Ride with the Devil (1999)

Directed by

Ang Lee

Genre

drama film, Western film, war film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 18m

Rated

R

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 210 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During the American Civil War, a young man joins a pro-Confederacy guerrilla unit in Missouri. He and his comrades fight against Union-aligned Jayhawkers in brutal skirmishes. The film follows their struggle for survival and the toll that violence takes on them.

grittysomberintensemeditativerawbleakimmersive

What happens

Ride with the Devil is a 1999 American revisionist Western film directed by Ang Lee and starring Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, Jewel in her feature film debut, Simon Baker, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Caviezel, Thomas Guiry and Jonathan Brandis. Based on the novel Woe to Live On, by Daniel Woodrell, the film, set during the American Civil War, follows a group of men who join the First Missouri Irregulars, also known as the Bushwhackers—guerrilla units loyal to pro-Confederacy units of the state—and their war against Northern Jayhawkers allied with the Union army. The film was a co-production between Universal Studios (the successor to Polygram Filmed Entertainment) and Good Machine. Principal photography began on March 25, 1998. Theatrically, it was commercially distributed by the USA Films division of USA Networks and premiered in only six theaters nationwide in the United States on November 26, 1999, and for only three days, grossing a total of $635,096 (~$1.12 million in 2024). Ride with the Devil has been noted for its thematic exploration of politics, violence and war. In 2010, The Criterion Collection released a restored high-definition digital transfer for the home media market, featuring an extended 148-minute director's cut of the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Two Flags West (1950)
• The Horse Soldiers (1959)
• Beasts of No Nation (2015)
• Freedom's Path (2023)
• The Scavengers (1969)
• Two Fisted Justice (1931)
• The Guerrilla (1908)
• The Coward (1915)