In Pursuit of Honor

Plot

The movie opens in 1932 when World War I veterans are protesting and rallying in Washington D.C. for war bonuses they were promised but never received from the government, a true event known as the Bonus March. U.S. cavalry and infantry are present for crowd control. The mounted cavalry is ordered by Major John Hardesty (Bob Gunton), to present their sabers in order to hold back the protesters. First Sergeant or "Top" John Libbey (Don Johnson), along with three fellow soldiers, refuse to draw their swords because the demonstrators were men they served with during the war. As a consequence, their military careers are tarnished and they are relegated to duty at a remote post in the American Southwest.

Two years later, Lieutenant Marshall Buxton (Craig Sheffer), arrives at his new post, where it is discovered during his interview with retiring Colonel Stuart (Rod Steiger) that he was so assigned because of a fight and that many of the others there are also because of insubordination. Lt. Buxton meets Sergeants Libbey, Quinlain (Neil Melville), Mulcahey (John Dennis Johnston), and Shattuck (Robert Coleby), who together manage the herd of remounts.

Col. Stuart is replaced as post commander by Col. Hardesty, (on promotion). Hardesty's mission is to aid in the transition to a mechanized army. To accomplish this, the horses at the outpost will have to be destroyed. Buxton is ordered to escort the animals to slaughter. While watching the first hundred horses being helplessly shot in a mass grave, Lt. Buxton decides, with the concurrence of Libbey and the other Sergeants, to end the massacre and drive the remaining herd to safety.

A manhunt ensues that forces the renegade men and horses north. Along the way, the men get a little help from retired Col. Stuart in his standing with the U.S. War Department and the Colonel Stuart's daughter Jessica (Gabrielle Anwar), who is a journalist. Many of the horses are lost during the journey, due to exhaustion and injuries. The original idea for the horses is the Indian Reservation in Montana but because of Hardesty's Armored Division they are forced to go north to Canada.

After reaching the Canada–US border and making a final run with the horses, the men are granted a pardon by President Franklin D. Roosevelt while being fired on by light artillery which was inaccurate because of the Gunnery Sergeant's order "accidentally" ranged them to be farther than they were because he did not believe in shooting American soldiers. Buxton's men and the remaining horses are allowed safe passage across the border by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While Lt. Buxton decides to return to the United States to face charges, Libbey wants to head toward Alaska, the others decide to stay in Canada.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in Australia.

Accuracy

While the film depicts the US Army eliminating its horsed cavalry units in 1934 by destroying all its horses, research conducted at the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the records at the MacArthur Memorial show no record of a slaughter of horses as alleged in the film, or any order or plan for such destruction.

In reality the United States Army and various states' National Guard units retained horsed cavalry units into the 1940s. Several US Army units, including the 26th Cavalry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts, the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) ("Merrill's Marauders"), and portions of the 3rd Infantry Division and 10th Mountain Division used horses and mules for transportation for men and equipment during the Second World War, even riding into combat in some instances. US Army occupation troops in Germany included a mounted platoon.

The US Cavalry School continued training horses and riders until 1946, when it was inactivated. When the Army's Remount Service was ended, its horses and programs were transferred to the Department of Agriculture, which sold the horses at auction the following year.