Sergeant Rutledge Overview:

Sergeant Rutledge (1960) was a Western - Crime Film directed by John Ford and produced by Willis Goldbeck.

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Woody Strode is “Sergeant Rutledge”

By Stephen Reginald on Nov 11, 2021 From Classic Movie Man

Woody Strode is “Sergeant Rutledge” Sergeant Rutledge (1960) is an American Western film directed by John Ford, starring Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, and Woody Strode in the title role. Other actors in the supporting cast include Billie Burke and Juano Hernandez. Of all of Ford... Read full article


Sergeant Rutledge (1960): Starring Woody Strode

By 4 Star Film Fan on Jan 8, 2021 From 4 Star Films

“It’s alright for Mr. Lincoln to say we’re free, but that ain’t so. Maybe someday, but not yet.” – Sergeant Rutledge Sergeant Rutledge rarely gets talked about with the greatest westerns or even the greatest westerns of John Ford. Without getting overly effusive w... Read full article


Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

By Beatrice on Jan 7, 2017 From Flickers in Time

Sergeant Rutledge Directed by John Ford Written by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck 1960/USA John Ford Productions First viewing/Netflix rental Two years before To Kill a Mockingbird, John Ford gave us this courtroom drama/Western about a Buffalo solider accused of raping and killing a whi... Read full article


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Quotes from

1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge: Soldier can never think by his heart, ma'am. He got to think by the book.


1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge: Anyone come, you ain't gonna be in here with me.
Mary Beecher: What are you talking about?
1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge: I'm talking about you. A white woman. White women only spell trouble for any of us.
Mary Beecher: That's nonsense. We're just two people trying to stay alive.
1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge: Lady, you don't know how hard I'm trying to stay alive.


Lt. Tom Cantrell: [Complaining about the prosutor's tactics] A soldier's life is at stake and this man is playing cheap legal tricks!


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Facts about

Unsatisfied with Woody Strode's rehearsal of bullet-wounded drowsiness, director John Ford took his own steps to make Strode appear authentically weary for Rutledge's gunshot early on in the film. The day before the scene was to be shot, Ford got Strode drunk early in the day and had an assistant follow him around for the rest of the day to make sure he stayed that way. When the time came for Strode to shoot the scene with Constance Towers, his hangover gave him the perfect (for Ford) appearance of a man who had been shot.
Jeffrey Hunter's character refers early on in the film to the Jorgensen Ranch. Director John Ford's classic western The Searchers, also starring Hunter, ended with Hunter's character arriving at the Jorgensen Ranch.
Final film of Billie Burke.
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