Story of movie Sergeant Rutledge : Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 American Technicolor Western crime film starring Jeffrey Hunter, Woody Strode and Billie Burke. It was directed by John Ford and shot on location in Monument Valley, Utah.
| Sergeant Rutledge | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Ford |
| Produced by | Willis Goldbeck Patrick Ford |
| Written by | James Warner Bellah Willis Goldbeck |
| Starring | Jeffrey Hunter Woody Strode Billie Burke |
| Music by | Howard Jackson |
| Cinematography | Bert Glennon |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
Production company | John Ford Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The film starred Strode as a black first sergeant in the United States Cavalry accused of the rape and murder of a white girl at a U.S. Army fort in the early 1880s. This was Billie Burke's final film role.
Screenplay
The film revolves around the court-martial of 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge (Strode), a "Buffalo Soldier" of the 9th U.S. Cavalry, in 1881. His defense is handled by Lt. Tom Cantrell (Hunter), Rutledge's troop officer. The story is told through a series of flashbacks, expanding the testimony of witnesses as they describe the events following the murder of Rutledge's Commanding Officer, Major Dabney, and the rape and murder of Dabney's daughter, for which Rutledge is the accused.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that the first sergeant raped and murdered the girl and then killed his commanding officer. Worse still, Rutledge deserts after the killings. Ultimately, he is tracked down and arrested by Lt. Cantrell. At one point, Rutledge escapes from captivity during an Indian raid, but later, he voluntarily returns to warn his fellow cavalrymen that they are about to face an ambush, thus saving the troop. He is then brought back in to face the charges and the prejudices of an all-white military court.
Eventually he is found not guilty of the rape and murder of the girl when a local white man breaks down under questioning and admits that he raped and murdered the girl.
Legendary director John Ford, who previously attacked racism in his 1956 film The Searchers, explored similar territory in this landmark Western, the power of which still rings out decades later.
Parts of the film were shot in Monument Valley and the San Juan River at Mexican Hat in Utah.
- Jeffrey Hunter as 1st Lt. Tom Cantrell, 9th Cavalry (counsel for the defense)
- Constance Towers as Mary Beecher
- Billie Burke as Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate
- Woody Strode as First Sergeant Braxton Rutledge, 9th Cavalry
- Juano Hernández as Sgt. Matthew Luke Skidmore, 9th Cavalry
- Willis Bouchey as Lt. Col. Otis Fosgate, 9th Cavalry (president of the court-martial)
- Carleton Young as Capt. Shattuck, 14th Infantry (prosecutor)
- Judson Pratt as 2nd Lt. Mulqueen, 9th Cavalry (court-martial board member)
In Spain, the film was shown under the title of El Sarjento Negro (The Black Sergeant)
- List of American films of 1960
- Military history of African Americans
- Racism
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