Alvarez Kelly

Alvarez Kelly
Alvarez Kelly
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Written by	Franklin Coen
Produced by	Sol C. Siegel
Starring	William Holden; Richard Widmark
Cinematography	Joseph MacDonald
Edited by	Harold F. Kress
Music by	Johnny Green
Color process	Pathécolor
Production; company	Sol C. Siegel Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	October 1966;
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.4 million (est. US/ Canada rentals)

Alvarez Kelly is a 1966 American Western film set in the American Civil War starring William Holden and Richard Widmark. The film was based on the historic Beefsteak Raid of September 1864 led by Confederate Major General Wade Hampton III.

Plot[]

Cattleman Alvarez Kelly (William Holden) is contracted to deliver a herd to the Union Army in Virginia. As he nears the end of his long cattle drive, Kelly is captured by Confederate raiders led by Colonel Tom Rossiter (Richard Widmark). The Confederacy desperately needs the beef to feed its soldiers besieged in Richmond.

Kelly is "persuaded" to help shanghai and deliver the stolen herd to Richmond. Despite the hatred between the two men, they manage to work together. Kelly first teaches Rossiter's men how to drive cattle. Then, they proceed to capture and drive the herd away, despite the efforts of Union officer Major Albert Stedman (Patrick O'Neal). As revenge, Kelly arranges passage for Rossiter's discontented fiancée, Liz Pickering (Janice Rule), on a blockade runner leaving the besieged city.

Cast[]

William Holden as Alvarez Kelly
Richard Widmark as Col. Tom Rossiter
Janice Rule as Liz Pickering
Patrick O'Neal as Major Albert Steadman
Victoria Shaw as Charity Warwick
Roger C. Carmel as Capt. Angus Ferguson
Richard Rust as Sergeant Hatcher
Arthur Franz as Capt. Towers
Don 'Red' Barry as Lt. Farrow (as Donald Barry)
Duke Hobbie as John Beaurider
Harry Carey Jr. as Cpl. Peterson
Howard Caine as McIntyre
Mauritz Hugo as Ely Harrison
Barry Atwater as General Kautz (as G.B. Atwater)
Robert Morgan as Capt. Williams
Paul Lukather as Capt. Webster
Stephanie Hill as Mary Ann
Indus Arthur as Melinda
Clint Ritchie as Union L.t.

Production[]

The film was shot in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.substituting for central Virginia and the Civil War battlefield areas around the Confederate and state capital of Richmond and Petersburg encircled and under siege in 1864.^[2]

Reception[]

The film was generally well received by critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times remarked that it was "a good picture—nice and crisp and tough", praised the script writer for "blueprinting a fresh idea, and salting it with some tingling, unstereotyped behavior and gristly dialogue". He further praised the cinematography, the casting of Holden and Widmark, which he considered "sardonic perfection", and added that the "picture perks up beautifully in the ripely-detailed homestretch".^[3] Variety praised the action sequences with the cattle stampede but, unlike Crowther, thought there were some issues with the script which they believed "overdevelops some characters and situations, and underdevelops others".^[4]

Author John H. Lenihan compares the film to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, in that both films "offer no consolation in their vivid deglamorization of war. The heroes, or antiheroes, of both films pursue selfish pecuniary ventures as a conscious alternative to becoming committed in a pointless destructive war".^[5]

References[]

^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, 4 January 1967 p 8
^ "Notes". TCM. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
^ Crowther, Bosley (November 17, 1966). "Alvarez Kelly". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
^ "Alvarez Kelly". Variety. December 31, 1965. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
^ Lenihan, John H. (1980). Showdown: Confronting Modern America in the Western Film. University of Illinois Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-252-01254-9.

External links[]

Alvarez Kelly at IMDb
Alvarez Kelly at the TCM Movie Database
Alvarez Kelly at AllMovie
Alvarez Kelly at the American Film Institute Catalog

[1] "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, 4 January 1967 p 8

[2] "Notes". TCM. Retrieved May 6, 2017.

[3] Crowther, Bosley (November 17, 1966). "Alvarez Kelly". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2017.

[4] "Alvarez Kelly". Variety. December 31, 1965. Retrieved May 6, 2017.

[Lenihan1980-5] Lenihan, John H. (1980). Showdown: Confronting Modern America in the Western Film. University of Illinois Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-252-01254-9.

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