The Raid is a 1954 American Western film set during The American Civil War. It stars Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin and Peter Graves.
A group of Confederate prisoners escape a Union prison stockade at Plattsburgh, New York and flee into Canada. They head for Montréal and then plan a raid across the border into St. Albans, Vermont. They intend to rob its banks to replenish the Confederate treasury and burn the buildings as revenge for Sherman's March to the Sea and to tie up the Union forces . To get the lay of the land, their leader, Major Neal Benton, spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life—especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.
Not to be confused with the 2011 Indonesian action film of the same name.
Tropes:
- Accidental Hero: The drunken Lt. Keating interrupts a church service, shoots one man then tries to murder the preacher and is promptly shot dead by Maj. Benton, the raid leader, almost giving away the plot. The townspeople shower Benton with gratitude for this, not realizing his own true identity.
- An Arm and a Leg: Capt. Lionel Foster lost his left hand after it was run over by a caisson wheel when he attempted to get himself injured in order to be removed from the front lines.
- Auction: St. Albans holds an auction of captured Confederate items to raise money for the local company of troops. Capt. Foster and Benton both bid for a Confederate flag: Foster because he never had the opportunity to collect any battle souvenirs of his own, and Benton because he is an undercover Confederate operative and does not want the flag in Yankee hands. Benton eventually raises the bidding to a point where Foster cannot follow .However, at this point, Katy Price steps in and trumps Benton's bid. Not wanting to bid against her, Benton withdraws. Katy buys the flag and makes it a gift to Foster.
- Bank Robbery: In 1864 during the American Civil War, a group of Confederate prisoners held in a Union prison stockade at Plattsburgh, New York, not many miles from the Canada–US border, escape. They head for Montréal, Quebec and then plan a raid across the border into St. Albans, Vermont, to rob its banks to replenish the Confederate treasury.
- Bloodless Carnage: The wounded man Maj. Benton is forced to leave behind is cut down by a fusillade of shots from the pursuing Union troops, with a later report stating he had been shot ten times.However, the only wound visible on his body is the one he started with. Made even more obvious because his shirt is open to the waist.
- Cowardly Lion: Capt. Lionel Foster regards himself as a coward; having deliberately gotten himself injured in order to removed from the front lines. However, he stages a heroic one-man Last Stand against the raiders: killing several of them despite only have one hand.
- Enter Stage Window: Larry has the habit of sneaking back into the boarding house his mother runs via the window of the room she rents to Benton. It is while doing this that he discovers Benton in his Confederate uniform as he prepares to lead the raid.
- From Dress to Dressing: Dwyer puts his handkerchief under Benton's coat to staunch Benton's shoulder wound.
- Hand Gagging: Maj. Benton does this to the sergeant in the commandant's office when and Lt. Keating break-in to steal guns during the escape from the stockade.
- Handicapped Badass: Despite believing himself to be a coward, the one-handed Capt. Foster stages a heroic one-man Last Stand inside the burning town hall in which he kills multiple raiders and wounds their leader Maj. Benton before being captured.
- Human Shield: Major Benton and his raiders force the citizens of St. Albans into the middle of the main street to form a 'human blockade' to make the approaching Union cavalry troops to break their charge.
- Leave Behind a Pistol: When Maj. Benton is forced to leave behind a wounded officer who is slowing them down before they cross into Canada, he gives the man a pistol. Rather than kill himself, the officer chooses to shoot at the pursuing Union troops and die in a fusillade of return fire.
- Leeroy Jenkins: The hotheaded and trigger-happy Lt. Keating.While escaping the stockade, he shoots one of the sentries on the wall; alerting the Union troops to the escape. After the initial raid is called off, he goes AWOL and gets drunk. The next day,he interrupts a church service and has to be shot dead by Benton, almost giving away the plot.
- Molotov Cocktail: The Confederate soldiers use bottles of Greek fire that burst into flame when smashed to set fire to the town.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Maj. Benton gets shot in the shoulder by Capt. Foster, but it doesn't slow him down or prevent him from using his arm.
- Pistol-Whipping: While escaping the stockade, Lt. Keating slams the commanding officer repeatedly in the head with a rifle butt.
- Planning with Props: Maj. Benton makes a model of St. Albans from blocks of wood cut to size to explain the plan for Taking Over the Town to his men.
- POW Camp: In 1864 during the American Civil War, a group of Confederate prisoners held in a Union prison stockade at Plattsburgh, New York, not many miles from the Canada–US border, escape.
- Run for the Border: The film starts with a group of Confederate prisoners escaping from a POW Camp in Plattsburgh, New York and fleeing across the Canadian border. The film ends with them escaping St. Albans after the raid, just ahead of an arriving Union force. Burning a bridge behind them, they barely elude the Union forces and make a successful getaway to nearby Canada.
- Spanner in the Works:The raid has to be postponed when two Union platoons ride into St.Albans in their way to Plattsburgh, and the Confederates have to postpone until they ride out on Monday.
- Suspiciously Specific Sermon: Rev. Lucas delivers a sermon on the subject rebellion that sends Lt. Keating into a homicidal rampage and forces Maj. Benton to shoot and kill him.
- Taking Over the Town: On the appointed day, Major Benton in town, and the other raiders at the barn, all don Confederate uniforms, take some citizens hostage, rob the bank's strongbox at gunpoint, burn down the town hall, and gallop north just ahead of an arriving Union force.
- Throwaway Guns: During his Last Stand against the raiders, Cowardly Lion Capt. Foster tosses away each revolver as he empties it. Justified as he is missing his left hand and so cannot reload during a firefight.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Loosely based on a true incident, the St. Albans Raid. However the film made a significant change, turning the raid into an act of revenge for William Tecumseh Sherman's burning of Atlanta.
- Villain Protagonist: Major Neal Benton and his men are escaped Confederate POWs who flee to Canada and then plan a raid across the border into St. Albans, Vermont, to rob its banks to replenish the Confederate treasury and burn buildings as revenge for Sherman's March to the Sea and to tie up the Union forces.
