Wuchak "Journey to Shiloh" (1968) details the story of seven youths from Concho County in near-West Texas who travel across the Mississippi to join the Confederate Army and kick some Yankee arse. While they intend to ride to Richmond, Virginia, they end up hooking up with Braxton Bragg's Gulf Coast outfit and fighting in Shiloh, Tennessee. The male ingénues learn a lot on their long journey and their introduction to soldiering and war. Who lives and who dies? James Caan plays the main protagonist, "Captain" Buck Burnett, while the other six "teens" (all well into their 20s) are Michael Sarrazin, Don Stroud, Jan-Michael Vincent, Michael Burns, Paul Petersen and, believe it or not Harrison Ford, a full nine years before his breakthrough with Star Wars, but don't get too excited as he gets the least screen time of the bunch.On the downside, Universal was huge on TV movies at the time and so "Journey to Shiloh" looks like a TV movie; in fact, it was directed by one of their TV movie directors. So don't expect the cinematic scope of contemporaneous Westerns, like "Duel at Diablo," "Bandolero!," "Hang 'Em High" and "Shalako." It looks serviceable, but also phony and stale. A big part of the phoniness is due to the fake Southern countryside, as the movie was shot in Agoura and Thousand Oaks, California, but takes place in East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and adjoining regions. No matter how you slice it, California doesn't look like the deep South, not to mention the studio sets. Another issue is the movie's cartoony vibe. Things that would ordinarily take much longer occur with the quickness of a comic book.Despite these glaring flaws, I found myself ignoring them in favor of the story, particularly as it moved along. You feel like you get to know most of the gang by the end of the movie, Harrison's character being the biggest exception. The "boys" grow from wide eyed youngsters to hardened men over the course of the movie, the biggest rude awakening of course being their baptism into soldiering and war.Speaking of which, I really enjoyed the last third of the film that involves the youths joining up with Bragg's brigade, the ensuing warfare, deaths, injuries, possible desertion and aftermath. Although decidedly comic booky the movie offers a unique glimpse of being a Confederate soldier.The film features no less than four beauties, albeit all relatively short roles: Tisha Sterling as Airybelle Sumner; the un-credited Susanne Benton as the blond saloon girl, Lucy; Brenda Scott as the brunette saloon girl who falls for Buck; and a nurse (Eileen Wesson).FINAL WORD: Someone criticized "Journey to Shiloh" for its obvious low-budgeted faults by pointing out that it's no "Magnificent Seven" or "The Wild Bunch." While this may be technically true I found myself enjoying "Journey to Shiloh" more than these heralded Westerns. Yes, the movie has the unmistakable gloss of one of Universal's factory-made television movies, but it's strong in characters and story, cartoony or not. This is likely because the movie's based on Henry Wilson Allen's excellent novel (aka Will Henry). Some call it an "anti-war movie," but this isn't really true; it's simply a "showing-soldiering-and-war-the-way-it-really-was" movie.The film runs 101 minutes.GRADE: B

Robert J. Maxwell A handful of Texas cowboys make the journey a thousand miles east to fight at the Battle of Shiloh. They're a varied lot. The most mature of the bunch is James Caan who has an easy smile, a cowboy hat with a white feather sticking out of the band, and he always says "Yes, sir," and "No, Ma'am." There is some talk of who is the fastest gun. There is the occasional outbreak of some abrasive feelings in the group but on the whole they're a good old bunch.I found it predictable, unimaginative, and boring. The men wear the long, carefully groomed styles of long hair found among the hep cats of 1968. The women folk have long hair too, and even longer eyelashes, some as long as the marquees that stretch out over the lawn at a fancy outdoor wedding. A good thing there was no wind. I winced when the character said over a man dying of a gunshot, "Get that preacher in here. He purely could use some readin' over." The script defies anything resembling credibility. During a stop over in a small town, Caan meets the uber-yummy Brenda Scott, who practically salivates over him and invites him to stay with her overnight because she ain't never met nobody as nice as him before. This happens to me all the time, but I have this cloud of pheromones I carry around with me and it's clear James Caan doesn't. It's true. A beautiful woman once fainted while walking past me in Julius's in the Village before it went gay. Couldn't take my molten hotness, I guess.I have a good deal of respect for hastily assembled and inexpensive Westerns but this one has no poetry. You know what this movie would have been good for? You take your girl to the drive in movie theater in 1968 Sweetwater, Texas, and then you turn down the volume, roll up the windows, and roll around in the back seat until the windows are all fogged up. Once having gotten that out of the way, you clamber back into the front seat, turn the volume back up, and doze off. But you can only do that if you're under twenty-one.

joekmarine I haven't seen this movie for years. However, I remember it was a good flick. I think the first time i ever saw it was in a Drive in (yeah, todays Multiplex theaters are nice, but drive ins were great. One night I stayed up till 2 am to watch it when it was on TV. Entertaining, James Caan and Harrison Ford. Nice little plot and a wonderful story about brotherhood and friendship. I wish it were on DVD or video. It is more of a western than a Civil War movie, but still good. It may have been one of Noah Berry's last movies. If you haven;t seen it, figure out when it will be on TV again and watch it. You will be surprised. It has some good, but quick gunfights and some nice action.

johnboy1 This is one of those films that works because of the cast. It's fun to watch actors not well-suited to western films give it their best shot, and do well, despite that fact.Old timers like Noah Beery, Jr and John Doucette were used to the genre, and add to the film greatly.Newcomers (at the time), like James Caan, Michael Sarrazin, Jan-Michael Vincent, Harrison Ford, and Robert Pine would all go on to better things, but they do well here, too. Added to the mix is a TV leftover, Paul Peterson, who's part is small, but well-done.It was obvious that the film was cast and made like it was because of the growing youth market (Wild In The Streets, Psych-Out, Savage Seven, and Chubasco, among others).I love this film very much, and wait patiently for a widescreen DVD to be released. I can only hope I live long enough to see it happen.