Yellowneck (1955)

I love this movie so much

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

In the days before Disneyland & old retirement homes. Florida was best known for the savage and brutal swamp land call the Everglades. Directed by R. John Hugh, the movie showcase how violent, the land can be. The movie tells the story of five Confederate deserters AKA Yellownecks trying to get a sympathetic Seminole to guide them south to the ocean, where a British blockade runner awaits to ferry the fugitives to Cuba. As the five argue at their first meeting, a mortally wounded Indian guide stumbles upon them. Now they have no choice, but to blindly travel through miles of swamp known as the Everglades, using only the sun as reference. This small group encounters many dangerous hazards: a tropical storm, alligators, rattlesnakes, a bobcat, malarial mosquitoes, hostile natives, and quicksand. Can they survive their ordeal or will Mother Nature get the upper hand? Without spoiling the movie, too much, despite its main characters being soldiers, Yellowneck feels least than a war movie and more like a survivor movie. The movie really makes Florida look like, the worst place to be, at the time. I think the movie works in that survival concept. It's hard to root for cowards, but similar civil war films like 1951's The Red Badge of Courage & 2003's Cold Mountain made it work, but giving their audience something in their characters to hook on, mostly redemption or the will to love. It's too bad, that the film felt to make their characters as unlikeable as possible, without giving much to root for. I guess the movie was trying to portray sinners going to the depths of hell. The movie shows their vice, and their punishment for that crime. First off, you got the Colonel (Stephen Courtleigh), whom suffer from alcoholism. His crime was giving drunk orders on the field of battle, which cause many of his men to die. His punishment, was a drought that make him, hallucinating to the point, that he might get himself killed in battle with a Seminole tribe. It's really brilliant if you think about it. The second man, nickname Cockney (Harold Gordon) for his odd English cockney accent that felt like jarring, happens to be very homicidal, and willing to strike anybody that get in his way. His castigation mirrors his actions. While, he's quick on trying to get his comrades killed, he finds himself, paralyzed in fear, in front of snakes. Can he survive or will he die in a lame, but funny death scene? Berry Kroeger stars as the strained and paranoid gold theft, Plunkett. He's by far, the worst of them all in hideous way, but the most humorous character in the film. Without spoiling too much, about what happen to him, let's just say, the price of his crimes isn't worth it. While, Plunkett is the worst character and well developed, the movie two best characters weren't. They don't even have names nor characteristics. One is known as the Sergeant (Lin McCarthy) and the other is just 'the Kid' (Bill Mason). Since, there was no strong reasons to root for any of these guys. The ending of the film felt very anti-climax. I give the movie, some credit. It really did capture, the harsh life in the Everglades. The scenes that take place during a storm were actually shot during a hurricane that visited Florida during the shooting schedule. It's by far, the best part of the film. The Snakes and Alligators were real, but it was awkwardly shot, with the actors. The film really did lost its menace look, when the alligators look like they didn't want, no part in this film. Another problem of the film with the film copy. Since the movie is public domain, most of the DVDs are in poor production. Lots of the footage hasn't aged well. Lots of film dust and scratches in the visuals. The music score by Laurence Rosenthal was alright, but the audio is a bit out of sync. It make it difficult or even painful to get through. While, Technicolor process were expensive and difficultly in the 1950s. There were versions of this film that were in color. The original film was made in Trucolor and released by Republic Pictures, but the copies of that version are rare. The version, I got on my DVD, wasn't in color. It was in black and white. It really hurt the film. The problem lies in that fact that the Everglades had plenty of color contrast, but without dark and light contrasts, the black and white footage looks flat and white-wash. Overall: Yellowneck was an interesting premise that could had better. Left Much to Be Desired. Hope, one day, it gets the remade, it deserves.

An interesting plot premise is killed with poor direction and a lot of overacting with Yellowneck. There's also a distinct lack of characters who you really root for to get out of the Everglades.Republic released this film in 1955 about five men who are Confederate Army deserters and not some of the greatest specimens of manhood you'll ever want to encounter. Lin McCarthy, Billl Mason, Harold Gordon, and Berry Kroeger are the deserters and from some of the names you know that by the type of roles they've played. Later on they're joined by Stephen Courtleigh, a colonel who deserted the Star And Bars. He's got pretensions, but deep down he's no better than the other four.For the one and there is only one who makes it there is then the minor problem of crossing 90 miles of ocean to Cuba. Still it is an achievement to have survived the Everglades and all that inhabit it.If you care to watch you can find out which one survives.

Five Confederate soldiers in Florida have deserted from their units and head out for the coast with the hope of finding a ship which will carry them to Cuba. But in order to get there they have to contend with the dangers presented by the swamps along with hostile Seminoles who are fully aware of their presence. Now, I generally like movies of this type and this particular one had some good points and some bad ones. First, I liked the fact that it was filmed in color because, even though it cost quite a bit more back in the 50's, it enabled the director (R. John Hugh) to take full advantage of the beautiful scenery. On the other hand, while the movie flowed adequately from one scenario to another, the ending left much to be desired as it seemed to end too abruptly. Likewise, I never really felt anything for any of the characters. Of course, the fact that they were deserters and not necessarily worthy of any respect or concern may have had something to do with it. Still, it would have helped the film if there had been a bit more character development. It also would have helped if they had shown more misery created by the lack of food and water than they did. It would have added to the realism. All things considered then I rate it as slightly below average.

This modestly budgeted oddity from the mid-fifties is as good an example as I can think of of how to make something out of nothing. Set in the waning days of the Civil War, Yellowneck follows several Confederate army deserters in their flight through the Florida Everglades. The actors are all good and the predicament these characters are in is dramatized with a fair amount of realism. Poisonous snakes, insects and alligators abound, as these unfortunate men have gone from the hell of the Civil War into the frying pan of the swamp. They squabble amongst one another a good deal, but their biggest enemy is nature itself, which seems to be conspiring against them at every turn. One comes to like some of these men very much, and despise others. The pathetic nature of their plight is always apparent, and we cannot help but feel for them as they slog through the mud, their hopes diminishing with each passing day. A fine. psychologically provocative piece of film-making, in tone and sensibility, a sort of cross between Ambrose Bierce and Albert Camus.