Red Badge: Movies Good & Bad

Since this blog is named after the master's most famous work, we should return now and again to Red Badge things. Let's put down the books and turn on the u-tube, so we can take a peek at some Red Badge of Courage movies!

First, the best of the bad. It seems a lot of english literature teachers are inspiring their students to re-enact scenes from the Red Badge on camera. Now, that would be great if the students actually read the book instead of the Cliff Notes (which are nearly as long as the novel itself), or worse if the kids just watch the 1951 movie instead of reading the book or the notes. It would be better still if modern youth weren't on so many drugs that their cinematic efforts wouldn't be so...yeah well perhaps you should just take a peek for yourself, bearing in mind that these are truly the BEST of the bad.

This one is an overview of the action scenes, and in a clever twist shows Henry Fleming initially taking flight when he is spooked by a comrade's whiz in the woods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwwt7wVTwlI

The next video clip, from a different bunch of teens, shows the death of Jim Conklin. In this version Jim runs quite a distance, pauses to scratch a cat's back, then listens appreciatively to some dude playing guitar, before he finally dies. The tattered soldier gives an inspired performance in this one as well, and it has a groovy soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnba2TQLbk

So now that we've seen the kids' take on Red Badge, let's see what Hollywood has to offer. John Huston's 1951 film is a true gem worthy of the book, and some noble privateer has uploaded the entire film to u-tube for us. Watch it here in 7, ten-minute segments, starting with "A," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL-ElEYfdVY&feature=PlayList&p=3039187F892627ED&index=0&playnext=1

The interesting thing to note about the Huston film is that the two baby-faced actors playing Fleming and Wilson, were actually World War II heroes. Henry Fleming is played by Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII. Read his unbelievable war record here, and understand that Murphy did all this before turning 21. A few years after the war ended he was invited to try his hand at acting, and had a reasonably successful career. Murphy was also a country music songwriter, but we'll forgive him for that. His struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder brought early attention to a consequence of war that wasn't fully understood at the time. Murphy died in a plane crash at the age of 46.

Red Badge character Tom Wilson is played by Bill Mauldin, who was a WWII soldier and cartoonist for the military paper Stars & Stripes. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his artistic efforts during the war, which inspired millions of US troops. Mauldin had a long & successful career in journalism following the war, and only dabbled in acting. Despite that i'd say he gives the best performance of any Red Badge actor. Check out Mauldin's bio here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mauldin