In Pursuit of Honor
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Movie Reviews of In Pursuit of Honor
Movie Review: A Great Depiction of A Modern Cavalery
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like true stories and even have a slight interest in horses this is a great story.Movie Review: There is a proper way to retire horses in the U.S. calvary
Summary: 4 Stars
In 1930 General Douglas MacArthur was appointed chief of staff of the U.S. Army and attempted to modernize the Army. In June 1932 he used not only tanks and troops of cavalry with drawn sabers, but also infantry with fixed bayonets to attack the Bonus Army in Washington, D.C., claiming the outrageous idea of American troops attacking former members of the Army who had served in the First World War was justified because the nation was on the verge of a communist revolution.
While that infamous moment in American military history is the prologue for "In Pursuit of Honor," Dennis Lynton Clark's script tells what happened in 1935 when MacArthur changed the cavalry from men on horseback to men in tanks and ordered the destruction of hundreds of horses. The decision does not sit well with old Sergeant John Libbey (Don Johnson) and his other NCO's, but it is young Lt. Marshall Buxton (Craig Sheffer) who decides after watching the infantry gun down a hundred horses that they are not going to let the same thing be done to any more of the creatures. For these men it is a question of honor and they think when their service is no longer required horses should be treated the same way as former soldiers. Of course, the film's prologue amply proves that MacArthur (James Sikking) is willing to gun down old soldiers along with old horses.
Libbey is certainly an old soldier at home in the saddle and Buxton is young, a West Point graduate, but they have in common a tendency to be insubordinate when it comes to matters of honor. Libbey refused to ride down the women and children of the Bonus Army just because ordered to do so by Colonel John Hardesty (Bob Gunton), who is the officer MacArthur sends west to do the changeover. Buxton knows nothing about Hardesty's past, but he knows that what the Army is doing to this horses is wrong and in a split-second he makes a decision to save the rest of the horses.
Since the army base on the American-Mexican border is south of them, the soldiers take the horses north and Hardesty sets off in pursuit with his mechanized force. Unfortunately director Ken Olin made "In Pursuit of Honor" for television, which means the budget for depicting an epic chase between horses and machines was never there. There is an entire dimension to this story with regards to the disadvantages of trying to find roads to travel on in the U.S. in 1935 in pursuit of a bunch of horses.
The best parts of this television movie are out in the middle of no where with the five soldiers and their hundreds of horses. Johnson's performance is the cornerstone of the film, caught up in the attempt to save the horses without really pausing to consider the implications of what it means for any of them. However, the whole ideal of the big confrontation that is building throughout the film ends up becoming something of an anticlimax by the time it is finally played out, although why is not exactly clear. While the horses are heading north we have a subplot involving Colonel Owen Stuart (Rod Steiger), the retired former leader of the cavalry, who goes to the nation's capital to try and convince MacArthur of the mistake he is making, and his daughter, Jessica (Gabrielle Anwar), a young reporter.
The suggestion is that something bigger than the military is going to save the day, but that does not really prove to be the case. If anything, the lesson of this 1995 movie is that the honor of the U.S. Army is where it has always been, in the hearts of its non-commissioned officers. The officers can give all the commands they want, but the sense of what is right and wrong in the military comes in the looks of not only Sgt. Libbey's companions, Sgt. Thomas Mulcahey (John Dennis Johnston), Sgt. James Shattuck (Robert Coleby), and Sgt. Sean Quinlain (Neil Melville), put a pair of non-coms who are involved in the pursuit, Sgt. Ernest Gruber (Peter Curtin) and Sgt. Nathaniel Rutherford (Brian McDermott).
In 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent MacArthur to organize the defense of the Philippines, a fact that is not related at the end of "In Pursuit of Honor." Actually, there is not any sort of scroll of information at the end to let us know what happened to the participants in this true story. But the idea that FDR would boot MacArthur to the other side of the globe for thinking shooting several hundred horses is a good idea is certainly a decision you would want to applaud (although Herbert Hoover having done it three years earlier would be even better).
Movie Review: Following orders blindly doesn't always make sense
Summary: 4 Stars
The Army, by WWI, realized that keeping the Calvary was inefficient. But what to do with so many horses? Dispose of them; kill them, of course. Maybe there is some logic to that, but to some Calvary officers charged with the task, it went against everything they believed. After witnessing the slaughter of the first hundred of six hundred horses, these men,choosing to defy their orders, become committed to rescuing the remaining horses. The audience is taken on a difficult journey as these men herd these horses from Mexico to Montana and the border with Canada and finally into Canada. They are followed by members of the Army who would kill them for disobeying orders and stealing goverment property. What is important to understand is that these Calvary men feel that they made a commitment to these horses just by choosing to be members of the calvary. To them, when the horses became unneccessary due to changing times, they were no more expendable than a person would be. Just because a superior officer had given them an order did not mean they should carry it out when doing so would be uncaring and cruel. They way this movie is put together, it is very believable. No where did I see that this was based on actual incidents, but it certainly is that believable. Also this movie is a great reminder that in the early twentieth century the western portion of this country had vast open spaces. It was indeed possible to drive five hundred horses two thousand miles from Mexico to Canada. Try that today! PURSUIT OF HONOR does make one think about one's values and if one can kill something because it is deemed inferior and unneccessary.Movie Review: Effectively told true story
Summary: 4 Stars
HBO continues to give the `Made for TV' label a good name with this interesting based-on-fact story.
It's the Great Depression, and General Macarthur is trying to turn the American army into a modern force, with the growing threat of war from across the Atlantic looming. As part of the process, the Cavalry is changing form, and the order goes out to herd hundreds of horses to Mexico to be slaughtered.
A young, idealistic officer (Craig Sheffer) and a grizzled veteran sergeant with a conscience, decide this is inhumane and against their principles and duty, given the Cavalry's sworn duty to protect his horse. With a handful of men at their side, they take the horses on the run. This leads to a chase across America as the army track them with orders to do whatever is necessary to bring them back. Rod Steiger plays the retired commanding officer who is sympathetic to the cause, and Gabrielle Anwar his beautiful daughter who is a journalist and brings the story to a wider audience.
It's not a deep portrayal of characters, but it is nonetheless a compelling story, which wins points for being told in an economical way, without undue navel gazing. Don Johnson is terrific in the role, a far cry from his dapper toothy grinned characters elsewhere, and Sheffer just about holds his own.
You'll have to be made of stone not to get some sort of lump in your throat during the scenes when horses have to be put down...
Worth while viewing.
Movie Review: Honor and Integrity
Summary: 4 Stars
Requested this movie as I had seen it years ago in New York.
The diversity of characters and their strengths was projected perfectly by all the actors.
Even the 'bad guy' was excellent in portraying the inflexibility of the military though in his heart he may have wanted to 'Don Johnson' to make it.
From the onset of the movie the politics of the military, the love and honor of being part of the cavalry, the passion and regard for a cavalryman's horse, and the unbelievable drive of a few honorable men to take a chance on losing their military careers to save a few hundred horses from slaughter brings a tear to one's eyes.
Reminds the viewer that above all, in the end, the only true thing a man (woman) has in his/her life is his/her 'word' and his/her 'integrity' = 'honor'
Buy it and enjoy it.