Drums in the Deep South


At first, I think “Drums in the Deep South” like most westerns of its type; it has a very basic plot. Nonetheless, except for the beginning and the very end, I found it to be an interesting and captivating movie. But the most I had a problem with in this movie was the reconstruction and the general attitudes for the South following the war contradict that concept completely.

Based on actual events, two friends Clay Clayburn and Will Denning became best friends when they studied at West Point. Now, however, they find themselves on opposite sides during the Civil War between the states. Friends become enemies when the lines of the Civil War are drawn. While Will is fighting for the Union Army in the North, and Clay has sided with the Confederacy in the South. The two finally come face-to-face again in combat three years later when Clay receives artillery detail in the mountains of Georgia, and neither knows it as each is in an artillery position hundreds of yards from the other. The Union advance is halted by a mountaintop battery, manned by Clay and 20 Confederate soldiers, while on a nearby plantation, Clay's wife, Kathy spies on the Yankees, including Will, and delivers information to her husband. His mission is to destroy General Sherman's railroad supply line. Will tries his hardest to stop him. However, the love of Clay's life, Kathy Summers, does know and tries desperately to save her two good friends from killing each other.