Alvarez Kelly is a Western drama film released in 1966. The movie was directed by Edward Dmytryk and stars William Holden as Alvarez Kelly, a cattleman from Mexico who supplies the Union Army with cattle during the American Civil War.
Set in 1864, during the height of the Civil War, the movie follows Kelly's story as he is forced to change his customers due to unexpected circumstances. Kelly is initially contracted by the Union Army to supply them with tens of thousands of head of cattle from his ranch in Mexico. He is assisted by a group of cowhands whom he hires from an area nearby.
While transporting the cattle to the Union troops stationed in Virginia, Kelly and his cowhands are ambushed by Confederate soldiers led by Colonel Tom Rossiter (Richard Widmark). Rossiter is tasked with stopping Kelly's cattle supply as the Confederacy is in desperate need of meat. During the skirmish, Rossiter manages to capture the cattle and Kelly's cowhands, but Kelly himself escapes.
Kelly then faces a dilemma when he is presented with an offer from Rossiter to resume his cattle supply, but this time to the Confederacy instead. Kelly is reluctant at first, considering the ill will he bears for Rossiter and his men after the ambush. But he eventually accepts the offer, knowing that it is the only way he can regain what he has lost.
The plot of the movie is driven by the shifts in loyalty and the moral ambiguity of war, as Kelly struggles with his conscience over the decision to supply beef to the Confederate Army, even though he knows it means fueling the war that is tearing the country apart.
In conclusion, Alvarez Kelly is a thought-provoking drama that manages to explore the human side of a violent and turbulent time in American history. The movie deals with complex themes such as class, loyalty, and patriotism, and it does so with a degree of sensitivity and nuance that is often missing from other Westerns of its time.