A group of confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.
Acting
Van Heflin's crumbling resolve—silence louder than dialogue.
Direction
Fregonese squeezing dread from sunny Vermont streets.
Writing
The widow's son as ticking clock of Benton's humanity.
Director
Hugo Fregonese
Van Heflin
Maj. Neal Benton
Anne Bancroft
Katy Bishop
Richard Boone
Capt. Lionel Foster
Lee Marvin
Lt. Keating
Tommy Rettig
Larry Bishop
Peter Graves
Capt. Frank Dwyer
Douglas Spencer
Rev. Douglas
Paul Cavanagh
Col. Tucker
Will Wright
Josiah Anderson
James Best
Lt. Robinson
John Dierkes
Cpl. Fred Deane
Helen Ford
Delphine Coates
Lee Aaker
Larry's Friend (uncredited)
Claude Akins
Lt. Ramsey (uncredited)
Robert Easton
Rebel Soldier (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on the real St. Albans Raid of 1864, the northernmost Confederate action of the Civil War. Hollywood finally found a Western location they hadn't exhausted.
Released during McCarthy's decline, the film's Confederate 'terrorists' hiding in plain sight hit different—paranoia dressed in period costume.
US
