Rough Riders (Dbl DVD)

The best war story ever told!
I’ve known very little about Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his regiment’s drive up San Juan Hill and their other actions taken in 1898 Cuba. This movie brilliantly explains it all, from the forming of the regiment with it’s backbone made up of New York’s rich and pampered class, and then the Arizona and New Mexico cowboys and ranchers, and up to the final charge up the San Juan Heights. Just like Teddy Roosevelt said after the battle was over, “It’ll never be the same.”I’ve also paid a great attention to the critics of this movie, and their complaints about it have been made null and void. There is plenty of action in this movie, despite some critics complaining about the character of Teddy Roosevelt himself as they were unable to grasp the idea that Roosevelt had the same type of behavior and “arrogance” back in 1898 as I’ve read about, which was played brilliantly by the actor Tom Berenger. And that same arrogant behavior made him rise from Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment to full-Colonel by request of the regiment’s first commander, newly-promoted Brigadier General Leonard Wood, and then to governor of New York, and finally President of the United States for two full terms.Sam Elliot played an utterly-brilliant role as Captain Bucky O’Neil, the sheriff of Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, as he takes command of a company of Arizona Volunteers called “G Troop”, trained as cavalry, but having to fight as infantry from the moment they landed in Cuba. Two of the volunteers under his command, much to the surprise of the movie viewer, are two armed robbers who had just pillaged a stagecoach and with an armed posse hot on their trail, enlisted in the volunteers as a desperate means to leave the area as soon as possible, and imagine their surprise to know that their company commander is the sheriff that was following them!Sam Elliott finds out the identity of one of the men and snarls at him, “You soldier up or I’ll kill you.” one night in the encampment. He keeps a wary eye on him throughout the movie, and you simply can’t believe the former robber’s luck when he turns tail and runs as a coward during a certain ambush, then stumbles upon the entire flank of what seems to be a regiment of Spaniards. The Rough Riders follow the sound of the gunfire and decimates the Spaniards’ defense, giving the “coward” the claim that he turned the flank all by himself. Sadly, Elliott catches a Spanish bullet before the charge on the San Juan Heights, and he is killed, just seconds after bragging, “There’s not a Spanish bullet made that can kill me.” The song that he taught G Troop however, “The Minstrel Boy”, is very stirring as the men sing it during their training and also before the charge begins.Gary Busey was the perfect candidate for Major General Joseph Wheeler, who had been a former division commander of cavalry in the Confederate Army 33 years earlier, and while as a congressman of Georgia, is selected by the president of the United States to command all cavalry units in Cuba. Wheeler turns out to be quite the strong-hearted fellow. As he is shot out of his horse in Cuba, he gleefully reminisces from the times that he was in the same predicament in the Civil War, and several times in the movie, just like the REAL General Wheeler proclaimed, you hear him say to his son, a recent West Point graduate, “Let’s go get those DAMNED Yankees!” He had confused his words a little, referring to Spaniards as such due to the fact that he had fought the Federal Army from Shiloh to Atlanta 3 decades earlier, and I laughed my butt off when he would talk about “getting the Yankees on the run” in his excitement during a campaign in Cuba. I learned later that Wheeler performed heroically enough to earn the rank of Brigadier General in the Regular Army after San Juan Hill, something that would appall most Confederate veterans that were still living!The movie also introduces Lieutenant “Black Jack” Pershing, a West Point graduate of 1886 in command of the contingent of the 10th Cavalry, a unit made up of African-American “Buffalo” soldiers. Pershing fights valiantly during his charge up San Juan Hill on Roosevelt’s flank, but he knows little about the future which will make his name known throughout America, like his promotion from Captain to Brigadier General in 1906 and later commanding the American Expeditionary Force in France from 1917 to 1918 in World War One. This movie is over 3 hours long, and simply impressive and action-packed through every minute of it! I give this movie a 10 out of 10! I’ve owned the movie for only 2 months, but have watched it 3 times, since it’s a movie that any decent person would want to watch over and over again!

This TV miniseries gives an excellent insight into an interesting episode in the Spanish American War. In 1898 Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, before he became president, formed the ‘Rough Riders’ for a raid on Spanish forces holding a Sugar Plantation in Cuba. The series covers the political motivations and the forming of the unit from disparate sources, its training and their action in Cuba.The cast contains some top class actors turning in some great characterisations of the key players. The locations, costumes and scenes look fine and there is a more than adequate recreation of the battle for San Juan Hill. A sentimental scene during the battle, a bizarre monologue by a journalist, does briefly spoil the flow of the action and detract from the drama, but overall the series is excellent, with plenty of peiod detail, excitement and humour.Well worth a look for anyone interested in History or Warfare. Whilst most versions on sale are Region 1, there is a DVD available from ‘geoffsan’ via Amazon which, though more pricey, is an All Regions DVD that will play on any machines.

A bit Yankee gung ho but, apart from some partisan, political aspects, a very good representation of the times and way war can be created by parties with an agenda. Excellent cast,The action scenes and the correct uniform dress and weaponry shown excellent. This seems to be as good an historical representation with some artistic licence taken as per Hollywood requirements as I have seen. Small cameos of real characters like Stephen Crane (The Red Badge Of Courage) and the Tiffany Glass family very believable as well as the former Confederate soldiers turning out to wave flags for Yankees heading for Florida to make Cuba an American colony. Quote of Shakespeare’s Saint Crispin’s Day speech (Henry 5th) by the rich, Yankee college boys apt: Today is St Crispin’s Day.