They Came to Cordura ** (1959, Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, Michael Callan, Dick York) – Classic Movie Review 6825

Director Robert Rossen’s 1959 Western, based on a 1958 novel by Glendon Swarthout, is set in 1916 on the Mexican border. The movie is intelligent and interesting, but moderate and sedate.

Rossen’s historical adventure drama is enlivened by its cast, with Gary Cooper as a disgraced officer, Major Thomas Thorn, who has to round up five American officer heroes to escort them to the Cordura safe place. He finds the lovely, fiery Adelaide Geary (Rita Hayworth) on his Mexican travels during the US war on Pancho Villa.

Unfortunately, Cooper looks unwell and weary, and Rossen’s low-action handling is very sombre, unexciting and uninspired.

Also in the cast are Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, Michael Callan, Dick York, Robert Keith, Carlos Romero, Jim Bannon, Edward Platt, Maurice Jara, Sam Buffington, Arthur Hanson, Clem Fuller and Wendell Hoyt.

They Came to Cordura is directed by Robert Rossen, runs 123 minutes, is made by Baroda Productions and Goetz Pictures, released by Columbia, is written by Robert Rossen and Ivan Moffat, is shot by Burnett Guffey, is produced by William Goetz, is scored by Elie Siegmeister and Morris Stoloff, and is designed by Cary Odell.

It is Siegmeister’s only Hollywood film score. A tie-in song written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen was recorded by Frank Sinatra and Robert Horton.

Tab Hunter stars as Lieutenant William Fowler in They Came to Cordura (1959).

The cast are Gary Cooper as Major Thomas Thorn, Rita Hayworth as Adelaide Geary, Van Heflin as Sgt John Chawk, Tab Hunter as Lieutenant William Fowler, Richard Conte as Cpl Milo Trubee, Michael Callan as Pvt Andrew Hetherington, Dick York as Pvt Renziehausen, Robert Keith as Col Rogers, Carlos Romero as Arreaga, Jim Bannon (billed as James Bannon) as Capt Paltz, Edward Platt as Col DeRose, Maurice Jara as Mexican federale, Sam Buffington as First Correspondent and Arthur Hanson as Second Correspondent.

Cooper started a film production company, Baroda Productions, in 1958. In 1959 it made his movies The Hanging Tree, They Came to Cordura and The Wreck of the Mary Deare.

York suffered a life-damaging back injury during filming and he had to quit Bewitched. ‘The muscles along the right side of my back tore,’ he recalled. ‘That was the start of it all: the pain, the painkillers, the addiction, the lost career.’

Filming took place at Snow Canyon and Harrisburg in Utah as well as Indio, California.

Swarthout was inspired by eyewitness accounts for Medal of Honor citations while serving in Southern France with the 3rd Infantry Division in World War Two.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6825

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com