Due bandiere all'ovest

Civil War rivalries were popular story material for Westerns of this period. Here, the rivalry is used more effectively than usual. A contingent of Confederate pow's is sent west to help Yankees fight the Indians. Okay, but what guarantees that the Johnny Rebs won't desert to rejoin their Southern comrades. Well, nothing really, except the Southern commander Col. Tucker (Cotton) does have a sense of honor. He's going to need it since the Yankee fort commander (Chandler) is given to temper tantrums, to say the least. Throw in some angry Apaches and a lovely widow (Darnell) who'll do anything to get to California, and you've got some strong dramatic material.

It's a well-mounted movie from big budget TCF, with a great battle sequence and a surprising outcome. There's also realistic attention to battle detail inside the fort that helps lift the sequence. Then too, the wide open New Mexico locations convey the kind of scenic sense that I think Western fans so love. Meanwhile, Cotten and Wilde, a Union officer, play off one another effectively, signifying the opportunity for post-war reconciliation between North and South. It's also a fine supporting cast with a number of familiar faces, such as Hunnicutt and Beery Jr. But how did pudgy glad-hander Harry von Zell escape TV's Burns and Allen show to turn up in a Western, of all places. Nonetheless, he's shrewdly cast in what can only be called a slippery role.

Not all are aces. The complex narrative sometimes meanders, along with a few believability stretches. Nonetheless, add 'em all up and it's still a solid entry in the A-Western category.

Two Flags West begins with Confederate colonel Joseph Cotten given an offer to have his men get paroled from prison if they'll serve in the union army out west where the troops are stretched pretty thin. Over some objections he takes the offer from Captain Cornel Wilde.

Wilde takes Cotten and his men to Fort Thorn in the Southwest which is commanded by rebel hating and Indian hating Jeff Chandler. There's a good reason why this guy is in a backwater command as you'll see as the film unfolds. In addition there's Linda Darnell, wife of Chandler's late brother who was killed in the Civil War and who all three guys have their eyes on. But Chandler scares Darnell as well he should.

It was interesting to see Chandler whose career role was Cochise playing an Indian hater. But he does successfully put over the character. His Indian hating causes a lot of tragedy before the film is over.

Two Flags West is a brooding kind of western that's not for the squeamish. It's an exceptionally violent film that I'm not sure how it got through the Code. It's one of Jeff Chandler's best early roles, too bad Universal didn't cast him in more films like Two Flags West.

Jeff Chandler is cast against type (and does a terrific job) in this big-budget western as the commander of a cavalry fort in the West during the Civil War who hates both Indians and Southerners with equal passion. With his command stripped to the minimum due to the Union's need for troops to fight the Civil War back east, Chandler is forced to accept a unit of Confederate prisoners who have volunteered to fight Indians under Union command as an alternative to rotting in POW camps. Chandler's all-consuming hatred and racism result in his killing the son of the local Indian chief, which causes the Indians to go on a rampage against the whites in the area, culminating in a massive attack against the fort itself. This is a dark, gritty and, considering the time in which it was made, brutally graphic and violent western that explores and exposes issues--racism, sexual tension, even a hint of mental illness--seldom, if ever, touched upon by westerns up to that time. The supporting performances by Joseph Cotten, Linda Darnell and especially the great--and always underrated--Arthur Hunnicutt are top-notch, but this really belongs to Chandler, and he does a tremendous job, as good as (and in some ways better than) what is usually considered to be his finest performance, that of Indian chief Cochise in "Broken Arrow" of a few years later. Chandler was never a particularly expressive or emotional actor--when he tried to be, the results sounded more like a lecture (his speech at the end of "Pillars of the Sky" is a case in point)--but his coldness works to his advantage here, which makes his bursts of anger and hatred all the more chilling. This is an intelligent and thoughtful yet also rousing and action-filled western, hardly your run-of-the-mill cavalry-vs.-Indians tale. I don't think this would be the kind of western John Ford would have made, and it's probably the better for it. Don't miss it.

This is an action packed cavalry film set during the Civil War.

It begins with our protagonist, Joseph Cotton's character, a Confederate officer rotting in a Union prison with 43 of his men. They are offered a chance to fight Indians in the West, an act guaranteed not to hurt the Southern cause. When Cotton's character puts it to a vote to his men, it is deadlocked 21-21, with the tying vote a dying man who passes away before he can voice an opinion.

Cotton grabs the chance, and becomes a cavalry man, befriended by Cornel Wilde, a Union officer. Jeff Chandler plays the commander of the fort he is taken to. The star studded cast includes some great character actors, and their talents aren't wasted.

At the fort, Chandler quickly becomes the antagonist. His character resembles Henry Fonda's commander in FORT APACHE, obviously on purpose. In ways, this is almost a remake as far as characters go, but with a different story line.

A damsel in distress, the widow of Chandler's brother, killed in a battle in which Cotton took part, makes for high tension and high drama.

Later on, Chandler captures the head honcho Apache's son, and when the Apache chief demands his son's release, Chandler kills the son.

The other parts of the plot, I won't spoil. What we get are very identifiable three dimensional characters in great Western action. The fifties were the golden age for good reason. Great characters. This is a prime example. The two main antagonists both climax with acts of honor, one in supreme sacrifice, and one in relenting against a massacre for the sake of justice.

Compare these characters to the one dimensional clichés of Leone debacles, cardboard cutouts who do nothing but hate and kill, of the caricatures of "Tombstone" and other garbage, and there's no comparison. This film is so superior, it boggles the mind.

It took Hollywood four decades to realize their mistake, and now we at least see some Westerns that deal with credible characters, such as the ones you'll see Robert Duvall in. The difference is that this golden age dealt in splendor, scenery, and cinema, while the modern Western aims for total realism. While the modern Western has value, I still prefer the spectacle of cinematic glory and color to the modern dullness and dust. Both are good, but this type is more uplifting, and gives you the energy to get more done, so I give these films an edge.

Excellent acting, great scenery, directing, everything you could want, but my two chief criteria, writing and characters, are both of high quality here, too. This film is an example of "great characters make great films".

Two Flags West is directed by Robert Wise and adapted to screenplay by Casey Robinson from a story by Frank S. Nugent and Curtis Kenyon. It stars Joseph Cotten, Linda Darnell, Jeff Chandler, Cornel Wilde, Dale Robertson, Jay C. Flippen, Noah Beery Jr., Harry von Zell, Johnny Sands and Arthur Hunnicutt. Music is by Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Leon Shamroy.

"On December 8th, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Special Proclamation, whereby Confederate Prisoners of War might gain their freedom, provided they would join the Union Army to defend the frontier West against the Indians."

A great premise drives this brooding yet action pumped Western forward, a production bolstered by crisp black and white location photography at San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, skilled direction by multi-genre director Wise and characterisations rich in thought and human interest value.

Film essentially centres around the workings of Fort Thorn, a Union Army stronghold commanded by embittered Maj. Henry Kenniston (Chandler). As he takes delivery of a unit of Confederate prisoners from Rock Island Prison Camp, themselves commanded by Col. Clay Tucker (Cotten), he struggles to contain his distaste. Something which obviously isn't helping an already pressure cooker atmosphere as groups of men divided by the on going war, are expected to stand or fall next to each other against the looming presence of chief Satank and his army of braves.

As the screenplay rolls on we learn about the main players beliefs and reasons for such, with the tragedy of the war deftly born out by the actors in their portrayals. The presence of widow Elena Kenniston (Darnell) also is cause for simmering tensions, where although an underwritten potential love triangle sometimes feels like a token offering on the edges of the frame, her character is so well drawn into the moody atmosphere, her back story packing emotional sting, that the film benefits from this case of testosterone lowering.

In amongst the Fort's uneasy alliance there are devious plans afoot on both sides of the coalition, that is to be expected, for it would be pretty standard stuff if these guys all agreed to shake hands and get on with it. But again the screenplay delivers some well thought out scenarios where agents and spies come into play, the safe transporting of civilians away from the Fort throws up some spice, as does a desperate act of violence by Major Kenniston. It all builds to a head and then Wise unleashes his skills as a overseer of action.

The crowning moment comes with the Indian attack on Fort Thorn. It's a prolonged attack filled with hundreds of extras and action aplenty. Each frame shot by Wise features flying bodies, arrows and bullets making their mark, fire raging in all parts of the ravaged Fort. Men, women and even children taking up the good fight as well, the Indian braves a fearsome and athletic foe coming in continuous waves. And this is not some Western where all the characters we have come to know are going to be singing come the end, some will die and it makes for dramatic and emotional impact.

Great cast, great direction and a great screenplay, this definitely deserves to be better known and loved by those into Westerns/Civil War movies. 8.5/10