I have watched the movie several times, and I still can't understand why the Colonel was going strip Sergeants MacChesney and Ballantine of their ranks; however, he was not going to do the same thing to Sergeant Cutter. Sgt. Cutter admitted that he purchase the map and start the fight when he find out it was a fake.
shareA late answer to a question, from long ago. I just watched this movie for the third time. The Colonel makes it clear. A man of Ballentine's intelligence should know better. With age and experience, MacChesney should know better. The Colonel obviously did not think much of Cutter's intelligence, and so did not expect him to know better.
shareThe real answer is that Cutter was something of a kiss ass, at least in this scene (it reminds me of the same Victor McLaglen calling fellow sergeant Pedro Armendarez "officers' pet" in Fort Apache). Yes, Cutter admitted his part in the affair of the map, but he did it in such a way that the Colonel did not believe him--in fact, he thought that the innocent Cutter was nobly trying to take the blame for his guilty comrades.
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