In this movie you will see many clichés attacked successfully: women & children being shot; women leading themselves without panicking or falling over tree roots as a plot device; in-cred-ible. There are a great many movies, books, plays and so on with a single "mutant" woman who is somehow, amazingly, able to do "man" things as good as a man. Her uniqueness is usually used in the plot as a comic device to lure men into a false sense of security, except Alien, I guess.
This movie breaks this unspoken code: highly successfully and entertainingly.In fact it states quite blankly that all women are as good as any man; including in the ability to fight to the death and the last bullet.
I had to keep checking that this was made in 1957! The same year as Funny Face.
You have to put aside the 1950s production values, over-long horse-riding long-shots, and just forget the male supporting cast (except the wonderful Audie Murphy) : they are rather clichéd; concentrate on enjoying the entire female ensemble performance: they really do produce an incredible performance; slightly reminiscent to me of The Big Red One.
I cannot think of another movie which has this premise of a group of women fighting for their own sakes; and not needing a man to do it for them.
This movie breaks this unspoken code: highly successfully and entertainingly.In fact it states quite blankly that all women are as good as any man; including in the ability to fight to the death and the last bullet.
I had to keep checking that this was made in 1957! The same year as Funny Face.
You have to put aside the 1950s production values, over-long horse-riding long-shots, and just forget the male supporting cast (except the wonderful Audie Murphy) : they are rather clichéd; concentrate on enjoying the entire female ensemble performance: they really do produce an incredible performance; slightly reminiscent to me of The Big Red One.
I cannot think of another movie which has this premise of a group of women fighting for their own sakes; and not needing a man to do it for them.