Advance to the Rear was directed by George Marshall, very few of Marshall’s films are known today. Destry Rides Again and The Sheepman are two movies that a western fan might remember.

Advance to the Rear is set in the Civil war. After a botched attack, every Union army misfit and reject are sent to one outfit, then that outfit is sent to a Western territory.  Glen Ford plays Jared Heath second in command to Claude Brackenbury (Melvyn Douglas). Douglas won an Oscar for Hud in 1962—this is not the same type of role.

The movie looks like the prequel to F Troop. The TV show coming one year after this movie played, it must have inspired the show.

“We’d be starting out at a point in marriage that takes some couples, twenty or thirty years to achieve.”

05/10 Western Comedy–not bad/but not great either.