This is director Andrew V McLaglen's best film by a country mile. The story of a farming family that tries to keep out of the American Civil War, it's unpretentious, very much to do with real life and absolutely beautifully made. And it gives James Stewart, as the father of the family, the kind of role that actors of his potential and maturity must dream about. He plays it so well that the performance has to be seen to appreciate its closeness to life. Every inch of the way, the film, while punctuated with imaginative action scenes, has something to say that is sensible, thought-provoking or humorous. At the birth of his eldest son's first child, Stewart's youngest son asks for a glass of celebration liquor. 'I only want a taste,' he pleads. 'Boy,' replies Stewart, 'some men have drunk it all their lives and never tasted it'.

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