Product Details

• Actors: James MacArthur, Nick Adams, Jack Ging, Kurt Russell, Peggy Lipton
• Directors: Michael O'Herlihy
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 18, 1997
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630027666X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,678 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #1 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Kurt Russell
  #41 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Classics
  #70 in	Video > Kids & Family > Family Films

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable plot twists, October 24, 2005

By	microjoe - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

STORY: A young Private in the Confederate army, Willie Prentiss (Kurt Russell at about 16 years old), is assigned to guard a remote river outpost during the American Civil War. Lonely Willie becomes pals with his Union army counterpart, Corporal Jenkins (James MacArthur) and they talk across the river. They hold shooting contests, and trade tobacco for coffee. One day Willie accidentally shoots his own commander, Lt. Mosby (Jack Ging), and the Corporal helps him escape court martial by disguising him as a injured Yankee. Willy is shot sneaking home, but manges to make it. He lands up joining the maruders in one exciting caper after another and rejoins Mosby in trying to capture a Union General. In another plot twist, Corporal Jenkins is captured, and is soon in love with Willies cousin. An enjoyable story with tons of twists and turns.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by studio veteran Michael O'Herlihy. MacArthur appeared in 4 Disney theatrical movies, and Russel appeared in 9 Disney theatrical movies and 2 of their television movies when he was young and has returned to the Studio in recent years. One of the reviewers tried to compare this to a full length movie version from Canada and seemed disappointed at the shorter length of the Disney version of the Mosby story. The reason for is simple. This film was originally planned as a U.S theatre release, but was only released in theatres to overseas audiences. They did shoot enough footage for a longer more in-depth story and there was enough extra footage shot that when it was combined with the original, the studio chose to re-edit all of it from scratch to create 3 separate episodes for January 8, 15, and 12, 1967 release on "The Wonderful World of Disney" television show under the grouped title "Willie and the Yank". The first episode in the Willie series was "The Deserter", second was "The Mosby Raiders", and "The Matchmakers". The version on this page is the shorter overseas theatrical release, also released in 1967, and in my opinion the separate re-edited episodes are better. All in all, very enjoyable, and I highly reccommend!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY GOOD MOVIE, July 27, 2002

By	JAMES REED (MISHAWAKA, INDIANA United States) - See all my reviews

i HAD RENTED THIS MOVIE ABOUT 5-6 YRS AGO BUT COULDNT FIND IT AGAIN--I JUST THOUGHT OF TYPING IT IN HERE TO THE BROWSER AND I FOUND IT--IM A CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTOR AND IT REALLY A WONDERFUL MOVIE THAT WALT DISNEY MADE--I ESPECIALLY LIKE THE PART WHEN MOSBY BROUGHT GEN STAUGHTON TO CONFEDERATE HEAD QUARTERS AND THE LOOK ON FITZ LEES FACE--YES IM VERY MUCH PLEASED WITH THE CONTENT ALSO--

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Disney movie with good clean fun for everyone!, October 28, 2004

By	Dave (Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I grew up watching (& loving) all the Disney classics & since I'm a major Civil War buff this along with "Johnny Shiloh" & "The Great Locomotive Chase" have always been favorites of mine. While this fun Civil War adventure gets some of the history about Mosby wrong, it at least gets the main facts right, like his famous raid behind Union lines & capture of Gen. Staughton. It stars a very young Kurt Russell as well as James MacArthur (who was in "The Battle of the Bulge" also) & has plenty of humor, action, romance, & suspense to keep just about anyone entertained from beginning to end! I only hope Disney will release it on dvd soon because my vhs copy is getting worn out.