On March 9, 1916, the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, angry at American support for his rival, President Venustiano Carranza, ordered more than five hundred of his men to attack the border village of Columbus, New Mexico which was garrisoned by a detachment of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment. The attackers seized 100 horses and mules, burned the town, killed 14 soldiers and 10 residents, and took much ammunition and weaponry before retreating back into Mexico. President Wilson ordered a retaliatory invasion of Mexico, and General John Pershing led 10,000 men across the border in what has become known as the Mexican Punitive Expedition. The aim of the expedition, ultimately unsuccessful, was to capture Villa and bring him to justice.
"They Came to Cordura" is set during this now little-known episode from American history. The central character is an American officer, Major Tom Thorn, who takes part in an attack on a hacienda defended by Villa's men. Thorn has been designated his regiment's "awards officer", charged with nominating deserving soldiers for military decorations. After the enemy position has been captured, Thorn nominates five men for the Congressional Medal of Honor. This may seem a large number for what was only a minor skirmish, but the Army high command, foreseeing that America will soon be dragged into World War I, need plenty of well-publicised acts of heroism in order to stimulate recruitment. Thorn is ordered to lead these five back to the expedition's headquarters at Cordura, where they will await confirmation of their awards by Congress. He is also ordered to escort as a prisoner Adelaide Geary, the American-born owner of the hacienda, who is suspected of collaboration with the enemy.
What seems a relatively simple task turns into an arduous and dangerous one. The small party come under attack from Mexican rebels, are forced to abandon their horses and run short of supplies and water. Adelaide, knowing she is likely to be put on trial for treason, attempts to escape. The greatest threats to the group, however, come from internal dissensions. Although the five men may have displayed courage during the engagement at the hacienda, none of them are otherwise particularly admirable, and they start to show their true colours during the journey. Two of them, Sergeant Chawk and Corporal Trubee, are particularly despicable individuals, Chawk having originally joined the Army to escape a murder charge. During the journey he and Trubee attempt to rape Adelaide. Moreover, Trubee has discovered that Major Thorn has a secret of his own- that he was guilty of cowardice during the raid on Columbus- and uses this to blackmail him. When Thorn's guilty secret becomes more widely known, it undermines his authority over the group.
The film is essentially an examination of the question "What is courage?" (The word Cordura, significantly, is not only the name of a fictitious town, but also the Spanish for "courage"). Its central thesis is that one act of cowardice does not necessarily make a man a coward, just as one act of bravery does not necessarily make him a hero. Thorn is obsessed with proving that he is no coward and thus redeeming his lost honour, while the men under him seem equally obsessed with proving that they are no true heroes.
I have never understood what "Quinlan's Film Stars" meant when it said of Rita Hayworth that "her beauty faded with the decade" (meaning the 1940s), as she still seemed very glamorous in films from the early fifties, such as "Miss Sadie Thompson" and "Salome". Here, as Adelaide, she shows that she was still strikingly attractive even at the end of that decade. Unfortunately, this is really a male-dominated film, and the presence of a woman is needed largely as a plot device, to act as the cause of dissension among the men. There is therefore relatively little for Hayworth to do, although the presence of such a glamorous major star must have helped the film at the box office.
Gary Cooper, as Thorn, plays his part reasonably well, although I would agree with those who would have preferred a younger man in the role. Thorn is supposed to be a career officer who has never before seen active service; in 1916 any 58-year-old major would probably have fought in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and possibly in the Indian Wars as well. Probably the best acting performance comes from Van Heflin as the coarse, brutal Chawk.
The main problem with the film lies not with the acting but with the pace. Although it is a war film about the nature of heroism there is a good deal of talk and, apart from two brief sequences, not much in the way of action. The result is a rather static, slow-moving, talky film which at times seems more like the proceedings of a debating society than an exciting war film. 5/10
"They Came to Cordura" is set during this now little-known episode from American history. The central character is an American officer, Major Tom Thorn, who takes part in an attack on a hacienda defended by Villa's men. Thorn has been designated his regiment's "awards officer", charged with nominating deserving soldiers for military decorations. After the enemy position has been captured, Thorn nominates five men for the Congressional Medal of Honor. This may seem a large number for what was only a minor skirmish, but the Army high command, foreseeing that America will soon be dragged into World War I, need plenty of well-publicised acts of heroism in order to stimulate recruitment. Thorn is ordered to lead these five back to the expedition's headquarters at Cordura, where they will await confirmation of their awards by Congress. He is also ordered to escort as a prisoner Adelaide Geary, the American-born owner of the hacienda, who is suspected of collaboration with the enemy.
What seems a relatively simple task turns into an arduous and dangerous one. The small party come under attack from Mexican rebels, are forced to abandon their horses and run short of supplies and water. Adelaide, knowing she is likely to be put on trial for treason, attempts to escape. The greatest threats to the group, however, come from internal dissensions. Although the five men may have displayed courage during the engagement at the hacienda, none of them are otherwise particularly admirable, and they start to show their true colours during the journey. Two of them, Sergeant Chawk and Corporal Trubee, are particularly despicable individuals, Chawk having originally joined the Army to escape a murder charge. During the journey he and Trubee attempt to rape Adelaide. Moreover, Trubee has discovered that Major Thorn has a secret of his own- that he was guilty of cowardice during the raid on Columbus- and uses this to blackmail him. When Thorn's guilty secret becomes more widely known, it undermines his authority over the group.
The film is essentially an examination of the question "What is courage?" (The word Cordura, significantly, is not only the name of a fictitious town, but also the Spanish for "courage"). Its central thesis is that one act of cowardice does not necessarily make a man a coward, just as one act of bravery does not necessarily make him a hero. Thorn is obsessed with proving that he is no coward and thus redeeming his lost honour, while the men under him seem equally obsessed with proving that they are no true heroes.
I have never understood what "Quinlan's Film Stars" meant when it said of Rita Hayworth that "her beauty faded with the decade" (meaning the 1940s), as she still seemed very glamorous in films from the early fifties, such as "Miss Sadie Thompson" and "Salome". Here, as Adelaide, she shows that she was still strikingly attractive even at the end of that decade. Unfortunately, this is really a male-dominated film, and the presence of a woman is needed largely as a plot device, to act as the cause of dissension among the men. There is therefore relatively little for Hayworth to do, although the presence of such a glamorous major star must have helped the film at the box office.
Gary Cooper, as Thorn, plays his part reasonably well, although I would agree with those who would have preferred a younger man in the role. Thorn is supposed to be a career officer who has never before seen active service; in 1916 any 58-year-old major would probably have fought in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and possibly in the Indian Wars as well. Probably the best acting performance comes from Van Heflin as the coarse, brutal Chawk.
The main problem with the film lies not with the acting but with the pace. Although it is a war film about the nature of heroism there is a good deal of talk and, apart from two brief sequences, not much in the way of action. The result is a rather static, slow-moving, talky film which at times seems more like the proceedings of a debating society than an exciting war film. 5/10