Robert J. Maxwell Whether you get much out of this or not depends on what you're looking for. It's John Milius' film and he leaves his imprint on it. He's a weapons enthusiast. On some of his films he had it written into his contract that he would be allowed to hunt all the wild animals that were to be killed during the production. He's appeared on "Tales of the Gun" and displayed his expertise.I appreciate that. I don't mean it critically because I'm curious about weapons technology too, and I'm happy to see that the U. S. troops in the Spanish-American war don't use Winchester carbines but dysfunctional Krag-Jorgensens, compared to the superior Spanish Mausers.Yet the rendering of the battles in Cuba that featured Colonel Theodore Roosevelt are overdone to a turn. BANG. BOOM! The troopers do one of two things: fight or linger over someone's dying body during an exchange of manly sentiments. Tom Berenger's Theodor Roosevelt is outlandishly exaggerated. The dialog runs unchallengingly alone lines like, "By God, Sir, you are a cad!" At the height of a pitched battle, someone grabs a heavy machine gun and while mowing down the enemy he shouts out lines from Shakespeare's Henry V -- "Once more unto the breach!", and so forth.I couldn't stand it. It reminded me of the comic books I'd read as a child.Yet, I applaud it for its informative value. After all, who knows anything about the Spanish-American War, which has justly disappeared down the memory hole along with other mistakes like the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. And it is nice to see a movie directed by someone who cares a little about the historical accuracy of the technological details.

vincentlynch-moonoi I must admit to being a bit of a fan of Tom Berenger's in the past, although clearly his best cinematic years are behind him with all too many poor choices of films. But here he is in a tremendous performance. I know it's Tom Bereneger, but I don't see him...I see TR.And, for a television miniseries, it's a rather handsome production. But that's not to say it all makes sense. My goal in watching it was to easily learn about the Rough Riders in Cuba. I didn't learn much. For example, in the middle of the story there's a lot of running around in the jungle with the two sides shooting at each other, but the strategy or location was missing, so it didn't make a lot of sense.Another big fault is simply being too long. Part I, which lasted 2 hours could have easily been accomplished in half that time.Things do begin to clear up in the last third of the film when they reach San Juan Hill, although I have this idea the setting is not right -- to arid and clearly not near the ocean.So while large parts of the film seem hazy in terms of military strategy and location, the film does show the human sacrifice of war and the suffering that it brings very well. The blood and gore seems realistic, not overdone. The key battle at San Juan Hill is done fairly well, although is overly long.Aside from a fine performance by Tom Berenger, there are other actors that deserve mention. I almost always enjoy Sam Elliott, and did here very much, although essentially he always plays Sam Elliot. Gary Busey was quite good here; he hadn't gone weird yet. Chris Noth (from "The Good Wife" has a decent role. An old Brian Keith appears in the first half of the film as President William McKinley. Not saying he's spectacular, but George Hamilton does have some skills as an actor in a limited role. Geoffrey Lewis, a great character actor, is good here. There are others you'll recognize here, but this is pretty much an ensemble cast.So, what did I learn. That the Americans didn't know what the hell they were doing. That they didn't even know why they were there other than personal glory (to a large extent). And that Teddy Roosevelt got a lot of credit for not knowing what he was doing, at least until the key moment of taking San Juan Hill.It took stamina to sit through this, though it wasn't bad.

thomas-jensen1 I did enjoy the movie a great deal and was able to look past some of the historical errors, (hard for a military historian). One major point is the inclusion of Fredrick Funston in the film. Funston is truly a character worth a film of his own, small town Kansa boy (Iola, Ks) makes good. While he did fight in Cuba it was prior to the Spanish American War. He was recovering from wounds in the US at the time of the war. He did raise a volunteer regiment, the 20th Kansas that later saw action in the Philippines where Funston and Privates Trembly and White of the 20th Kansas all received the Medal of Honor. Funston was later a key player in the great San Fransico earthquake and on the Mexican border prior to WW I. He was slated to command all American forces in WWI when he died suddenly in 1916 in San Antonio. The command then went to Pershing.

benakelly@aol.com Tom Berenger was a great Teddy Roosevelt. It just shows his talents as an actor. The background research on the history was done and the locations were chosen wisely. Unfortunately this movie has not been put on DVD and was not receive wide publicity, so it was overlooked. In addition most of our youth today don't even remember the history beyond last week. I would have liked to see more of the relationship that Teddy had with his men. It's also a fact that many of his Rough Riders did not get to go to Cuba for lack of space on the ships. They wept at the thought of being left behind. At the mustering out - Teddy was presented gifts by his men and he said I'll never forget you. I think these items were overlooked in the movie.