Shenandoah

Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen

1965

***

A forgotten and almost unfashionable anti-war western. When I hear the far right, particularly the American far right, talk of the good ole days they often site Westerns as being one aspect of that better life of old. They seem to have forgotten the message that many of these films deliver. Shenandoah is anti-war, anti-religion but pro-family and pro-productiveness. It's a socialist western made just 10 years after the 'Red Scare' starring American golden boy James Stewart no less. I guess people were more concerned with the historical inaccuracies but it's nice to see an old film that goes against the grain and no one seems to have noticed.