MovieChat Forums > Sergeant Rutledge (1960) Discussion > Really good

Really good

posted 16 years ago by Mr_McLaurel
2 replies | jump to latest

Just got done watching this great John Ford western courtroom-drama. Who but John Ford could pull of the scene with the cavalry soldiers paying tribute to Sergeant Rutledge while he stands in a heroic pose as the music swells without seeming corny? The courtroom scenes are suspenseful and riveting, although a bit too elliptical, in my opinion. Reference is made at the end of the movie to testimony that the audience never sees, not even in montage. That's my only real complaint, though. 9/10.

What's the Spanish for drunken bum?

[–] proudnole 15 years ago

the "Captain Buffalo" chorus (with Strode in heroic pose) looked like something out of Blazing Saddles.

And the courtroom testimony was exceptionally elliptical. For instance, though the charge was double murder and rape, and even though the accused (Strode) testified, I don't recall either attorney asking point blank if he did it or what actually happened in the Dabney (?) quarters. (Maybe I dozed off and missed the Q & A, but that seemed a bit odd.)

Again, I loved the movie. But it was scenes like these that make it it just a good film, while the same subject matter makes To Kill a Mockingbird a classic.

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

Rutledge did testify as to what happened when he arrived at the commanding officer's quarters.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."