The Horse Soldiers | Rotten Tomatoes

The Horse Soldiers

Released Jan 17, 1959

1 hr. 59 min.

Action

List

81%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

During the Civil War, Colonel John Marlowe (John Wayne) is tasked with leading a Union cavalry division to raze a Confederate railroad depot. Marlowe faces further challenges as a result of his frequent disagreements with the regiment's surgeon, Major Henry Kendall (William Holden), and the presence of Miss Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers), a Southern belle who overhears Marlowe's secret plans and is brought along to prevent her from spreading the word.

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Audience Member

Very good John Wayne movie right here. Yes I recommend it. James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas June 14, 2023.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/14/23

Full Review

John R

While this movie is, on the surface, just another John Wayne/John Ford flick, there's actually a good deal of moral complexity going on. William Holden's character actually addresses slavery multiple times in the film, one of the Union troopers used to work on the Underground Railroad and black people, both free and slave, make regular appearances onscreen. Though it by no means grapples with the horrifying reality of slavery on a visceral level, this was pretty good for 1959. In addition, the film makes some jabs at the farcical "glory of war". Characters who constantly seek the limelight in battle are parodied and they compare poorly to Colonel Marlowe's consummate, quiet professionalism. The pupils from the southern military academy are at once hilarious playacting as adults and terrifying in their military bearing and efficiency. Ultimately this movie succeeds because of its realism (Constance Towers' performance notwithstanding). A slow death from Civil War medicine or the death sentence of Andersonville are constantly present, and when Marlowe and his command ride away at the end of the film, it's left an open question whether they make it through to New Orleans or not. In The Horse Soldiers, war is deadly serious.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/06/23

Full Review

Frances H

My Dad took my sister and I to see this movie in a double feature with The Absentminded Professor at a drive in the summer my Mom spent in the hospital, which was very traumatic for my 8 year old self. I fell asleep during this movie, because the Disney film was first. Many years later I was the whole film on TV and it was pretty good, but I have a problem with watching John Wayne now, since I found out he didn't see in WWII because his career was just taking off and he didn't want to go. So though many Hollywood greats did serve their country, such as Clark Gable, who really rather old for it, co-star in this film William Holden and Jimmy Stewart who became a general, Wayne thought more of his career than serving his country in its time of need! For someone who made a career of being a military tough guy on screen, he was too selfish to go to war and defend his country! Could never think the same of him again, especially after I learned he also ratted on many of his friends in the industry to the McCarthy committee during the Red Scare! What a disappointment his real life was!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/01/20

Full Review

Audience Member

I loved seeing John Wayne and William Holden together in this film. They were great foils for each other. I must say that Willis Bouchey playing Col. Secord was very good at driving me crazy! I wanted to strangle him every time he came into frame! I learned a lot about the Civil War from this film. John Ford and John Wayne we're both history buffs and especially interested in how conflicts affect individuals and groups. I learned terminology unknown to me before, such as freed slaves being referred to as ‘contraband'. It's well worth seeing. Enjoyable as an action film and more as character studies. Love stories in war films always turn me off but it's there for those who need such.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A Good Movie John Wayne Gives A Fine Performance!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's a lesser Ford, rife with his backwards attempts at humor, but even a lesser Ford is still a film by one of the cinema's greatest poets. It's still very much worth a viewing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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John Ford

Director

John Wayne

Col. John Marlowe

William Holden

Maj. Henry Kendall

Constance Towers

Miss Hannah Hunter

Judson Pratt

Sgt. Maj. Kirby

Hoot Gibson

Sgt. Brown

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

Is 1959’s The Horse Soldiers one of John Ford’s better westerns? No. Of course not. But that does not make it any less entertaining.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 11, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It's a shame that The Horse Soldiers doesn't rank more highly in John Ford's oater oeuvre.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jun 18, 2022

Full Review

Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

...The Horse Soldiers isn't quite top tier John Ford but the film comes pretty darn close.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 14, 2022

Full Review

Manny Farber

The New Leader

The Horse Soldiers is the disaster of the month, an uneventful canter in which Ford, without any plot to speak of, falls back on boyish Irish playfulness to fill a several-million-dollar investment.

Sep 14, 2021

Full Review

Shadow Stage

Photoplay

Ford once again gets the most out of the cast, his fine instinct giving form to the maturing experiences of a couple of soldiers who, then as now, are obliged to come to terms with a world they never made.

Rated: 4/4

Jun 23, 2021

Full Review

Alberto Abuín

Espinof

'The Horse Soldiers' is full of marvelous frames, of a subtle lyricism, not as evident as other times, of great hard moments of life, after all. [Full Review in Spanish]

Apr 10, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

During the Civil War, Colonel John Marlowe (John Wayne) is tasked with leading a Union cavalry division to raze a Confederate railroad depot. Marlowe faces further challenges as a result of his frequent disagreements with the regiment's surgeon, Major Henry Kendall (William Holden), and the presence of Miss Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers), a Southern belle who overhears Marlowe's secret plans and is brought along to prevent her from spreading the word.

Director: John Ford
Production Co: Mirisch Corporation
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 17, 1959, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2016

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