Popular reviews

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  Review by FedVal ★★★

  Fin dai titoli di testa ci viene illustrato come fin dai tempi antichi il bestiame abbia rappresentato una preziosa fonte di sostentamento (importante persino dal punto di vista religioso-sacrificale) per le civiltà della storia. Lo stesso vale dunque per il periodo della guerra civile americana. Ispirato a una storia vera il film vede il protagonista del titolo cercare di spostare una mandria di animali da condurre al macello (preziosa provvigione alimentare) dal campo dei nordisti a favore dei sudisti che lo minacciano di morte. William Holden interpreta un opportunista sempre pronto a cercare una via d’uscita dagli ostacoli che gli si pongono davanti e a guadagnare la sua somma di denaro, disinteressandosi a quale lato della barricata stare; le cose…

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  Review by waiyanaung ★★★½

  The slickest piece of cattle stealing I ever heard of

  Set during the Civil War, Alvarez Kelly tells the true story of titular character, a mexican national cattleman who detestes both the Yanks and the South, and trying to make much money as he can out of the war. At the beginning he is driving 2500 heads of beef to sell them to Union army, but only after he made a deal he was captured by Confederate and forced into stealing what he just sold and must drive all of them into Confederate state. So what will he do? Plans escape or just made money and turns his head away?

  History often focus on the big wars themselves that forgets…

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  Review by maneleeo ★★★

  When William Holden and Richard Windmark are together, the film is so interesting. It's as if time stopped and tensions rose to the max. However, remove this dynamic and you can clearly see where the film falls short.

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★★

  They say an army marches on its stomach, and it couldn't be more true than during the American Civil War where rations became as scarce as ammunition when certain cities were subject to blockades. Alvarez Kelly is based around a famous Confederate Raid, The Beefsteak Raid, where Confederate Cavalry went behind enemy lines to basically steal a herd of cattle to save the besieged inhabitants of the beleaguered City of Richmond. Although director Edward Dmytryk's film has a touch of historical accuracy about it, it's mostly dramatized with two stellar performances from both William Holden and Richard Widmark.

  Alvarez Kelly (Holden) is an expert cattleman hired by the Union Army to deliver cattle to feed the Union troops. Kelly is…

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  Review by Fint ★★★½ 13

  Rollicking Civil War/Western crossbreed, based on a true story about a cattle rustling mission of Union cattle by a band of Confederates. The production survived the drunken carousing of William Holden (nevertheless charismatic onscreen), aided by the steadying influence of an eyepatched Richard Widmark. It's not pedigree but it is mighty entertaining, particularly a rousing rustling finale, shot and edited skilfully by Edward Dmytryk.

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  Review by Luke Thorne ★★★

  Edward Dmytryk’s Civil war era western. William Holden is Alvarez Kelly, the man who stole a herd of cattle and panicked an army. Richard Widmark is the colonel trying to bring him down. With Victoria Shaw and Janice Rule.

  The story concerns Alvarez Kelly (William Holden), a Mexican cattle farmer who is trying his hardest to stay away from the Civil War. He has no curiosity in which side may gain triumph or defeat – Alvarez is far more worried about his individual existence, and about making cash.

  It isn’t long before he finds himself in the intermediate of the battle, however, when a allied colonel (Richard Widmark) seizures the rancher and leaves Alvarez with no option but to support…

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  Review by Filipe Furtado ★★

  Sluggish late Edward Dmytryk civil war western. It is a shame as the hook here (both armies competing for meat for the troops) is quite good and Holden and Widmark do there usual solid work. It is bloated in that very 60s way, the action is too big and chaotic and it had a hard time moving between parts. The interplay between the stars is the only thing going for it. Dmytryk heavy hand literal direction feels out of place with the absurd heist material. This end up his last studio film before staying a final decade working in European co-productions.

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  Review by Niall Urquhart ★★½

  I'm never going to be able to resist a film with William Holden and Richard Widmark but I do wish this one was a bit better. Particularly as the era of the spaghetti western was underway and this one felt pretty old fashioned. It did have an original take on it though focusing on the cattle feeding both armies in the civil war. But it took a very pro-confederacy angle which was odd. The film was too long and dragged a lot but the climax with the stampeding cattle was great.

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  Review by Nick ★★★

  Moderate spoilers follow.

  This feels like the rough draft of a film whose final draft would have been excellent.

  This one is just decent, though.

  The politics are thorny, but deliberately so, and it's easy to imagine a version of it--and I'd like to think it's what they were going for--that feels more like Kelly has a valid gripe against both sides of the war and less like Confederate apologia. There's the faint ghost of a usual Dmytryk hero in Kelly--of a man who believes himself to be one thing and learns through fire that he's very nearly the opposite--but it's not the focal point that it usually is in films Left Hand of God or Warlock despite having a…

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  Review by Matthew Rice ★★★½

  This highly fictionalized account of 'The Beefsteak Raid' during the US Civil War is a fun story told well. William Holden is perfect as a self serving, slightly bitter, cowboy-businessman who couldn't give a damn about the war but will happily make money out of it (but really has a heart of gold when it comes to helping pretty women). The dialogue is slick and the action solid but there's nothing about this that will make it stand above the other good Westerns of the 60's.
  Impressive stunts deserve a mention during a sequence involving a stampede, a bridge, a battle and explosions aplenty but they did that thing that bugs the hell out me where they show they same shot multiple times (I counted 3 times the same shot of Holden riding past on his horse at high speed). If you didn't get the shot on the day, just work with what you have!

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  Review by Lorenzo ★★★

  During the Civil War, Mexican cattleman Alvarez Kelly (William Holden) supplies the Union with cattle until Confederate Colonel Tom Rossiter's (Richard Widmark) hungry men force Kelly to change his customers. (IMDb)

  This is not a bad film once you get past that William Holden is playing a Mexican of Irish descent. 

  Once the movie gets rolling, William Holden and Richard Widmark have a great chemistry in their scenes together. Their “frenemies” interactions make this movie enjoyable. 

  It just doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

  Watched via TCM

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  Review by johnlease ★★★ 2

  William Holden is supposed to be a Half-Irish Mexican. Actual Irishman, and excellent actor, Patrick O'Neal plays the well-pressed,  proper Union Army Officer who contracts Holden to herd beef on the hoof to where they need it for supply. Holden demonstrates his apathy and opportunism by saying "I don't care who wins". He soon meets the other side of the conflict when the plan is painfully interrupted by Confederate raider Richard Widmark (who sports a none too convincing Southern accent).  An inventive, if somewhat odd, opening titles sequence starts this picture off. Some good dialogue."God deliver me from dedicated men".