El capitán búfalo

I first caught the tail end of this John Ford masterpiece on AMC during Black History month, and couldn't wait for it to pop up on the schedule again so I could see the whole thing. I couldn't believe I had never heard of this film before, and after I did some research and discovered how reviewers in 1960 had dismissed it, I understood why. They went expecting To Kill A Mockingbird and got Breaker Morant instead. Ford was WAY ahead of his time with this one. Woody Strode, who plays the title character, helped break the color barrier in professional football years before Jackie Robinson did so in baseball. And he broke some huge barriers in this film, too. Every young black man -- heck, every young American male today -- should be required to watch this film. As Strode later said, Ford and script writers "put classic words in my mouth." Words that would be echoed three years later by Dr. Martin Luther King in his immortal "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln memorial.

Excellent and landmark Western with a complex structure by means of flashback , being one of the best Ford films . It deals with a respected black cavalry Sergeant Brax Rutledge (Woody Strode) who saves a damsel in distress (Constance Towers) who is besieged by Indians . Later on , he stands court-martial for raping and killing a white woman and murdering her father , his superior commanding officer . As Rutledge on trial for rape and murder , as a tribunal presided by a good judge (Willis Bouchey) , there he is defended by a lieutenant lawyer (Jeffrey Hunter as defense attorney) and accused by a stiff prosecutor (Carleton Young) .

The tale of a court-martial told in flash-back , about a black cavalry officer on trail , well handled by master filmmaker Ford . Interesting and thought-provoking screenplay written by Willis Goldbeck , being based on James Warner Bellah novel , titled ¨Captain Buffalo¨ . This was a true landmark cavalry western , as it marked a strange occasion when a film from a major studio , Warner Brothers , depicted an African-American player as the central heroic figure . While the movie's stance on tackling racism is laudable , here there are lots of courtroom settings that proved to be claustrophobic . The courtroom is deliberately oppressed but does make the picture somewhat static ; however it includes an intriguing and twisted result to the end . Top-notch acting by Woody Strode , giving a moving performance as a heroic , yet human figure who refuses to be beaten by circumstances . Here Strode has his first main role , being usually a nice secondary actor . Support cast is frankly awesome , such as : Juano Hernandez , Willis Bouchey , Carleton Young , Rafer Johnson , final film of Billie Burke and Mae Marsh ; many of them are Ford's ordinaries .

Colorful and evocative cinematography by Bert Glennon filmed in Monument Valley , Arizona , of course . Stirring and thrilling musical score by Howard Jackson , including wonderful songs by Jay Livingstone . The motion picture was well directed by the master of the unspoken emotion , John Ford , who carries out a detailed look at covert and over racism ; however , John has to rely on long speeches to get his points across . Ford puts on the highest pedestal of human honor to an African-American , which by that time when the film was made , it resulted to be a heroism . It proved the false accusations against John Ford as a racist director . Along with his cavalry trilogy : ¨They wore yellow ribbons¨, ¨Rio Grande¨ , ¨Fort Apache¨ , and ¨Stagecoach¨, ¨Searchers¨, ¨The man who shot Liberty Valance¨, this ¨Sergeant Rutledge¨ turned to to be one of the best Westerns .

Western is not my favorite genre, but good character studies are, and Ford specialized in these in the 50's and 60's to a greater extent that most moviegoers realize. The boundaries of what Strode is willing to share with Hunter and what cannot be broached are fascinating enough, but Ford takes us deeper into all the characters and their motivations. I agree with an earlier observation comparing it with Breaker Morant and saying it was more than 20 years ahead of its time; I would say a mix between some of the most compelling aspects of Breaker Morant and A Soldier's Story. Watch this film.

Up to now I have considered "The Searchers" the Best of Ford Westerns. It has better picture (VistaVision), and the legend of John Wayne to back it. Some of the secondary roles are better portrayed by more expert actors such as Ward Bond, just to mention one. Production is more lavish..

But the plot in "The Searchers" is unidirectional. It's just a story of white settlers against Indians.

Sergeant Rutledge goes much deeper, into the social "fabric" of America,

To avoid fastidious repetition, let me just point that the story goes into "American Problems" that endure 100 years after. Racism, young female behavior, that affects men of power, and old rich females who own perhaps more than 50% of the total assets (the wealth of the Nation) of the USA, and last but not least, the excessive power and "tricks" of legal professionals that always leads to corruption.

It is all there. If the actors were a bit upper-crust it would be the best, but Jack Warner did no provide the cash.

A must see...

John Ford openly displays his poetry in this magnificent film "Sergeant Rutledge". Maybe the great director and artist was annoyed that many did not get the anti-racist messages that permeate all his works (starting with "The Searchers": ever noted it?) and decided to make a definite, open statement.

To be as clear as possible, Ford willingly shows his art, poetry and trade-mark techniques in the most evident way. He masterly uses images and camera-work to convey emotion. We see Woody Strode (Sergeant Rutledge) constrained in a small chair, his never-ending shoulders covering half of the screen. And we feel uneasy. We feel that something evil is going on, that it's deeply wrong to keep such a man in chains, let alone to hang him. And then we see Woody Strode standing out, the Monument Valley on the background, like John Wayne in many other Ford's movies. I'm sure that such parallel Wayne-Strode was Ford's deliberate choice.

Ford uses his skills of epic poet to describe characters. Rutledge is arrested and searched. They find no money or other goods, just his emancipation papers. So, here we have a Man with all his richness: his honor, his courage, his strength and an emancipation paper. Great stuff! And then Rutledge says to a wounded mate "We don't fight the whites' war. We fight for our honor". Only Ford always manages to turn military rhetoric into poetry, mainly thanks to the visual beauty of the scene.

Woody Strode makes an outstanding, deeply touching job as the black cavalry sergeant. His acting is sober, poised but intense, with no melodramatic sides, and he physically dominates the screen (by the way: what an amazing athlete Strode was, at age forty-six!).

Rutledge is the Hero, the Legend of the movie. Yet Lt. Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter) is as interesting a character as Rutledge is. Cantrell is a man of the 19th century. Unavoidably, he does have racial prejudices, but he nobly endeavors to overcome them, and certainly at the end of the story is a better person than at the beginning.

I guess that the two female characters represent Ford's dream. Indeed, they both do not even understand racism. The poor murdered girl loved his friend "uncle" Rutledge, and that's all. She doesn't even get the hints of the old ladies, who disapprove this friendship. And the same can be said of Cantrell's fiancée Mary Beecher, very well played by Constance Towers. She nurses the wounded black horse-soldiers with no attitude of doing something special. And some lines of Mary's show Ford's wonderful subtlety. She has been over-night with Rutledge in a deserted hut. Mary says to a concerned Cantrell "I wasn't alone. Sergeant Rutledge was with me and he protected me as well as any officer could do". That's a lesson for Cantrell: the fact that Mary pretends to think her boy-friend just concerned about military ranks, implies that she does not even notice the color of the skin and requires Cantrell to be the same way. Well, probably the two women are not fully realistic characters, especially for the 19th century. They are idealized by Ford, as a poet has the right to dream.

A small remark. Most Ford's films (not this one, actually) raise some controversy. Many heartily love them and many strongly dislike them. I think it rather expectable. Ford is a poet, and a poet cannot please everyone. Personally, I was indifferent if not displeased by the works of some much celebrated poets. Thanks God, poets follow their own way, not caring people's taste.

"Sergeant Rutledge" is not perfectly constructed and chiseled like other Ford's masterpieces. Small defects may be found in some court-room scenes and flash-backs. However, this splendid movie deserves top grades, due to the importance of its message and Ford's sincerity in displaying his art. "Sergeant Rutledge" is another top work by the Master.