Undersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt resigns to form a volunteer militia unit called "The Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American War. In 1898, the U.S. Government decided to intervene on the side of the Cuban rebels in their struggle against Spanish rule. Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt decides to experience the war first hand by promoting and joining a volunteer cavalry regiment. The regiment, later known as the Rough Riders, brings together volunteers from all corners of the nation and all walks of life. When Roosevelt and his men finally land on Cuba, they face ambush, intense enemy fire, and a desperate, outnumbered charge up a defended hill. The Spanish-American war is a relatively little known episode. Though of little military importance, it was politically significant and in several ways marked a turning point in American history. Great topic for a movie, yet in this case the end result falls dismally short of what it could have been.<br/><br/>Though only made for television, Milius was clearly trying to create an epic. Despite a promising start the movie is essentially much too long and downright tedious. The film-making is extremely conventional to put it mildly. Worse yet, the entire movie is based on the same old stereotypes typical of patriotic Hollywood war movies copied time and again, in this case all put together in an inflated, unrealistic and grotesque jumble.<br/><br/>We have seen it all over and over again, from an ex-outlaw evolving into a good soldier, Sam Elliot as the tough cowboy turned sergeant, evil, cowardly German advisors importing the latest in arms technology. Action is often severely overdone in the manner of Victorian propaganda, with troops reciting Shakespeare in the midst of battle. The absolute high point of this absurdity is the figure of Roosevelt, slinging his revolver faster than Wyatt Earp while heroically leading the charge. There are also darker and not quite so subtle themes where Milius' militant patriotism really brings uncomfortable undertones - most notably two scenes of killing prisoners, which is shown as almost glorified or at least self-explanatory.<br/><br/>All in all, severely overdone, overblown and tedious to watch unless you enjoy militant propaganda. Damn fine film. Some historical points have been stretched a bit, here and there…Bucky O'Neil was a madman who refused to keep his head down and got shot right through his cigarette … Fighting Joe Wheeler was a bantam rooster of a man (5'3") but with the heart of a lion who did indeed keep referring to the enemy as "the Yankees"…TR's Rough Rider's attack was up the nearby Kettle Hill (Cero de Olla) where they racked the Spanish position across the narrow gully with deadly fire; when the Spanish [and there were about 1,500 men– not 500, as some reviewer suggested] broke to fall back to Santiago, TR boldly took off alone toward the San Juan Heights (Los Altos de San Juan)having forgotten to give the order to charge…<br/><br/>OK. Enough of History. Yes, Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, was a "looper," as one reviewer puts it, and yes, WR Hearst was a war-baiter– anything to sell papers and fan the fires of xenophobia… But, hey! This is a damn fine film that captures much of the spirit of that "Bully little war," that launched TR's career into the White House. Tom Berenger is wonderful as the one and only TR who adored by his men (reportedly, on the march into the interior from the coast, TR walked with his men, refusing to ride, through the humid, hot forest and always saw to it that "his boys" were taken care of first. I too noted sadly, the weariness of Brian Keith prior to his suicide, as President McKinley. This film is definitely worth watching again … and again.
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355 weeks ago