Yellowneck

What this really needed was a star... He needn't have been an A-lister, but it really required a lynch-pin character to hold it together. As it is, it hasn't, so is little better than a mediocre swamp adventure film that follows a band of fleeing Confederate soldiers trying to escape the war and traverse the treacherous Everglades heading for Cuba? The photography is colourful but that's about it. None of the characters are interesting, likeable or remotely engaging; the plot and the dialogue are weak and by half way through I found myself wondering if they could even swim! Not good, sorry....

Five Confederate soldiers go AWOL, and risk the swamps of the Everglades to head to Cuba, as opposed to what they've been through already.

If you get the feeling not all of them will survive, you'd be correct.

A movie like this tries to play for both adventurous entertainment and credibility.

"Yellowneck" straddles the line in a way that makes you feel like you haven't been totally cheated out of an hour of your life. It isn't classic, in my opinion, but it isn't nearly as contrived as many other such movies.

When one weighs a movie like this, the deciding weight is in the credibility of the plot, story, and characters.

We have an inkling who will survive, and the way the film goes about this process is perhaps a little contrived, but not very contrived.

If you watch this, I feel safe to say you will also rate it close to middle ground, like I did.

Five Confederate soldiers in Florida have deserted from their units and head out for the coast with the hope of finding a ship which will carry them to Cuba. But in order to get there they have to contend with the dangers presented by the swamps along with hostile Seminoles who are fully aware of their presence. Now, I generally like movies of this type and this particular one had some good points and some bad ones. First, I liked the fact that it was filmed in color because, even though it cost quite a bit more back in the 50's, it enabled the director (R. John Hugh) to take full advantage of the beautiful scenery. On the other hand, while the movie flowed adequately from one scenario to another, the ending left much to be desired as it seemed to end too abruptly. Likewise, I never really felt anything for any of the characters. Of course, the fact that they were deserters and not necessarily worthy of any respect or concern may have had something to do with it. Still, it would have helped the film if there had been a bit more character development. It also would have helped if they had shown more misery created by the lack of food and water than they did. It would have added to the realism. All things considered then I rate it as slightly below average.

Never waste 90 minutes of your time on this terrible take on Civil War. Some old films were never good, and this is one of them. The story of 5 Cofederate deserters (Yellownecks, as they were called) could have been OK, but here it was not. Slow, poorly shot film is only good for the Florida Everglade views, animals, snakes, gators, jungles, bogs and rivers. The 5 actors are intermittently forgettable ad pathetic. They encounter almost every ordeal on the way and it is obvious which next they will come soon into. Nay, sirs, this was not good in the 50's, it is boring and dull now. What is especially bad, is that we feel no pity for them. The film is cold and bland, and the performance is rather mediocre. Just going slowly and very predictably. You know the end at the very beginning and you know it will be not cool to watch it with any interest. Utterly forgettable and banal

First movie my father co-produced with R. John Hugh. Used color as a first since many movies were in b/w in 50s. Although I was too small to remember this movie being made, I played with rolls of cutting room floor scraps for years.

This was Laurence Rosenthal's first movie music score. He was a student at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. He went on to score more movies and several TV shows in the 90s. Interestingly, a promotion still picture my father had of him was in the newspaper 40 years after it was originally taken. Guess no one ages in the movie business.

The scenes that take place during a storm were actually shot during a hurricane that visited Florida during the shooting schedule. Snakes used in the scenes came from a local tourist trap called Alligator Farm. Many of the exterior scenes were made in Altamonte Springs area.

The quicksand scene was actually a pit that was dug about chest deep and filled with leaves, etc. The actor got in and faked the sinking part. The hand going down was actually a closeup of him just pulling down his arm (trick photography 50s style). The Florida panther that jumps out of the tree was a fake that was pushed from behind by a guy with a pole. Looks real though.

Yellowneck was R. John Hugh's first stab at writing, directing, producing, et AL, a movie in Florida. The world premiere was held at the former Astor Theater in Orlando. I have the still pictures of the premiere. Lin McCarthy was on hand for the opening night. He later went on to do television.