Advance to the Rear (1964)

Directed by

George Marshall

Genre

Western film, adventure film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 37m

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A comedy set during the American Civil War about a ragtag unit of Union soldiers who have been court-martialed for cowardice. They are given a second chance to prove themselves when they are sent out west on a mission.

lightheartedplayfulcomicalwhimsicaleasygoingrompingnostalgicquirky

What happens

Advance to the Rear is a 1964 American Western comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens, and Melvyn Douglas. Set in the American Civil War, the film is based on the 1957 novel Company of Cowards by Jack Schaefer, whose inspiration was an article by William Chamberlain, published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1956. Chamberlain recounts the apocryphal Civil War stories of "Company Q" (19th century army slang for the sick list), a unit composed of coward soldiers who are given a second chance to prove their bravery. The film had the novel title in pre-production and when released in the United Kingdom. However, the novel had none of the comedic elements of the film, which retained only the basic idea of a unit formed out of men who had been court-martialed for cowardice and sent out west as well as some character names. The story may have been the inspiration for the later ABC-TV sitcom F Troop (1965-1967). Joe Brooks, who appears uncredited as Union trooper Private Joe Bannerman, also starred in F Troop. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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