What would you do if the side of war you were asked to fight on wasn't the side you believed in? That's the case for young, handsome and innocent Jimmie Rogers, brought up in the mountains, pretty much on his own, and completely innocent in the ways of other men. It's the civil war era Kentucky and Rogers manages to avoid being made the personal slave of nasty George Kennedy, ending up a student at a Southern college where his character, gentility and moral nature impressed practically everybody.
He's taken into the home of wealthy widower Chill Will's who is on the verge of pretty much adopting him when Rogers makes the moral decision to support the north. The issue of slavery is never mentioned, but the fact that Rodgers even dares to go against the Confederacy makes him instantly hated by everybody who had come to love him including the pretty Luana Patton whom it was on the verge of marrying.
This spiritual drama deals with the conflicted nature of a man who grew up with next to nothing except the beauty of the land and whose innocence has developed his character into basically a peace-loving person. Rogers, on the shadows of fellow 1950s pop singer Elvis Presley, gives a gentle performance and truly will capture your heart. Members of the Confederacy are not presented as one-dimensional caracteratures, but each one having a love for the South and a proud respect of tradition that makes them all the more human even if the unspoken issue of slavery was the main conflict between the North and South.
This is beautifully filmed, with Rodgers getting to sing a few songs, and strikes some major points in various issues concerning the subject of war that still creates conflict in people today. had this dealt more seriously with the real issues of the time, I would have rated this higher, but could not find fault for it being left out even though it does seem a bit bizarre when you realize that that issue would not be dealt with. In fact, I got so much into the story and like a good bulk of the characters on both sides that I never even thought of the fact that there wasn't even one black character seen in the entire movie.
He's taken into the home of wealthy widower Chill Will's who is on the verge of pretty much adopting him when Rogers makes the moral decision to support the north. The issue of slavery is never mentioned, but the fact that Rodgers even dares to go against the Confederacy makes him instantly hated by everybody who had come to love him including the pretty Luana Patton whom it was on the verge of marrying.
This spiritual drama deals with the conflicted nature of a man who grew up with next to nothing except the beauty of the land and whose innocence has developed his character into basically a peace-loving person. Rogers, on the shadows of fellow 1950s pop singer Elvis Presley, gives a gentle performance and truly will capture your heart. Members of the Confederacy are not presented as one-dimensional caracteratures, but each one having a love for the South and a proud respect of tradition that makes them all the more human even if the unspoken issue of slavery was the main conflict between the North and South.
This is beautifully filmed, with Rodgers getting to sing a few songs, and strikes some major points in various issues concerning the subject of war that still creates conflict in people today. had this dealt more seriously with the real issues of the time, I would have rated this higher, but could not find fault for it being left out even though it does seem a bit bizarre when you realize that that issue would not be dealt with. In fact, I got so much into the story and like a good bulk of the characters on both sides that I never even thought of the fact that there wasn't even one black character seen in the entire movie.