They Came to Cordura Due to showing cowardice in battle, Major Thomas Thorn (Gary Cooper) has been assigned the degrading task of “Awards Officer” to the Mexican expedition of 1916 against Pancho Villa…
Thorn witnesses the U.S. Army attack on a ranch house which results in an American victory, and selects five men as candidates for the Congressional Medal of Honor…
Since Washington wants heroes in a hurry, for a World War I recruiting campaign, Thorn has to guide these men through the perilous border country to the ‘out of danger’ base at Cordura…
Since Villa’s men were given shelter in the ranch house of the beautiful Adelaide Geary (Rita Hayworth), she is accused of treason and is forced to accompany the men on their difficult journey…
Before the seven get to the Texas border town, the five heroes are given ample time to show their true colors (cheats, thieves, rapists and murderers) and Cooper (always under great danger) discovers, far from crossfire, their true characters… Thorn also discovers that he has respect and affection for his prisoner…
Rita Hayworth seems, on screen, to be a woman who has seen too much, lived too hard… There are circles under her eyes now, and an indefinable sadness about her presence… But she remains more delicious than ever… She had been the greatest girl of them all, a living summary of all our sexy, dreamy ideals… Now she is a reminder, for an aging generation, of the generous visions of youth… In “They Came to Cordura,” Rita gives the best performance of her career as the shady lady surrounded by six men, substituting acting for sex and glamor…
