Capt. Blake Winberry (Jim Hilton) and Lt. Hunter Lightfoot (Tripp Courtney) are officers with the Confederate Army in the waning days of the Civil War.
Winberry falls for and marries Judith Rogers (Lin Laffitte), a woman forced to flee when Atlanta burns. Lightfoot quickly courts and marries Lexi Winberry (Nichole Dye), Blake’s younger sister.
But the men are quickly called back into action. Gen. Kilpatrick (Brad Owens) has been ordered to lead Union troops into South Carolina as part of a campaign to take Columbia.
And not all of these Northern officers have honorable intentions or can be counted on to act as gentlemen when they encounter civilians living in the South.
In fact, they’ve been ordered to burn every vacant home, even if the occupants have merely fled into the woods to avoid confrontations with the oncoming army.
Will the young lovers — Blake and Judith, and Hunter and Lexi — ever enjoy a happy reunion?
Jim Hilton as Confederate Capt. Blake Winberry in Firetrail (2017)
Lin Laffitte as Judith Rogers, who married Capt. Winberry in Firetrail (2017)
Review:
The DVD cover promises a “superbly directed movie.” Someone must have been comparing it to a grade school play.
What we have here are well-intentioned folks trying to tell a seldom-told story of the invasion into South Carolina at the end of the Civil War, using footage from reenactments to provide much of the action.
But the shoestring budget makes it impossible to do so with any sense of realism, and most of the cast seems wooden in front of a movie camera.
A haphazard style of story-telling doesn’t help. This tale is supposed to be told flashback style as a reporter interviews participants 10 years after the war, except that the story drifts away from what could be told by the folks the reporter is interviewing.
In the end, the film serves as another reminder that not every film you find at your local Wal-Mart is worth the purchase price. That’s especially true of any film with director Christopher Forbes’ name on it.
Though first-billed, Parker Stevenson’s role amounts to a cameo as an unnamed Union officer at the beginning of the film, giving orders to Gen. Kilpatrick. He’s apparently done the same — as Gen. Sherman — in some of Forbes’ other Civil War films.
Tripp Courtney as Confederate Lt. Hunter Lightfoot in Firetrail (2017)
Nichole Dye as Lexi Winberry, who marries Lt. Lightfoot in Firetrail (2017)
Directed by:
Christopher Forbes
Cast:
Jim Hilton … Capt. Blake Winberry
Lin Laffitte …. Judith Rogers
Gabriel Baxley … Harry Bell
Tripp Courtney … Hunter Lightfoot
Nichole Dye … Lexi Winberry
Jerry Chesser … Capt. Causey
Tomme Hilton … Sally DuBois
Roger Wanke … J.C.
Brad Owens … Gen. Kilpatrick
Pete Peters … Doctor Thompson
Christopher Forbes … U.S. Capt. Tucker
Jezibell Anat … Margaret Whitfield
Parker Stevenson … Union commander
Runtime: 82 min.
Title song: “Firetrail” by Jennifer Dyches
Tomme Hilton as southern belle Sally DuBois and Brad Owens as Union Gen. Kilpatrick in Firetrail (2017)
Gabriel Baxley as Union soldier Harry Bell in Firetrail (2017)
Memorable lines:
Union Gen. Kilpatrick: “In war, terrible things happen. And if enough terrible things happen, these folks down here (in the south) won’t ever do this again. Will they?”
Confederate Lt. Hunter Lightfoot to his colleagues: “I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I think we’re getting surrounded.”
Union solider Harry Bell to a southern woman: “Don’t you speak American, wench? Get out of that closet!”
Judith Rogers / Winberry: “That nightmare was like a cannon. It lifted me out of the bed and threw me out the door.”
Christopher Forbes as Union Capt. Tucker in Firetrail (2017)
Roger Wanke as J.C., a Confederate operative, in Firetrail (2017)
Parker Stevenson as the Union commander in Firetrail (2017)
Jezibell Anat as newspaper reporter Margaret Whitfield in Firetrail (2017)
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