Sgt. Braxton Rutledge (Woody Strode) is a black cavalryman on trial for murder. He’s been accused of raping and murdering a young white woman — young Lucy Dabney — then killing her father, an officer, when he arrived at the scene of the crime.
Everyone at his court martial is so convinced he’s guilty, they’re shocked when his attorney, Lt. Tom Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter), enters a plea of not guilty.
Cantrell’s the man who had the job of bringing Rutledge back to face trial. But he’s also been Rutledge’s commander long enough to be equally confident that he didn’t commit the crime.
Not that the decision to bring him in was very popular, especially after the heroism Rutledge showed when the small patrol encountered a hostile Apache war party.
Particularly perturbed is pretty Mary Beecher (Constance Towers), a woman Cantrell would like to romance — a woman who winds up testifying for both sides at Rutledge’s trial.
Woody Strode as Sgt. Rutledge, on trial for rape and murder and with his life on the line if convicted in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Jeffrey Hunter as Lt. Tom Cantrell, listening to Mary Beecher’s account of how Rutledge saved her life in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Review:
Entertaining film from Ford, more so when the cavalry is on patrol and fighting off hostiles in majestic Monument Valley than when the attorneys are melodramatically posturing in the courtroom.
Sometimes, the message of racism in the old West is just a little heavy handed. And the post-trial ending seems misdirected considering the film is supposed to be a celebration of the buffalo soldiers.
But Strobe and Hunter turn in fine performances. Willis Bouchey is the crusty older officer who presides over the court martial; Billie Burke plays his eccentric wife; and Carleton Young is the prosecutor determined to get a conviction even if he has to twist the truth just a mite.
This marked the last film for Burke, who got her start in silent films, married into the Ziegfeld Follies, watched that fortune disappear in the Great Depression; then made a successful return to film. She was 75 when this one was made.
As for former NFL player Strode, this wound up being one of his largest roles though it was just the second of about 20 Westerns in which he’d appeared. Strode had parts in two other John Ford Westerns, “Two Rode Together” (1961) and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962).
He was also one of the specialists trying to bring Claudia Cardinale back from Mexico in “The Professionals.” And his final film role, a small part in 1995’s “The Quick and the Dead,” came in a Western. Strode died of lung cancer at ag 80 before the film was released.
Constance Towers as Mary Beecher, listening for the Indians to attack again in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Carleton Young as Captain Shattuck, determined to get a conviction at Rutledge’s trial even if he has to bend the truth in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Directed by:
John Ford
Cast:
Jeffrey Hunter … Lt. Tom Cantrell
Constance Towers … Mary Beecheer
Woody Strode … Sgt. Rutledge
Juano Hernandez … Sgt. Skidmore
Willis Bouchey … Col. Fosgate
Carleton Young … Capt. Shattuck
Toby Richards … Lucy Dabney
Billie Burke … Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate
Judson Pratt … Lt. Mulqueen
Fred Libby … Chandler Hubble
Ed Shaw … Chris Huddle
Toby Michaels … Lucy Dabney
Rafer Johnson … Cpl. Krump
Title tune:
“Captain Buffalo”
Willis Bouchey as Col. Otis Fosgate, presiding over the rape and murder trial of Sgt. Rutledge in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Billie Burke as Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate, one of the witnesses as Sgt. Rutledge’s trial in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Memorable lines:
Lt. Cantrell, arriving for the trial: “I tried dressing in the front seat at a gallop. How do I look?”
Dickinson, a fellow officer: “That’s how you look.”
Mrs. Fosgate: “Lucy Dabney. Riding astride? When will your father realize that you are a grown-up young lady.”
Mrs. Hackett: “Yes.”
Lucy: “Papa says as long as I say my prayers and behave myself with the young lieutenants, he’s doesn’t care if I ride like Lady Godiva.”
Skidmore: “Now listen to me Brax and hear me well. You tell me you did that awful thing down at Fort Linton, I wouldn’t believe it. But Brax, why would you run away?”
Rutledge: “Because I walked into something none of us can fight — white woman business.”
Rutledge: “Don’t nobody call me top soldier no more. And that’s an order.”
Mary Beecher, to Cantrel after he handcuffs Rutledge in spite of his heroic actions : “You cheap, contemptible, tin-plated book soldier.”
Juano Hernandez as Sgt. Matthew Luke Skidmore, one of the buffalo soldiers serving under Lt. Cantrell in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Moffat, one of the buffalo soldiers, at the scene of the rape and murder in Sergeant Rutledge (1960) Does anyone know who played this part?
Toby Michaels as pretty young Lucy Dabney, daughter of the commanding officer at Fort Linton in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Ed Shaw as Chris Hubble, the storekeeper’s son, teasing Lucy Dabney when she stops by to pick up supplies in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Fred Libby as Chandler Hubble, the storekeeper who’s son Chris died during an Indian raid in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Charles Seel as Dr. Walter Eckner, testifying about his findings at the scene of the rape and murders in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Juano Hernandez as Sgt. Skidmore and Jeffrey Hunter as Lt. Tom Cantrell, finding Rutledge’s freedom papers among his belongings in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Constance Towers as Mary Beecher, Sgt. Rutledge’s hand clasped across her mouth the keep her from screaming in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Jeffrey Hunter as Lt. Tom Cantrell and Woody Strode as Sgt. Rutledge, riding side by side in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Woody Strode as Sgt. Rutledge, watching Indian attack a settler’s ranch in Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
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