Sergeant Rutledge stars Strode as the titular Sergeant Braxton Rutledge, a Black cavalryman who faces a court-martial trial for crimes he denies—the murder of his commanding officer and the rape and murder of the commanding officer's daughter. Strode's Sergeant Rutledge is an officer of the 9th U.S. Cavalry, also known as the "Buffalo Soldiers"—African American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army after the Civil War.The film is told in the present and in flashbacks, intercutting between the live trial and incidents being narrated by witnesses. In a case that seems foregone against Rutledge given the racial prejudice and institutional injustice of the time, in his corner is Mary Beecher (Constance Towers), a white woman witness betrothed to Rutledge's boss and attorney Lt. Tom Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter), who defies societal expectations and defends Sergeant Rutledge.
Both Towers and Hunter were reunited with Ford on the film after previously having worked together (on The Searchers and The Last Hurrah for Hunter and The Horse Soldiers for Towers). But in Sergeant Rutledge, Towers isn't the slave owner she was, nor the helpless woman falling in love with men of valor on the frontier during the Civil War in the earlier collaborations; she embodies that courage. Through her, Ford rejects old-school ideas about women and instead explores their evolving roles in cinema and society. Released during the civil rights movement, Sergeant Rutledge is a gripping court drama with poignant social commentary.
‘Sergeant Rutledge’ Was Groundbreaking in the Western Genre
John Ford made Judge Priest in 1934, a Western comedy with courtroom drama featuring Stepin Fetchit in a degrading "coon role," playing a slow-witted man accused of stealing a chicken. In the film, Ford also casts Hattie McDaniel, who would become the first Black actor to win an Oscar in a similar housemaid role for her performance in Gone With the Wind. Ford then did a remake of Judge Priest in the 1953 film The Sun Shines Bright, still featuring Stepin Fletchit, elevating him to a courtroom assistant in an attempt to soften racial stereotypes — a film Ford described as among the best he ever made. Sergeant Rutledge, in whichWoody Strodebecamethe first Black leading man in a major studio movie, was in many ways his destination on a journey he had started way back.
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Ford fought to have Strode take the lead, as the studio preferred established Black actors like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Ford would have the last laugh, though the film's promotional materials, such as its official poster, did not indicate that Strode was the lead. Perhaps cognizant of audience perceptions of having Strode in the lead, the film oddly focuses a tad too long on Jeffrey Hunter and Constance Towers' romantic subplot. Strode's commanding performance as Sergeant Rutledge, however, vindicated Ford.
Through Sergeant Rutledge, Ford lays bare the biases of frontier justice. A committed soldier, Sergeant Rutledge still struggles to get a fair hearing. Ford also acknowledges the role Black soldiers played in the U.S. Army during and after the Civil War, with their incorporation standing among the earliest cinematic portrayals of Black cowboys in a major Western. Though depicted in Ford's picture as heroic, modern assessment of the historical Black soldiers' contribution to the American expansion provokes questions about their complicity in fighting another equally historically disadvantaged minority group of Native Americans. Nonetheless, through the film, Ford seems to make up for his critical portrayal (or lack of) of Black characters and actors in his films. Adding to the film's progressiveness is the courage of Mary Beecher, who makes her voice count in a system and a time when such was an exception.
John Ford Explores Courtroom Drama and the Western Frontier in 'Sergeant Rutledge'
Image via Warner Bros.
Ford's masterful blending of two seemingly disparate genres, the courtroom drama, and the Western, is an intriguing icing on the cake for Sergeant Rutledge. The movie merges the genre's traditional moral dilemmas with a gripping study of justice and bigotry on the frontier. Yet, it remains faithful to the spirit of the Western by providing sweeping landscapes and tense moments of action. This interplay works for fans of both genres. Sergeant Rutledge is an important piece of art in Ford's filmography that shows the legendary director's evolution. It's a revolutionary film, ironically like Stagecoach, which helped elevate the Western genre to a mainstay.
Sergeant Rutledge is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
Image via Warner Bros.
Image via Warner Bros.
English (US) ·