The Red Badge of Courage

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Aldo G Want to make a movie? Watch this one as part of your preparation. It works on many levels. Unfortunately, the director's original cut was destroyed by the studio after they shortened the movie by 30 minutes, or so, and so we'll never know how much better, or worse, the film could have been Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/01/25 Full Review Kevin B Not a bad movie would watch again Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member This was always going to be a tough adaptation, even for John Huston, as much of the text deals with the inner meditations of the protagonist and his thoughts as they relate to cowardice and courage. Huston uses narration to try to impress the main character's stream of consciousness onto the audience but the result feels choppy and never really worked for me, which is likely one of the reasons the run time was definitely shorter than I'd have expected. Huston does provide some decent battle scenes which help capture the chaotic and less refined nature of war. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member "The Red Badge Of Courage" was a movie released in 1951, taking place during the Civil War. The fictional movie focused on a young soldier named Henry Flemming and his experience in the Civil War. Shortly after the movie begins you see Henry trying to figure out his emotions. He constantly debated whether he was a man, or if he would betray his fellow soldiers during battle and flee. For the first few minutes in the movie, it took me a while to figure out who Henry was. The book told us his journey in joining the war and when he left his mother who begged him to not go. Later once I found out who Henry was his emotions changed. In his first battle, he fought very courageously, but in his second battle, however, he fled from the fight afraid. Contemplating his feelings, he felt guilty and ashamed for not having an injury as his other soldiers did. But after he received his "Red Badge of Courage," his feelings changed. Throughout the movie, Audie Murphy who played the character, Henry Fleming, did a good job expressing his emotions and thoughts by his facial features throughout the movie. Even though I thought that the movie was good at portraying soldiers' emotions, the death scenes weren't believable. It almost looked like the soldiers were fainting or passing out for no reason. Though the death scenes were not believable, the special effects were stunning. The bombs and the bullets were so realistic that it almost looked like the battles were real. Overall, the movie was excellent. It was a well-made movie giving almost everything you need to keep the viewer on their toes. Though there were a few mistakes, everything tied together perfectly. Especially how the plot was the same as the book! Well done! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The Red Badge of Courage which was released in 1951 was based off of the novel, Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. This movie is a fictional story on the American Civil War. At the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Henry Flemming, a young boy who entered the army. He is the main character of this story. We see his journey throughout this story. At first he wonders if he will run from battle and in fact, he does at one point. However, later on, after he receives a "red badge of courage," a fierceness overcomes him and his bravery shines. For a 1951 movie this is pretty good. The battles were pretty realistic with the loud gun-shots and shells exploding. The acting was not the best and when they died it looked very fake with them jumping back after getting shot and laying on the ground. Audie Murphy, who played Henry Flemming, did a pretty good job and Bill Mauldin, who played Tom Wilson, did good but most of the other actors didn't do so well. In my opinion I think this is a decent movie at best. It is pretty well done by the director and whoever wrote the script, but I think this movie deserves 3 stars and a half stars at best. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The movie and the book of "The Red Badge of Courage" are both pretty well made, especially for the movie with being in the earlier times. It is overall realistic besides the deaths. There were a few scenes I noticed that were only in the movie, but not the book. There were actually quite a few differences between the movie and the book. The uniforms in the movie were not very realistic. In my opinion, the uniforms should have been way more tattered and worn down. Overall it was a pretty decent movie and the book was quite intriguing. Comparing the two is kind of difficult though, since there are some differences but it isn't even noticeable. The book itself was very detailed and smooth, but the parts where they wrote the strong accent as how it would sound was just unnecessary to me. The dialect was funny at first but it rapidly got annoying and difficult to read. There were a lot of things the movie did not elaborate on, like the beginning of the book before it even got into war was pretty long, whereas the movie kind of rushed past the parts with his mother. Let's focus on the acting now. In my opinion, the acting was pretty spot on and dramatic, besides the deaths. Those were just a bit over the top and way too drawn out. The book is what most interested me. In the movie, Henry came off as a bit self-centered to me. It's like he went into war thinking death would be so easy going. In the end he learned he needed to fight for what he believed in and kind of had a manic episode. In conclusion though, they both did their job to keep me interested. I would definitely recommend checking out both. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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