Yellowneck (1955)
A disgraced Confederate Colonel who has deserted his command flees to the Everglades where he encounters a disparate group of four other Southern deserters. Togethher they struggle to find their way out of the swamp and resolve their own personal demons under the eyes of hostile Seminoles as they battle to survive the elements and each other.
Five rebel Confederates alone among the terrors of the Everglades !
Sergeant Todd: [to the Kid] You ain't done enough to run away from. Shouldn't have followed me, kid. Shouldn't have started runnin'. I've been runnin' every since I knowed runnin' from... everything how I never liked. Yeah, I reckon there ain't much to like around this world. I've ben runnin' so long I don't know how to stop! It don't do too much good when you stop and figure why you're runnin'. It catches up to you. You can't run away from yourself. Don't run away from nothin', kid. It don't do no good. You're so tired you wanna die.
Everglades Wonder Gardens, Florida, USA
Everglades National Park, Florida, USA
Orlando, Florida, USA
The forage caps (or kepis) worn by the deserters are of an 1862 pattern that denoted the soldier's branch of service by the color of the sides and crown (red for artillery, yellow for cavalry and sky blue for infantry).
The colonel's final soliloquy references the Second Battle of Murfreesboro (also known as the Battle of Stones River) in which Union troops repulsed two attacks by Confederate forces, in a battle lasting from 12/31/1862 to 1/2/1863 (three days) at Murfreesboro in middle Tennessee. The Union victory served as a morale boost for insecure Union troops and led to the Confederacy abandoning plans to invade Tennessee. The colonel's speech implies that he was ordered to retreat in order to save his forces against withering cannon fire by Union artillery using grapeshot.
The US copyright protection on this film has expired, and it is now considered to be in the public domain.
Factual errors
When Cockney is bitten by a rattlesnake, he instantly dies (1:09:21). Most deaths occur between 6 and 48 hours after the bite.
Miscellaneous
When the British soldier goes to sheath the colonel's sword at the funeral, he puts it in backwards and it gets jammed.