Shenandoah (1965)

Although they are Southerners, during the Civil War a Virginian farmer (James Stewart) and his family sit the war out. They are not slave owners and the patriarch maintains that the war doesn't concern them. But when the youngest son (Phillip Alford, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) is taken prisoner by the Union army even though he's not a soldier, he must make a stand. This subtle anti-war film (made at the time of the U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia) was a surprise sleeper hit in 1965. It's theme of family and loss and a conflict which made no sense to them resonated with audiences of the time. Directed with a firm hand by Andrew V. McLaglen (who died this week), this is a stirring family film, in the best of the word. The film aims for the tear ducts frequently, perhaps too often. By the time of the film's emotional finale, I was all cried out to shed another tear! If this makes it sound like the film is manipulative, I don't mean for it to sound that way. It's a lovely film and one of Stewart's few good vehicles in the 1960s. There's a gorgeous score by Frank Skinner (WRITTEN ON THE WIND). The rest of the cast reads like a list of Universal's contract players at the time: Katharine Ross, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Rosemary Forsyth plus Patrick Wayne, James Best, Charles Robinson and George Kennedy.