''Advance to the Rear'' is a light-hearted 1964 American Western

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film set in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Directed by George Marshall, and starring Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens, and Melvyn Douglas. The film is based on the 1957 novel ''Company of Cowards'' by

Jack Schaefer Jack Warner Schaefer (November 19, 1907 – 24 January 1991) was an American writer known for his Westerns. His best-known works are the 1949 novel ''Shane'', voted the greatest western novel, and the 1964 children's book ''Stubby Pringle's C ...

, whose inspiration was an article by William Chamberlain, published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in 1956. Chamberlain recounts the apocryphal Civil War stories of "Company Q" (19th century army slang for the sick list), a unit composed of coward soldiers who are given a second chance to prove their bravery. The film had the novel title in pre-production and when released in the United Kingdom. However, the novel had none of the comedic elements of the film which retained only the basic idea of a unit formed out of men who had been court-martialed for cowardice and sent out west as well as some character names. The story may have been the inspiration for the later ABC-TV sitcom ''F-Troop'' (1965-1967).

Plot

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Colonel Claude Brackenbury has a cozy arrangement with his

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

counterpart. They fire a few artillery rounds in each other's general direction at precisely the same time each morning, then go back to contentedly waiting for the war to end. Captain Jared Heath, however, disturbs the status quo one day by going out and capturing some of the enemy. The Confederates feel obliged to retaliate. One thing leads to another and a military fiasco results. As punishment, Brackenbury and Heath are demoted, placed in charge of all the misfits General Willoughby can find and shipped west, where they can (hopefully) do no further damage. The rebels are suspicious, so they send a beautiful spy, Martha Lou Williams, to find out their "real" mission. After questioning Easy Jenny, a madam Martha Lou is traveling with, Heath sees through Martha Lou's ruse. But he decides that he is going to marry her eventually, so Heath does his best to keep her out of mischief. When the unit is sent to escort an important gold shipment, the soldiers are captured by Thin Elk, an Indian chief in league with Confederate agent Hugo Zattig. Zattig's men masquerade as Union soldiers (using uniforms taken from prisoners) and hijack the shipment. Thin Elk, meanwhile, recognizing Brackenbury as a fellow West Point graduate, lets his captives go, although without horses or guns. Heath takes charge. He and the men steal horses from the Indians, retrieve the gold (and Martha Lou) and capture Zattig's gang.

Cast

* Glenn Ford as Captain/Lieutenant Jared Heath * Stella Stevens as Martha Lou Williams * Melvyn Douglas as Colonel/Captain Claude Brackenbury * Jim Backus as General Willoughby * Joan Blondell as Easy Jenny * Andrew Prine as Private Owen Selous * Jesse Pearson as Corporal Silas Geary *

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

as Sergeant Beauregard Davis * James Griffith as Hugo Zattig *

Whit Bissell Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909 – March 5, 1996) was an American character actor. Early life Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell and Helen Nutting Bissell. He was educated at the Allen-S ...

as Captain Queeg *

Michael Pate Michael Pate OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early life Pate was born in Drum ...

as Thin Elk * Preston Foster as General Bateman * Eddie Quillan as Sergeant Smitty * Britt Ekland as Greta

Music

The score was composed by Randy Sparks, with songs sung by The New Christy Minstrels and orchestral music arranged and conducted by

Hugo Montenegro Hugo Mario Montenegro (September 2, 1925 – February 6, 1981) was an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks. His best-known work is interpretations of the music from Spaghetti Westerns, especially his cover version of Ennio M ...

. The popular song " Today" (while the blossoms still cling to the vine), comes from this film. The song was composed (both words and music) by Randy Sparks, who was a member of The New Christy Minstrels, and it was this vocal group that perhaps had the most commercially successful recording of the song. The song has been recorded by several artists, including

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

, but perhaps the most amusing aspect of this lovely ballad is that so many people assume it to be a centuries-old folk song and not part of a Hollywood soundtrack. The film also features a title song under the name of the original title and UK title of the film "Company of Cowards" and another song called "Riverboat".

References

External links

* * * * {{George Marshall 1964 films 1964 comedy films 1960s Western (genre) comedy films 1960s spy comedy films American Civil War spy films American spy comedy films American Western (genre) comedy films American black-and-white films 1960s English-language films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films directed by George Marshall Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Military humor in film Western (genre) cavalry films 1960s American films

Plot

Cast

Music

See also

References

External links