Mosby’s Marauders (1967)

Kurt Russell plays Willie Prentiss, a young private in the Confederate army who makes friends with Yankee soldier Henry Jenkins (James MacArthur) across a picket line.

That lands him in trouble, of course. But Willie’s knowledge of the area around Fairfax, Va., at a time when reliable guides are hard to come by makes him invaluable to Lt. John Mosby (Jack Ging).

And Mosby needs all the help he can get. Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh Lee isn’t a fan of his guerilla tactics and wants his small force disbanded.

So Mosby plans a daring raid — and the capture of a general — to prove his unit can do more than steal horses from the Union Army.

Meanwhile, Henry Jenkins winds up a captive of Willie’s pretty cousin Oralee (Peggy Lipton). They fall in love, further complicating matters for all concerned.

Review:

A well-done family film with enough twists to hold your interest and enough sincerity to make you want the best for the young lovers with bad timing.

Kurt Russell is only fourth billed, but he’s the real star of this show, and a likeable one at that.

About 16 when “Mosby’s Marauders” was filmed, it marked just his second feature film. But he’d already starred in the short-lived Western TV series, “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” (1963-64).

Wondering about pretty Peggy Lipton? She’d become a star as part of the “Mod Squad” a year later, marry musician Quincy Jones, have two children with him and reappear on TV screens in the offbeat “Twin Peaks” as Norma Jennings, proprietor of the Double R Diner.

Directed by:
Michael O’Herlihy

Cast:
James MacArthur … Cpl. Henry Jenkins
Nick Adams … Sgt. Gregg
Jack Ging … Lt. John Singleton Mosby
Kurt Russell … Willie Prentiss
Peggy Lipton … Oralee Prentiss
Donald Harron … Gen. Stoughton
Jeanne Cooper … Ma Prentiss
James T. Callahan … Sam Chapman
Robert Sorrells … Pvt. Starkey
E.J. Andrew … Uncle Ferd
Michael Forest … J.E.B. Stuart
Steve Raines … Sgt. Maddux
Michael Pate … Capt. Blazer
Michael Kearney … Homer Prentiss
Robert Random … Pvt. Lomax

Runtime: 80 min.

Memorable lines:

Sgt. Maddux: “How many times have I told you not to have no truck with those Yankees across the river?”
Willie Prentiss: “Well, they yelled first. All I did was answer.”
Sgt. Maddux: “It ain’t your business to answer ’em. It’s your business to kill ’em.”

Lt. Mosby: “Well, Willie Prentiss. Did you disarm him, sergeant?”
Sgt. Maddux: “I’d like to dis-head him, sir.”
Mosby: “By the time I get through with him, he might just welcome that.”

Union aide: “We seem to have been taken without a shot being fired.”
Gen. Stoughton: “That’s preposterous.”
Union aide: “Yes, sir, that’s what I said.”

Henry Jenkins: “Oralee, I want you to know that just this one night, being with you and your mother, it’s the nicest thing that ever happened to me.”
Oralee: “Well, for a Yankee, you’re the nicest one I’ve ever held captive.”

Willie Prentiss, scoldingly: “Oralee Prentiss, you mean to tell me you went and fell in love with a Yankee?”
Oralee: “You said he was your friend.”
Willie: “Well, I ain’t in love with him.”

Oralee to Mosby: “I won’t let him escape from me again, sir. I promise you that.”