Rough Riders (miniseries)
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''Rough Riders'' is a 1997 American television
miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
directed and co-written by
John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is considered a member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s for writing the scripts for ''The L ...
about future
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
and the regiment known as the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry; the
Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and diso ...
. The series prominently shows the bravery of the volunteers at the
Battle of San Juan Hill The Battle of San Juan Hill (), also known as the Battle for the San Juan Heights, was a major battle of the Spanish–American War fought between an American force under the command of William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler against a Span ...
, part of the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
of 1898. It was released on DVD in 2006. The series originally aired on
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
with a four-hour running time, including commercials, over two consecutive nights during July 1997. It is, as of 2022, John Milius' last directorial credit for a film.


Plot

In 1898 the US government decided to intervene on the side of the Cuban rebels in their struggle against Spanish rule. Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt decides to experience the war first hand by promoting and joining a volunteer cavalry regiment. The regiment, later known as the Rough Riders, brings together volunteers from all corners of the nation and all walks of life. They include a stagecoach robber, Henry Nash, and patrician men. When Roosevelt and his men finally land on Cuba, they face ambush, intense enemy fire, and a desperate, outnumbered charge up a defended hill.


Cast

*
Tom Berenger Tom Berenger (born Thomas Michael Moore; May 31, 1949) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes in ''Platoon'' (1986). He is also known for playing ...
as Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
*
Sam Elliott Samuel Pack Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades of film and television, he is recognized for his deep sonorous voice. Elliott has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors ...
as Captain William "Bucky" O'Neill *
Gary Busey William Gary Busey (; born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award fo ...
as Major General
Joseph Wheeler Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was a military commander and politician of the Confederate States of America. He was a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil ...
* Brad Johnson as Henry Nash *
Illeana Douglas Illeana Hesselberg ( ; born July 25, 1961), known professionally as Illeana Douglas, is an American actress and filmmaker. She appeared in three episodes of '' Six Feet Under'', for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination as Outsta ...
as
Edith Roosevelt Edith Kermit Roosevelt ( Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the first lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She had previously been the second lady of the United States ...
*
Chris Noth Christopher David Noth ( ; born November 13, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on ''Law & Order'' (1990–1995), Big on ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on ''The ...
as Craig Wadsworth Jr. *
Brian Keith Robert Alba Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997), known professionally as Brian Keith, was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family ...
as
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
* George Hamilton as
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
*
R. Lee Ermey Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film ''Full Met ...
as Secretary of State
John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a Secretary to the President of the United States, private secretary for Abraha ...
*
Nick Chinlund Zareh Nicholas Chinlund (born November 18) is an American actor and voice actor in television, film, and video games. Personal life Zareh Nicholas Chinlund was born in New York City on November 18. Career Chinlund performed on ''General Hospit ...
as
Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United Sta ...
*
Dale Dye Dale Adam Dye Jr. (born October 8, 1944) is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer. A decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, Dye is the founder and head of Warriors, Inc., a technical advisory company specializi ...
as Colonel / Brigadier General
Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, List of colonial governors of Cuba, Military Governor of Cuba, ...
* Holt McCallany as Sergeant
Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American statesman who served as the sixteenth governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from ...
* Geoffrey Lewis as Eli * James Parks as William Tiffany *
Dakin Matthews Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews (born November 7, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. He is best known as Herb Kelcher in '' My Two Dads'' (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in '' Gilmore Girls'' (2000 ...
as Craig Wadsworth Sr. *
Mark Moses Mark Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Paul Young in the ABC comedy-drama '' Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2011) and as Herman "Duck" Phillips in the AMC period drama '' Mad Men'' (2007–2 ...
as Captain
Woodbury Kane Woodbury Kane (February 8, 1859 – December 5, 1905) was a yachtsman and bon vivant, and member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. A director of the Metropolitan Register Company, Kane served aboard the ''Columbia'' in the 1899 America's ...
*
William Katt William Theodore Katt (born February 16, 1951) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Ralph Hinkley/Hanley on the ABC television series '' The Greatest American Hero'' (1981–1983). Katt first became k ...
as Edward Marshall * Francesco Quinn as Rafael Castillo * Adam Storke as
Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...
*
Titus Welliver Titus B. Welliver (born March 12, 1962) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in '' Lost'', Silas Adams in '' Deadwood'', Jimmy O'Phelan in '' Sons of Anarchy'', and the title role in the television ser ...
as B. F. Goodrich * Diana Jorge as Mademoiselle Adler *
Eric Allan Kramer Eric Allan Kramer (born March 26, 1962) is an American actor. He is known to television audiences for his roles as Scott Miller on AMC's '' Lodge 49'', Dave Rogers on ''The Hughleys'', and Bob Duncan on the Disney Channel sitcom '' Good Luck Cha ...
as Henry Bardshar * Angee Hughes as Sara Bardshar * Bob Primeaux as Bob "Indian Bob" * Pablo Espinosa as Major
Frederick Funston Frederick Funston (November 9, 1865 – February 19, 1917), also known as Fighting Fred Funston, was a General officer, general in the United States Army, best known for his roles in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American ...
*
Michael Greyeyes Michael Greyeyes (born June 4, 1967) is a First Nations ( Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and educator. In 1996, Greyeyes portrayed Crazy Horse in the television film ''Crazy Horse''. In 2018, Greyeyes portrayed ...
as Delchaney *
Buck Taylor Buck Taylor (born Walter Clarence Taylor III,Yoggy, Gary A. (1995). Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 123. . May 13, 1938) is an American actor and artist, best k ...
as George Neville * Darin Heames as Lieutenant William Wheeler (based on Joseph M. Wheeler, IV) * Marshall Teague as
John Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forc ...
* John S. Davies as
Henry Lawton Henry Ware Lawton (March 17, 1843 – December 19, 1899) was a U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the American Civil War, Civil War, the Apache Wars, and the Spanish–American War. He received the Medal of Honor for heroism during ...


Production


Development

Tom Berenger had starred in '' Gettysburg'' (1993) for
Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...
and was also a long time admirer of Roosevelt. Berenger pitched the idea of a mini series on the Rough Riders to Turner, giving him an outline, and Turner agreed to finance a four-hour mini series for TNT. "I see him as a `force of nature'," said Berenger, "a kind of sweet, endearing, enthusiastic and honest man who probably wouldn't make it in politics today. Yet this incident in our history -- largely created by William Randolph Hearst and other yellow press barons -- took him to the White House." Berenger originally intended to play Colonel Leonard Wood, with
Stephen Lang Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. He gained fame for his role as main antagonist Miles Quaritch, Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009), for which he won the Saturn ...
to play Roosevelt. Berenger said the mini series "needs a couple other names.'.. It'll be as much fun as `Gettysburg' was to do ... a bunch of guys playing a famous military unit... The casting director of `Gettysburg' told me she had 6,000 actors' submissions for that production. There were a couple of big names who wanted to do it so badly they said, `Just give me a couple of lines and a uniform - that's all I want.'" Hugh Wilson wrote the first draft and planned to direct. Berenger agreed to star and was executive producer.


John Milius

Eventually Wilson bowed out due to creative differences and Berenger suggested he be replaced by
John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is considered a member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s for writing the scripts for ''The L ...
. Milius had long been an admirer of Teddy Roosevelt, and featured him as a character in his film ''
The Wind and the Lion ''The Wind and the Lion'' is a 1975 American epic historical adventure film written and directed by John Milius, and starring Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, Brian Keith, and John Huston. The film is loosely based on the real-life Perdicaris affa ...
'', played by
Brian Keith Robert Alba Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997), known professionally as Brian Keith, was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family ...
. He had tried to make a film about Roosevelt and the Rough Riders for a number of years but "nobody cared," he said. "When I would pitch a film about Roosevelt and the Spanish–American War, they wouldn't get it. They would say, 'It's not exactly a Western, and it's not a war picture, so what is it?' I think it's both. The last great Western of the 19th century.... oosevelt was an extraordinary character. He makes a really good contrast to the way things are today. He put his money where his mouth was. He was the real thing." According to Milius, TNT executives "said, `We'll let you make it if you can make it at this price, write it quick, be in production in three months'... all these impossible things," said Milius. "And I said yes." "This one does sort of glorify war," said Berenger, who eventually agreed to play Roosevelt. "But you have to consider that it was written by John Milius." "In a sense, one man going up that hill, one battle, and a man became President and we acquired an overseas empire," said Milius. "Courage and valor are no longer considered great attributes in our culture. But for Roosevelt, they were the only issues. I agree." Milius says the script was also about the bonding of the men. "It shows you that things happen to people that they never get over. It's why vets can only talk to each other. Everyone of them is scarred for life... Men go off to war because they really want to, not knowing what it's going to be. They think it's an adventure, a romantic fantasy. And, of course, it never is. People are brought together and forced to do something that is truly unnatural to man – kill each other. But in doing this sort of extraordinary self-destruction, man seems to bring all of his virtues to bear."


Shooting

The film was shot in Texas over 48 days on a budget of $19 million. "Believe me, there were no trailers for the stars or anything," said Milius. "If anything, you got a chair." "I was just pleased I got to do the subject matter; the shorter schedule didn't bother me," Milius added. "It was just another way of telling a story. With the shorter schedule, I just did the best I could do, worked twice as hard and didn't get any sleep." Six Texas locations served as stand-ins for Cuba, Florida, New York and Washington, D.C. -
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
, a town southeast of Dallas, was the period railroad; the Cuban jungle scenes were done outside Houston and the hill country outside San Antonio stood in for the training camp and San Juan Hill. Milius considers the film one of his best. "They had a lot of controls on me, at Turner, and I just ran over them... They hated me, but I got the film made, didn't I?... That's what you have to do. You have to be true to the vision that you start out to do, otherwise what are you even there for?" Brian Keith, who played President McKinley, committed suicide after filming and before the mini-series aired.


Historical inaccuracies

* Bucky O'Neill commanded 'A' Troop of which Henry Nash was indeed a member, not 'G' Troop. Craig Wadsworth was a member of 'K' Troop * Craig Wadsworth was depicted as "the top polo player in the country" when his renown as a horseman was actually from being a steeplechase rider. Also, his father Craig Sr. (portrayed by
Dakin Matthews Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews (born November 7, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. He is best known as Herb Kelcher in '' My Two Dads'' (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in '' Gilmore Girls'' (2000 ...
in the film), actually died when Wadsworth was an infant. * Henry Nash was not a stagecoach robber but a miner and a schoolteacher. Nash and O'Neill did not have an antagonistic relationship due to O'Neill's "6th Sense" that Nash was a criminal. Bucky O'Neill and Henry Nash were actually friends. It has been speculated that Milius based Nash's character on William Sterin. In 1889, Sterin and three other men robbed a train in Arizona. O'Neill led the posse that captured Sterin & the three men who were subsequently sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison. In 1897, the men were pardoned and in 1898 Sterin joined the Rough Riders under an assumed name. It is believed that Sternin may have been killed in action during the "Battle of San Juan Hill." * Bucky O'Neill is not buried in the Arizona desert as portrayed in the final scene; instead he is buried at
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
in Virginia. * There would indeed be a statue dedicated to Bucky O'Neill as Nash stated there would be, however, Nash had nothing to do with it. The statue was created after Henry Nash died. * In reality, Theodore Roosevelt and Stephen Crane disliked each other and did not socialize during the Santiago campaign. * Major General Joseph Wheeler is implied to be older and more experienced than Major General
William Rufus Shafter William Rufus Shafter (October 16, 1835 – November 12, 1906) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Fair Oaks. Shafte ...
, the V Corps commander. In reality, Shafter was two years older than Wheeler and also a Civil War veteran (and Medal of Honor recipient). * Wheeler issued the order to attack San Juan Heights not to 1st Lieutenant John J. "Black Jack" Pershing of the 10th Cavalry, but to Brigadier General J. F. Kent, Commander of the 1st Division of the 5th Army Corps, who led his division in the main assault of San Juan Hill while the Rough Riders & the 10th Cavalry attacked Kettle Hill. * Wheeler's son, a West Point graduate who was his aide-de-camp, was actually named Joseph Jr. ("Fighting Joe"), not William as depicted. * Roosevelt experts did not like a scene where Roosevelt, despite his patrician New York upbringing, attends a formal reception with his wife Edith (played by Illeana Douglas) and drags her around the room and harangues guests. "He was filled with wild enthusiasm," Milius said, when questioned about the scene. * The final scene of the movie begins with the caption "22 Years Later." Since the previous scene took place at the conclusion of the 1898 Battle of San Juan Hill, then the final scene must have taken place in 1920. The final scene is where Henry Nash, played by Brad Johnson, is in the desert, presumably Arizona, and is talking to the headstones of Buckey O'Neill and George Neville. In his conversation with the tombstones, Nash mentions 1) He just saw Teddy Roosevelt at Roosevelt's New York home and that Teddy was "doing poorly," 2) that Nash was a millionaire, and 3) that Nash's son was at Harvard. However, Nash could not have met Roosevelt in 1920 because Roosevelt died in 1919 and Nash died in 1902 in Manila, Philippines. Nash was never a millionaire businessman; he was a schoolteacher and his last salary, in 1902 in Manila, was for $1,200 per year. Henry Nash never had a son who went to Harvard. In fact, he never married and never had any children.


Reception


Critical

A reviewer for
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
said "it's not straight history, the name-dropping's something fierce, and fictional characters are mixed liberally with imaginary takes of legendary figures; the first two hours of the four-hour opus are colorful, the second disturbingly corny. "Rough Riders" is a rough, sometimes silly, take on extraordinary American history." A reviewer for the
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
wrote that "it rarely manages to surface above a seemingly endless array of skirmishes, firefights, ambushes, infantry charges, hand-to-hand combat, carnage and killing." The ''Baltimore Sun'' said the film "overstays its welcome by at least a third... so oozes with testosterone that your TV screen may start sprouting facial hair.... Milius gets so caught up in the male bonding, in relishing the way war makes men of boys and brothers of men, that he forgets there's a story to be told. In the end, what could have been a top-notch film about a brief little war, whose lasting import far outweighed its immediate impact, becomes an exercise in the minutiae of battle." ''Filmink'' called it "highly entertaining".


Ratings

''Rough Riders'' was the most watched basic cable original movie in July, delivering 16 million households over 10 plays.


References


External links

*
Medal of Honor Recipients on Film: Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
{{TNTShows 1997 television films 1997 films TNT (American TV network) original films 1990s American television miniseries Films directed by John Milius Spanish–American War films Films set in Cuba Films about presidents of the United States Films shot in San Antonio Films about Theodore Roosevelt Films with screenplays by John Milius Television series set in the 1890s Cultural depictions of Theodore Roosevelt Cultural depictions of William McKinley Cultural depictions of William Randolph Hearst 1990s American films