An interesting plot premise is killed with poor direction and a lot of overacting with Yellowneck. There's also a distinct lack of characters who you really root for to get out of the Everglades.Republic released this film in 1955 about five men who are Confederate Army deserters and not some of the greatest specimens of manhood you'll ever want to encounter. Lin McCarthy, Billl Mason, Harold Gordon, and Berry Kroeger are the deserters and from some of the names you know that by the type of roles they've played. Later on they're joined by Stephen Courtleigh, a colonel who deserted the Star And Bars. He's got pretensions, but deep down he's no better than the other four.For the one and there is only one who makes it there is then the minor problem of crossing 90 miles of ocean to Cuba. Still it is an achievement to have survived the Everglades and all that inhabit it.If you care to watch you can find out which one survives.

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.

Five Confederate deserters plunge into the perilous Everglades swamp in a desperate bid for freedom in freshman writer & director R. John Hugh's "Yellowneck," a gritty but scenic yarn about survival in the wilderness during the American Civil War in 1863. Essentially, nobody wins our sympathy here because they are all deserters on the run. Moreover, the characters are at best sketchy, and the largely unknown cast imparts little in the way of charisma. In other words, you won't be rooting for these poor slobs. Had Hugh written his film about men trying to escape from a prison camp, "Yellowneck" might have been more interesting. As it remains, this costume opus is a dreary, depressing movie that you have to struggle to survive yourself. The only reason that I suffered through this 83-minute epic was that it came as the second feature on the bargain basement Alpha Video DVD that toplined the John Agar/Mike Connors western "Flesh and the Spur." Mind you, "Flesh and the Spur" was no triumph of cinematic artistry, but it was far more rewarding than "Yellowneck." This low-budget Republic potboiler boasts the virtues of not only being lensed on-location in the Everglades but also shot in color. Hugh doesn't rely on either studio sets or back projection. Okay, the Seminole Indian camp looks like it was erected for the purposes of the film."Yellowneck" opens with a painting of dead soldiers either draped on a cannon or lying at its wheels. Heavy-handed narration ensues: "This is the story of five men who were the product of a long, bloody war. Five men who turned their backs on the Confederate cause to run. History has a name for the man who runs in the face of battle: deserter. But to the rank and file of the men in the Confederate lines, he was called Yellowneck. The narrative unfolds with the Colonel (Stephen Courtleigh of "North to Alaska") entering the make-shift camp of four Confederate deserters. Sergeant Todd (Lin McCarthy of "The D.I.") is in nominal charge of Plunkett (Berry Kroeger of "Blood Alley"), the Cockney (Harold Gordon of "East of Eden") and the Kid from Georgia (Bill Mason) who knows how to hunt raccoons for meat. The Colonel presents his credentials for safe passage to a British ship and transport to Cuba. He is searching for a Native American guide to escort him through the 'green hell' of the Everglades. Not only are his hopes dashed almost immediately as his guide shows up just long enough to die at their feet, but Sergeant Todd recognizes the bearded, sword-toting officer as a deserter just like they are. When Todd tries to rally his men around the Colonel, the officer admits that he wants nothing to do with being a commander. He has a moment before he dies near the end when he relives the nightmare that was the Battle of Murfreesboro, fought between December 31, 1862, and January 2, 1863, in Tennessee, as part of the Stones River Campaign. The Colonel remembers only the failed charge that he led and the men who died in vain. The significance of the battle was that it proved inconclusive and the Union derived more from it than the Confederacy.Basically, "Yellowneck" is a movie about losers. Again, if Hugh had made the men more heroic or at least redeemed them, then this might have been more appetizing to watch. The Colonel is the first to die. Initially, he takes an arrow in the back when they storm a Seminole Indian camp. The second to die is the mercenary Englishman named Cockney who spends his time lusting after Plunkett's gold and smutty French postcards. Cockney dies when he is paralyzed by fear at the sight of a nest of rattlesnakes. To his credit, Hugh foreshadows Cockney's demise early when Plunkett taunts him with a harmless snake. The three remaining Confederates successfully cross an alligator infested river on a log, but Plunkett goes mad when he realizes that he has lost his gold. He tries to go back for it and ends up being gator bait. The most sympathetic of the quintet is Sergeant Todd who dies an ignominious death in a quicksand pit. Predictably, the one who survives is the simple-minded Kid who reaches the shore. Indeed, his future doesn't look much better. Although Hugh wrote the dialogue and Nat Linden penned the screenplay, neither uses the story as a soapbox for either anti-war sentiments or anti-Confederate commentary. Finally, aside from the French post cards which are never shown, "Yellowneck" features no women.

This is a strange little film about five confederate deserters trying to make their way through the Everglades to escape capture. They find the wilderness to be a less merciful enemy than the union, as they battle hurricanes, snakes, Senecas, quicksand, and each other. Essentially, this is a raw, real - but not realistic, struggle for survival pitting men who have been branded cowards against nature and other men.Although the film is over-acted, over-dramatized and over-long, it made a lasting impression on me as an adolescent. I first saw Yellowneck when I was between 9 and 12 years old. When I watched it last night, I remembered having seen it then about a quarter of the way through the film. There are aspects of this film which, at a very young age, I found frightening. As an adult who frequently works in environments such as the one depicted in the film, I can only reflect on my own (and the writer's) ignorant fearfulness today.The script has too many soliloquies and generally over-dramatizes most of the story. The acting is OK, but the script forces almost all of the cast members to go overboard frequently. Lin McCarthy and Bill Mason both turn in solid performances. The directing, cinematography and editing are all good, but the film could have been 10-15 minutes shorter and just as good. As much as I appreciate character development, a few of the soliloquies and conversation scenes might have improved the film had they been left out.Weakly recommended.