Ride with the Devil **** (1999, Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich) – Classic Movie Review 1325

Director Ang Lee’s splendid 1999 American Civil War Western flopped at the box office but it is a near-masterpiece with great ambition, scope and visual sweep.

Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as Missouri boys Jake Roedel (Maguire) and Jack Bull Chiles (Ulrich) who are forced to grow up fast when they join a band of Southern irregular troops called the Bushwhackers. The gang try to disrupt and marginalise the political activities of Northern Jayhawkers, who are allied with Union soldiers.

Jeffrey Wright plays Daniel Holt, a black man who is in debt to Maguire’s Jake Roedel, who paid for his freedom, and Jewel plays Sue Lee, a sweet young widow who brings the boys food and comfort when they hide out after a battle. She falls for Jack Bull but then he’s badly wounded.

James Schamus’s screenplay adapting Daniel Woodrell’s novel Woe to Live On and Frederick Elmes’s cinematography are impeccable, and Mychael Danna’s score is outstanding. Ang  Lee’s direction puts the audience sharply in the time and place, with the help of Mark Friedberg’s smart and stylish production  designs.

Alas, with Westerns out of fashion, audiences didn’t go for it. It grossed only $635,000 in the US and it was a $35million box-office flop. Disgracefully, the film failed to gain any award nominations for its acting or production from accredited film organisations.

But Ang Lee came back strongly with his next film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. He’s also the director of Sense and Sensibility, Hulk, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi.

Writer James Schamus co-produces. It also features Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Simon Baker, James Caviezel, Tom Guiry, Tom Wilkinson, Jonathan Brandis, Michael W Nash, John Judd, Don Shanks, Jay Thorson, John Ales, John Durbin, Mark Ruffalo, Stephen Mailer, Celia Weston, Amber Griffith, Margo Martindale and Zach Grenier.

In 2010, The Criterion Collection released a restored high-definition digital transfer for home viewing. The film runs 138 minutes with director’s cut at 148 minutes.

Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon passed on the lead role but DiCaprio’s best friend Tobey Maguire landed it.

The scenes of the Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, Kansas, were filmed in Pattonsburg, Missouri. Pattonsburg was flooded in 1993 and the inhabitants relocated, leaving empty buildings and homes available for filming.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1325

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Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrays Bushwhacker Pitt Mackeson.

Skeet Ulrich portrays Bushwhacker Jack Bull Chiles.