The Red Badge of Courage

Under Huston’s direction, Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, about a callow Yankee who flees his company during battle and is haunted by feelings of cowardice, becomes a memorable coming-of-age tale. No doubt informed by his own experiences in World War II (and starring that war’s most decorated veteran, Audie Murphy), The Red Badge of Courage is both honest and terrifying in its staging of warfare. For a film running just over an hour, Huston manages to create an epic feel, yet he never shirks on the human details. Minor characters evade anonymity through canny casting of distinct and haunted performers, including Arthur Hunnicutt, Andy Devine, and Royal Dano as “The Tattered Man.”