20° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Americana - John Ford

Sergeant Rutledge

Sergeant Rutledge

Country: USA
Year: 1960
Duration: 112'


Sergeant Rutledge, a black man, is accused of having strangled a minor, Lucy, and of having shot and killed her father with a pistol. Since he was seen fleeing from the scene of the crime, he is the only suspect, even though he doesn't want to explain why he was running away. Lieutenant Cantrell is his defense lawyer. Cantrell's fiancèe declares at the trial that sergeant Rutledge is a good person who once saved her life. An Indian is found dead and in his pocket is a gold necklace that belonged to Lucy. Slowly but surely, the mystery deepens…

Biography

film director

John Ford

(Cape Elizabeth, USA 1894 – Palm Desert, USA, 1973) was one of the greatest directors and movie producers of American cinema, active in Hollywood starting in the late 1910s (initially as a prop master, director's assistant, extra, and double for his brother, who was an actor) and throughout the entire classic period, from the last years of silent film through the three decades between the early 1930s and the early '60s. He was famous above all for the impressive number of Westerns he made (“My name is John Ford, I make Westerns,” he famously said during an assembly of the Directors' Guild during McCarthyism). He directed roughly one hundred and forty movies and worked for the top Hollywood majors, besides being one of the founders of the Motion Picture Directors Association in 1915. He won six Oscars, four for best director, one for best documentary, and one for best short film. His name is tied to various actors, in particular to the icon of Westerns, John Wayne. Considered by many the greatest director of all time, he influenced the work of generations of directors, from the rising young directors of the Nouvelle Vague to the movie brats of the 1970s, Bogdanovich, Spielberg, and Scorsese.

FILMOGRAFIA

The Tornado (Il tornado, cm, 1917), The Trail of Hate (La pista dell’odio), cm, 1917), The Scrapper (L’attaccabrighe), cm, 1917), The Soul Herder (Il pastore di anime), cm, 1917), Il compagno di Cheyenne (Cheyenne’s Pal), cm, 1917), Straight Shooting (Centro!, 1917), The Secret Man (L’uomo segreto, 1917), A Marked Man (Un uomo segnato, 1917), Bucking Broadway (All’assalto del viale, 1917), The Phantom Riders (I cavalieri fantasma, 1918), Wild Women (Donne selvagge, 1918), Thieves’ Gold (L’oro dei ladri, 1918), The Scarlet Drop (La goccia scarlatta, 1918), Hell Bent Indemoniato, 1918), A Woman’s Fool (Inganno di donna, 1918), The Craving (coregia/co-director Francis Ford, 1918), Three Mounted Men (Tre uomini a cavallo, 1918), Roped (Preso al laccio, 1919), The Fighting Brothers (1919), A Fight for Love (1919), By Indian Post (All’agenzia per gli affari indiani, 1919), The Rustlers (I razziatori, 1919), Bare Fists (A pugni nudi, 1919), Gun Law (La legge della pistola, 1919), The Gun Packer (L’uomo che si era tolto la pistola, 1919),Riders of Vengeance (I cavalieri della vendetta, 1919), The Last Outlaw (L’ultimo fuorilegge, 1919), The Outcasts of Poker Flat (I proscritti di Poker Flat, 1919), The Ace of the Saddle (L’asso della sella, 1919), The Rider of the Law (Il cavaliere della legge, 1919), A Gun Figthin’ Gentleman (Pistola contro gentiluomo, 1919), Marked Men (Uomini segnati, 1919), The Prince of Avenue A (Il principe di Avenue A, 1920), The Girl in n. 29 (La ragazza del n. 29, 1920), Hitchin’ Posts (Ostacoli, 1920), Under Sentence (1920), Just Pals (Amici per la pelle, 1920), The Big Punch (La grande forza, 1921), The Freeze Out (Sbaragliare la concorrenza, 1921), The Wallop (Un fracco di botte, 1921), Desperate Trails (Piste disperate, 1921), Action (Azione, 1921), Sure Fire (A colpo sicuro, 1921), Jackie (1921), Little Miss Smiles (I favori della signorinetta, 1922), Silver Wings (Ali d’argento, coregia/co-director Edwin Carewe (1922), The Village Blacksmith (Il fabbro del villaggio, 1922), The Face on the Bar-Room Floor (1923), Three Jumps Ahead (Tre salti in avanti, 1923), Cameo Kirby (Ladro d’amore, 1923), North of Hudson Bay (A Nord di Hudson Bay, 1923), Hoodman Blind (Paraocchi, 1923), The Iron Horse (Il cavallo d’acciaio, 1924), Hearts of Oak (Cuori di quercia, 1924), Lightnin (La nipote parigina, 1925), Kentucky Pride (L’orgoglio del Kentucky, 1925), Thank You (Grazie!, 1925), The Fighting Heart (Cuore di combattente, 1925), The Shamrock Handicap (La corsa a ostacoli di Shamrock, 1926), Three Bad Men (I tre furfanti, 1926), The Blue Eagle (Aquile azzurre, 1926), Upstream (Controcorrente, 1927), Mother Machree (La canzone della mamma, 1928), Four Sons (L’ultima gioia, 1928), Hangman’s House (La casa del boia, 1928), Napoleon’s Barber (Il barbiere di Napoleone, 1928), Riley the Cop (Riley il poliziotto, 1928), Strong Boy (Forzuto, 1929), The Black Watch (La guardia nera, 1929), Salute (Saluto militare, coregia/co-director David Butler (1929), Men Without Women (Il sottomarino, 1930), Born Reckless (Temerario nato, coregia/co-director Andrew Bennison, 1930), Up the River (1930), Seas Beneath (Dominatori del mare 1931), The Brat (La trovatella, 1931), Arrowsmith (Un popolo muore, 1931), Air Mail (L’aeroporto del deserto, 1932), Flesh (Carne, 1932), Pilgrimage (Pellegrinaggio, 1933), Doctor Bull (1932), The Lost Patrol (La pattuglia sperduta, 1934), The World Moves On (Il mondo va avanti, 1934), Judge Priest (Il giudice, 1934), The Whole Town’s Talking (Tutta la città ne parla, 1935), The Informer (Il traditore, 1935), Steamboat Around the Bend (Il battello pazzo, 1935), The Prisoner of Shark Island (Il prigioniero dell’isola degli squali, 1936), Mary of Scotland (Maria di Scozia, 1936), The Plough and the Stars (L’aratro e le stelle, 1936), Wee Willie Winkie (Alle frontiere dell’India, 1937), The Hurricane (Uragano, 1937), Four Men and a Prayer (Il giuramento dei quattro, 1938), Submarine Patrol (Pattuglia sottomarina, 1938), Stagecoach (Ombre rosse, 1939), Young Mr Lincoln (Alba di gloria, 1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (La più grande avventura, 1939), The Grapes of Wrath (Furore, 1940), The Long Voyage Home (Lungo viaggio di ritorno, 1940), Tobacco Road (La via del tabacco, 1941), How Green Was My Valley (Com’era verde la mia valle, 1941), They Were Expendable (I sacrificati, 1945), My Darling Clementine (Sfida infernale, 1946), The Fugitive (La croce di fuoco, 1947), Fort Apache (Il massacro di Fort Apache, 1948), The Three Godfathers (In nome di Dio, 1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (I cavalieri del Nord Ovest, 1949), When Willie Comes Marching Home (Bill sei grande!, 1950), Wagon Master (La carovana dei mormoni, 1950), Rio Grande (Rio Bravo, 1950), What Price Glory (Uomini alla ventura, 1952), The Quiet Man (Un uomo tranquillo, 1952), The Sun Shines Bright (Il sole splende alto, 1953), Mogambo (id., 1953), The Long Gray Line (La lunga linea grigia, 1955), Mister Roberts (La nave matta di Mister Roberts, 1955), The Searchers (Sentieri selvaggi, 1956), The Wings of Eagles (Le ali delle aquile, 1957), The Rising of the Moon (Storie irlandesi, 1957), So Alonecm (1958), The Last Hurrah (L’ultimo urrà, 1958), Gideon of Scotland Yard (24 ore a Scotland Yard, 1959), The Horse Soldiers (Soldati a cavallo, 1959), Sergeant Rutledge (I dannati e gli eroi, 1960), The Alamo (La battaglia di Alamo, 1960),Two Rode Together (Cavalcarono insieme, 1961), The Civil War (La guerra civile, ep. di How the West Was Won - La conquista del West, 1962), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (L’uomo che uccise Liberty Valance, 1962), Donovan’s Reef (I tre della Croce del Sud, 1963), Cheyenne Autumn (Il grande sentiero, 1964), Young Cassidy (Il magnifico irlandese, 1965), 7 Women (Missione in Manciuria, 1966).

Cast

& Credits

Director: John Ford.
Soggetto e sceneggiatura: James Warner Bellah, Willis Goldbeck.
Director of photography: Bert Glennon.
Music: Howard Jackson.
Art director: Eddie Imazu.
Costume designer: Marjorie Best.
Editor: Jack Murray.
Sound: M.A. Merrick.
Cast and characters: Jeffrey Hunter (Tom Cantrell), Constance Towers (Mary Beecher), Billie Burke (Cordelia Fosgate), Woody Strode (Braxton Rutledge), Juano Hernandez (Matthew L. Skidmore), Willis Bouchey (Otis Fosgate).
Production company: Patrick Ford, Willis Goldbeck per John Ford Productions/Warner Bros.
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