Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #34: Rough Riders (1997)

 

Most of the movies I’ve watched have taken place within the confines of today’s United States. With Rough Riders, America starts to take a more active role on the global stage. Back in the 1890s, a not entirely accurate press whipped up support for Cuban independence from Spain. After the destruction of the military USS Maine  (long proven to have been an accident and not a Spanish plot) off Havana, Cuba, the US declared war and ended up with several overseas possessions. The idea of creating an overseas empire was extremely controversial at the time, with detractors seeing it as an attempt to emulate the aggression of European powers and the defenders believing it would serve America’s economic interests or, as Theodore Roosevelt believed, keep America’s heroic frontier spirit alive.

The Spanish-American War was an extremely lopsided victory for the United States. Naturally, the only part of the war that could warrant a heroic war film were the land battles in Cuba, where Teddy Roosevelt and his volunteer Rough Riders would distinguish themselves at San Juan Hill. Such a film materialized as a TNT miniseries thanks to Roosevelt fans Tom Berenger and John Milius. Berenger was the initiator, having gotten the idea while playing James Longstreet in Gettysburg. He wasn’t going to direct, however, and chose John Milius for the job.

Milius had already filmed Roosevelt in his 1975 epic The Wind and the Lion, where Brian Keith (who plays President James McKinley for a couple scenes in Rough Riders) turned in an incredible performance as the 26^th president (I almost added this movie to my list to get more Roosevelt, but alas this is his solo appearance). Milius, a rare firm conservative in Hollywood, perhaps saw himself in Roosevelt, as both used mental and physical dedication to overcome a sickly childhood.

Movie Review: One Man's Hero (1999)

The Mexican-American War is one of the more overlooked conflicts in America's past. If one tries to find a list of movies on it, there will be about a dozen on the Alamo and one or two on the 1846-1848 war itself. The one I found was One Man's Hero, which tells the story of the San Patricio Battalion, a group of Catholic US Army deserters who fought for the Mexicans. This was meant to be a theatrical picture, but its producer Orion was bought out by MGM, which didn't have much interest in the project and turned it into a direct-to-video release. The movie certainly looks like it was made more for TV than the theater as Orion wasn't in the best financial situation at the time.

First I should provide some historical context. The Republic of Texas desired annexation by the United State. Many in the states themselves also had their eyes on Mexico's northern territories of New Mexico and California. Sensing that Mexico was weak (wracked by internal political turmoil), President James K. Polk sought to bring about a war so that these lands could be added to the United States. He was able to antagonize Mexico into firing on troops in the disputed borderlands, providing a casus belli. The war ended with an American victory. While this expanded the nation, it also drove the political atmosphere into sectionalism as the expansion of slavery became a central and divisive issue.