| They Came To Cordura | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Rossen |
| Produced by | William Goetz |
| Written by | Ivan Moffat Robert Rossen |
| Starring | Gary Cooper Rita Hayworth Van Heflin Dick York |
| Music by | Elie Siegmeister |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Editing by | William A. Lyon |
| Release date(s) | 1959 |
| Running time | 123 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
They Came To Cordura is a 1959 Western film co-written and directed by Robert Rossen, starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, and featuring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, Michael Callan, and Dick York. It was based on a 1958 novel by Glendon Swarthout.
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Tom Thorn (Gary Cooper) is a U.S. Army cavalry officer who displays cowardice when his frontier garrison is attacked in 1916. He develops an obsession with what constitutes courage in others. After a cavalry charge during the 1916 U.S. expedition in Mexico to capture Pancho Villa, Thorn recommends four soldiers for the Medal of Honor. During their return journey to Cordura a series of harrowing incidents make it clear that the apparent heroes were motivated by ambition, terror, racism or chance while it is the disgraced Thorn who possesses moral courage.
During World War II, author Glendon Swarthout had obtained eyewitness accounts for Medal of Honor citations while serving with the 3rd Infantry Division in Southern France.[1] This personal experience was applied to his novel.
Dick York suffered a severe back injury during the filming that caused him great pain in his later years, so much so that he was forced to resign from his longtime role of Darrin Stephens on the 1960s television program Bewitched, and indeed, the injury almost ended up ruining his life.[2]
A film tie-in song written by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen was recorded by Frank Sinatra and Robert Horton.[3]
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