot iron balls that tear limbs from bodies. In both cases, neither film is really about the battles but about the spirit and reasons behind them. Set during the U.S. Civil War, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL follows a group of men from Missouri who make the decision not to join the regular Confederate Army and instead form their own militias to fight for their towns and people. It's a bold choice to tell the story of the Civil War from the Southern point-of-view; after all, they are fighting to keep slavery alive and kicking, and the n-word is used with great frequency in this script. But the subject of slavery is rarely mentioned in this movie. Many of these men are fighting because they think their Southern honor is being violated by Northern aggressors.
Tobey Maguire (from THE ICE STORM and the upcoming CIDER HOUSE RULES) and Skeet Ulrich (SCREAM and most recently in the crappy CHILL FACTOR) portray best friends who join this group of fighters to protect their families. Since they did not adhere to military regulations, these militia men were rougher around the edges and did not believe in taking prisoners. (After the war, many of these men went on to become the most notorious outlaws on the Old West, like Jesse James.) The film was directed by Ang Lee, the Taiwanese filmmaker who directed SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and THE ICE STORM, and he once again has managed to capture a time and place that you wouldn't think he could because of his background.
Unlike films such as GLORY, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL is not battle scene after battle scene. It dwells as much on the downtime between battles as it does on the fighting. As a result, some may find it slow (it clocks in at about 2.5 hours). Maguire's character even finds time between shooting to become involved with a young war widow, played by singing star Jewel. My greatest fear is that this movie is going to become known as "that Jewel Civil War film." She's actually very good in this part. The bottom line is, she isn't in the movie that much; but when she's there, she adds to the proceedings. I was impressed within reason. One of the most interesting characters is a freed slave played by Jeffrey Wright (from BASQUIAT). He chooses to stay and fight with the Southerners out of friendship to one of the militia men, but when that man is killed, he suddenly fears for his life and his soul. It's a quiet role, but he plays it with great force and feeling. I liked almost everything about RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, even its leisurely pace, because it felt real and honest about the level of violence and people involved. There were actual tears shed by other audience members in one particular death scene (I won't say who's), for what that's worth.
Capone
