The Raid (1954 film)
The Raid is a 1954 American Western film set during the American Civil War. It stars Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone and Lee Marvin. It is loosely based on a true incident, the St. Albans Raid, as well as the book by Herbert Ravenal Sass. However the film made a significant change, turning the raid into an act of revenge for William Tecumseh Sherman's burning of Atlanta.
| The Raid | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Hugo Fregonese |
| Produced by | Robert L. Jacks |
| Written by | Francis Cockrell (Story) |
| Screenplay by | Sydney Boehm |
| Based on | Affair at St. Albans 1948 novel by Herbert Ravenel Sass |
| Starring | Van Heflin Anne Bancroft Richard Boone Lee Marvin |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
| Edited by | Robert Golden |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Panoramic Productions |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $650,000[1] |
Plot
In 1864 a group of Confederate prisoners held in a Union prison stockade at Plattsburgh, New York, not many miles from the Canada–US border, escape. They head for Montreal, Canada and then plan a raid across the border into St. Albans, Vermont, to rob its banks to replenish the Confederate treasury and burn buildings as revenge for Sherman's March to the Sea and to tie up Union forces.
The leader of the raid, Major Neal Benton (Van Heflin), heads into St. Albans as a spy, and develops ambiguous feelings about what he is doing when he becomes friends with a young war widow and her friendly son, who he boards with, masquerading as a Canadian businessman. Other raiders stay in an abandoned barn, or pose as traveling street peddlers. One drunken member interrupts a church service, and is promptly shot dead by Benton, the raid leader, almost giving away the plot. The townspeople shower Benton with gratitude for this, not realizing his true identity. On the appointed day, Major Benton in town, and the other raiders at the barn, all don Confederate uniforms, take some citizens hostage, rob the bank's strongbox at gunpoint, burn down the town hall, and gallop north just ahead of an arriving Union force. Burning a bridge behind them, they barely elude the Union forces, and make a successful getaway to nearby Canada.
Cast
- Van Heflin as Maj. Neal Benton / Neal Swayze
- Anne Bancroft as Katie Bishop
- Richard Boone as Capt. Lionel Foster
- Lee Marvin as Lt. Keating
- Tommy Rettig as Larry Bishop
- Peter Graves as Capt. Frank Dwyer
- Douglas Spencer as Rev. Lucas
- Paul Cavanagh as Col. Tucker
- Will Wright as Josiah Anderson, the Banker
- James Best as Lt. Robinson
- John Dierkes as Cpl. Fred Deane
- Helen Ford as Delphine Coates
- Harry Hines as Mr. Danzig
- Simon Scott as Capt. Floyd Henderson
- William Schallert as Rebel Soldier (uncredited)
- Claude Akins as Lt. Ramsey (uncredited)
References
- Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p249
External links
- The Raid on IMDb
- The Raid at AllMovie
- The Raid at the TCM Movie Database
- The Raid at the American Film Institute Catalog