Sarah Anders (Patricia Clarkson) and her teenage son are trying to survive on their small farm in Kentucky’s Cumberland Gap while her husband is off fighting for the South during the Civil War.
Then Capt. Abston (Chris Cooper) and his small band of Union cavalrymen show up, foraging for supplies. They kill the Anders’ chickens. They locate the family’s cow, hidden deep in the woods.
But a brief foraging stop unexpectedly turns into a longer stay on the Anders’ farm when a Union trooper named Newt falls off a ladder, onto a pitchfork and is gored through the gut.
Anders helps nurse the Union soldier. The captain, reminded of his own farm back home, helps Anders and her son plow their field. The troopers under him, especially Rodie, wonder if he’s going soft on the southerners because of Sarah’s feminine charms.
A flare-up over that prompts Sarah to send word to the preacher (Kris Kristofferson) that Yankees are in the area.
And when it comes to Yankees, the preacher has no qualms about breaking the Ten Commandments.
Review:
A great example of how a low-budget film doesn’t have to be a subpar quality film. Lots of movies romanticize the Civil War. This one offers a fine depiction of how deep the hatred ran on both sides.
Sarah Anders’ daughter has died and was buried in a cemetery in Union territory. Vandals dug up her body and discarded it. Now she’s brought it home for safe-keeping. And with the Union soldiers around, she sleeps by that grave every evening.
So deep is her hatred that when the captain buries a Union soldier next to her daughter’s grave, she and her son dig the man up and send his body floating down the river, back to where he supposedly came from.
Fine performances by the embittered Clarkson and Cooper as a farmer questioning his role in the war are keys to the film’s success. Kristofferson gets top credit on the DVD cover, but his is a secondary role. He plays the preacher.
Chris Cooper as Capt. John Hull Abston in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Patricia Clarkson as Sarah Anders in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Directed by:
Robby Henson
Cast:
Chris Cooper … Capt. John Hull Abston
Patricia Clarkson … Sarah Anders
Kris Kristofferson … Preacher
Robert Joy … Chicago
Richard Tyson .,.. Rodie
Frank Clem … Neely
Huckleberry Fox … Newt
Maude Mitchell … Preacher’s wife
Mac Miles … Israel
Will Lucas … Boy
Runtime: 90 min.
Will Lucas as Boy in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Kris Kristofferson as the Preacher in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Memorable lines:
Neely, spooked by a dog under a bed: “Shit!”
Chicago, laughing: “Johnny dog. Neely, meet the elephant.”
Sarah Anders: “We ain’t gonna be friends. Let’s just keep being enemies.”
Capt. Abston: “Yes, ma’am, I forgot. You have a better memory.”
Chicago: “Why did you sign up?”
Capt. Abston; “Minister brought a runaway slave into our church and ripped off his shirt. Showed off the ugliest damn strap scars. Right there from the pulpit, the minister asked for volunteers, and I stood up. And here I am – stealing chickens.”
Preacher: “You’ll burn in hell for your sins.”
Capt. Abston: “Then I guess we’ll meet again.”
Sarah to her son, about a dead Yankee soldier: “Get that damn Yankee out of our yard.”
Mac Miles as Israel in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
Frank Clem as Neely and Robert Joy as Chicago in Pharaoh’s Army (1995)
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