tieman64 One of the more interesting Westerns of the 1950s, Robert Rossen's "They Came to Cordura" stars Gary Cooper as a US Army officer tasked with leading a small group of men to the frontier town of Cordura. The group is attacked, lose their horses, and begin to turn on one another as they slowly roast in the desert heat."Cordura" is slow and uninvolving for most of its running time, but was directed by Robert Rossen, whose films nevertheless often have an interesting, intellectual bent. Here we're given a lesson in the contradictions of "honor", "morality", "courage" and "cowardice". Acts of virtue, we then learn, are often intertwined with xenophobia, selfishness and personal ambition, a lesson which the film's introductory title card tastelessly informs us to expect. Rossen, unsurprisingly, was hounded by the House Un-American Activities Committee.Whatever its flaws, "Cordura's" final act is powerful. Here Cooper nobly and singlehandedly pulls a rail-cart across Mexican deserts. A character, played by Rita Hayworth, similarly sullies her body in a gesture of altruism. In a film plagued by stiff, poor acting, Hayworth shines.6.9/10 – See Martin Ritt's "Hombre" for a superior take on similar material. See too Dmytryk's "Broken Lance".

Ben Larson The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa from 1916 to 1917 during the Mexican Revolution. The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and was the most remembered event of the Border War. The expeditions had one objective: to capture Villa dead or alive and put a stop to any future forays by his paramilitary forces on American soil.After contact with the enemy, and after losing many men, five men were nominated for the Medal of Honor. Since the army needed living heroes to prepare the nation for its likely entry into WWI, Major Thomas Thorn (Gary Cooper), an awards officer, escorts the nominees, Lt. William Fowler (Tab Hunter), Sgt. John Chawk (Van Heflin), Cpl. Milo Trubee (Richard Conte), Pvt. Andrew Hetherington (Michael Callan), and Pvt. Renziehausen (Dick York), back to headquarters. This film is the story of that journey, and Thorn's exploration of the character of heroes.Adelaide Geary (Rita Hayworth), an American woman who owns the ranch where the battle was fought, is sent back with them on charge of treason for aiding Villistas against American soldiers, even though she had no choice.Although Hayworth and Cooper both gave impressive performances, Van Heflin was the standout as a brutish sergeant, especially since he was acting against type, having played decent men forced into heroism during his best-known films, Shane (1953) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957).

ma-cortes This particular Western deals with human conflicts about courage and cowardice . On March 8, 1916, Pancho Villa and his army crossed the border, destroying the city of Columbus, the state of New Mexico. The U.S. government in retaliation launches a punitive operation, which only meets resistance at the ranch called ¨Guerrero¨ . An army officer (Gary Cooper), himself guilty of cowardice, is asked to recommended soldiers (Van Heflin , Richard Conte , Dick York , Michael Callan, Tab Hunter ) for the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Mexican Border Incursion of 1916 . Meanwhile , they meet on the way a suspicious lady (Rita Hayworth) with dark secrets .Coooper is pretty well as an Army major sent to find five men worthy of Medal of Honor and Rita Hayworth is attractive as a shady lady . Robert Rossen directed this unusual Western that explores human conflicts in an intelligent way as representative of this genre such as cowardice and bravery of the soldiers , but is paced with some flaws and gaps , including an unfairly adulterated final . A phrase of Rita Hayworth is developing the evolution of the movie : ¨The man who once was a coward not to say that it is all his life and the man who once was a brave does not mean that all his life living as such". Human conflicts designed by the screen-writers turn tiring , repetitive and somewhat artificial as well as the plot progresses . The search for the contrast between valor and cowardice and reflections on the protagonists results to be forced and unnatural , some discussions are inappropriate for its intended significance . Nice and emotive musical score by Elie Siegmaster with ordinary conductor Morris Stoloff . Colorful and evocative cinematography by magnificent cameraman Burnett Guffey and mostly filmed in Mexico where is set the action . The motion picture is professionally directed by Robert Rossen , though in ups and downs . Rossen was a prestigious writer and filmmaker , directing notorious actors and various successful titles of all kind genres as Noir film as ¨Body and soul¨ with John Garfield , ¨Johnny O'Clock¨ with Dick Powell ; Drama as ¨Mambo¨ with Silvana Mangano, ¨Brave Bulls¨ with Anthony Quinn, ¨Island in the sun¨ with James Mason , ¨Lilith¨ with Jean Seberg , Epic as ¨Alexander Magnus¨ with Richard Burton . His greatest hits were ¨The political¨ in which won Oscar for Broderick Crawford ¨and ¨The hustler¨ with Paul Newman . The real events in which are based this film are the following : For a time Villa,who seemed in line for leadership of Mexico ,enjoyed the sympathetic interest of the US government who then dropped Villa and supported his rival,Carranza.Villa's resentment resulted in the vengeance raid on Columbus.Villa slapped the United States in the face by mounting a surprise raid on the town of Columbus,New Mexico,on 9 march 1916, killing eight American soldiers and ten civilians.In retaliation,President Woodrow Wilson sent General Pershing and a Punitive Expedition into Mexico in hot pursuit of Villa . General Pershing's column included the Seventh Cavalry and Apache scouts,chased Villa deep into Mexico,the Americans captured and killed several of Villa's lieutenants but failed to catch the guerrilla leader.Because of Mexican protests,Pershing's command returned to the US.Villa was assassinated in 1923 when gunman ambushed his car.

XweAponX This film made Coop look like a Stoop.In the Frank Capra film, Coop just sits there while people of low class browbeat him in court... In this Robert Rossen stew, Coop lets the men he is commanding walk, and sit, and crap all over him.In any real scenario, no army Major would have let the situation get as out of hand as this one did... From the start Coop suffers a severe lack of Authority, and he does practically nothing to prevent it.Hayworth's character should have clawed a couple of these guys to little tiny bits, "Gilda" would have shot those creeps. This woman, is not believable at all. Also, she looks too good for the character she is playing- After several days in a Mexican Desert, she is relatively unmussed. For being in a desert in sunny Mexico, there is a severe lack of dirt, sweat, and flies in this film.The best part of the flick, is where Hayworth's character discusses bravery with Coop: She says something to the effect that "One act of cowardice does not mark a man as a coward forever, and one act of bravery does not make a person a permanent hero." Rossen, with the talent in this film, could have made that statement in a much more interesting way, but instead he takes two of the greatest actors of all time and gives them shoddy lines and weak characters.Someone stated that Coop was "Too Old" for the part... Not So, he looked great. Coop always looked great. He just played against type. He ought to have been more "Sergeant York" than Mr. Deeds here.Regardless of these problems, this film is worth watching at least once or twice, it is not one of my personal Coop favourites, but it is Coop nonetheless.