The Civil War marked the end of America's pastoralism.
Nothing is in order here, nothing is clear.
It is this appreciation for both the wider and more intimate implications of breaking with a long tradition that makes Ride with the Devil the most rewarding Civil War film I have ever seen. Based on the novel Woe to Live On , the movie boasts a complexity one usually associates with a novel, but which most adaptations never achieve. The cinematography by Frederick Elmes, of Blue Velvet fame, is also remarkable, with spectacular widescreen shots of big and very graphic battle scenes. I don't think anyone else has ever done this before. Anyway, it is the perfect ending for this great American movie.