Ride with the Devil [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Ang Lee Ang Lee

Overview

"A complex tale of uneasy alliances and hostilities along the Kansas/Missouri border during the Civil War, Ride with the Devil opens in 1862. The story concerns Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), a proud son of the South ready to fight for the Confederate cause after his father is killed by Yankee troops. Chiles's friend, Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), joins the Bushwhackers, a group of renegade Southerners aligned with the Confederate Army, even though his family supports the Union cause - which sets him head-to-head with his father. The two young men, used to the slow pace and gracious lifestyle of the South's privileged class, become guerilla fighters and wander through the countryside together, encountering sudden, shocking and extreme acts of violence. Their comrades include valiant leader Black John (James Caviezel), paranoid madman Pitt (Jonathan Rhys Myers), gentleman George (Simon Baker), and Daniel (Jeffrey Wright), a laconic former slave who unexpectedly fighs for the south despite his race out of sheer loyalty to George - though the others regard him with suspicion. The Bushwhackers hide out in a shed near the home of Sue Lee Shelley (singer/songwriter/poet Jewel), a pregnant widow whose husband was killed three weeks after their marriage. Later, following a shocking and unexpected act of violence, a number of the men team up with the crazed Quantrill (John Ales) to stage an attack on an abolitionist stronghold, but Jake finds his moral conscience growing more acute, and takes the first steps toward romancing and starting a family with Sue Lee in what looks to be a very different post-Civil War future. Adapted from the novel Woe to Live On by Daniel Woodrell, Ride with the Devil was directed by Ang Lee, whose previous project was a very different look at America's past, the 1970s domestic drama The Ice Storm (1997)."

Product Details

Release Date:	04/27/2010
UPC:	0715515055017
Original Release:	1999
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:28:00

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer of Ang Lee's director's cut, supervised and approved by Lee and director of photography Frederick Elmes; Two audio commentaries, one featuring Lee and producer-screenwriter James Schamus, and one featuring Elmes, sound designer Drew Kunin, and production designer Mark Friedberg; New video interview with star Jeffrey Wright; Plus: a booklet featuring essays by the critic Godfrey Cheshire and Edward E Leslie, author of the devil knows how to ride: the true story of William Clarke Quantrill and his confederate raiders

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tobey Maguire	Jake Roedel
Skeet Ulrich	Jack Bull Chiles
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers	Pitt Mackeson
James Caviezel	Black John
Jewel Kilcher	Sue Lee Shelley
Jeffrey Wright	Daniel Holt
Tom Wilkinson	Orton Brown
Simon Baker	George Clyde,Federal at Farm
Tom Guiry	Riley Crawford
Jonathan Brandis	Cave Wyatt
Michael W. Nash	Horton Lee Sr.
John Judd	Otto Roedel
Don Shanks	George
Jay Thorson	Ted
John Ales	Quantrill
John Durbin	Skaggs
Mark Ruffalo	Alf Bowden
Stephen Mailer	Babe Hudspeth
Celia Weston	Mrs. Clark
Amber Griffith	Clark Girl
Margo Martindale	Wilma Brown
Kathleen Warfel	Mrs. Chiles
David Darlow	Asa Chiles
Jennifer Ackland	Grace Shelley Chiles
T. Max Graham	Reverend Wright
Dean Vivian	Storekeeper
Cheryl Weaver	Storekeeper's Wife
Zach Gernier	Mr. Evans
Donna Thomason	Mrs. Evans
Cassie Mae Sears	Mary Evans
Glenn Q. Pierce	Minster
David Wilson	Quantrill's Lieutenant
Larry Greer	Federal Captain
Kevin Fewell	Federal Lieutenant
Michael Owen	Federal Recruits Captain
Jim Shelby	Southern Gentleman
Addison Myers	Southern Gentleman
Michael Linsley Rapport	Drunk Raider
Joseph Moynihan	Mr. Riggs
Jennie Nauman	Mrs. Riggs
Christine Brandt	Pleading Woman
Bill Grivna	Dulinski
Nora Denney	Elderly Woman
Harry Gibbs	Old Man
Clayton Vest	Young Boy
Roger Denesha	Lawrence Raider
Jacob Kozlowski	Lawrence Raider
David Lee Burnos Jr.	Lawrence Raider
Martin E. Liebschner Jr.	Encampment Singer
Marvin Frank Schroeder	Encampment Musician
Steven Price	Encampment Musician
David L. Asher	Encampment Musician
James Urbaniak	Poker Player
David Rees Snell	Poker Player
Ric Averill	Federal at Farm
Jeremy W. Auman	Guard
Scott C. Sener	Guard
Zan McLeod	Guitar Player
John Whelan	Accordian Player
Roger Landes	Mandolin Player
Jeffery Dover	Drummer
Tyler Johnson	Drummer
Kelly Werts	Fiddler
Jewel	Sue Lee Shelley
Matthew Faber	Turner Rawls
Zach Grenier	Mr. Evans
Mychael Danna	Composer

Technical Credits

James Schamus

Ang Lee	Director
James Schamus	Screenwriter,Producer
David Linde	Executive Producer
Robert F. Colesberry	Producer
Ted Hope	Producer
Douglas Coleman	Stunts
Allen Halle	Special Effects
Avy Kaufman	Casting
Philip Stockton	Sound Editor
Drew Kunin	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

After brilliantly recreating the 1970s in the The Ice Storm, director Ang Lee and writer/producer James Schamus delve deeper into American history with this violent, visually striking Civil War drama. Tobey Maguire stars as a young man who comes of age fighting for the South in the bloody guerilla war waged on the Missouri/Kansas border. Ride With The Devil sidesteps any overt politics, focusing instead on the vigilante ethos and male bonding of the freewheeling band of hotheaded state patriots known as "bushwhackers." As he begins to question the cause for which they are fighting, the ever-sensitive Maguire emerges as the group's conscience. Strong performances by Skeet Ulrich, Simon Baker, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and James Caviezel as brothers in arms play well against Maguire's boyish charm, and Jeffrey Wright smolders with quiet charisma as the sole black bushwhacker. Male energy abounds here, nicely offset by pop star Jewel in her screen debut. As the war widow who captures Ulrich's heart, the comely poet and singer bares more than her soul.