The Long Ride Home is the British title for the Columbia Civil War western A Time for Killing. The stars are
Glenn Ford, a regular of sagebrushers, and
Inger Stevens, a relative newcomer to the genre who between 1967-1970 made up for lost time with such films as
Hang 'Em High and
Firecreek. Ford is Union POW camp commander Major Walcott who rides out to capture escaped Confederate prisoner Captain Bentley (
George Hamilton). Bentley and his men have kidnapped Walcott's fiancee Emily Biddle (Stevens) to assure themselves safe passage, but several of the escaped Rebs hope to divest themselves of Bentley and have their way with their beautiful captive. Among the troops is a very young
Harrison Ford, collecting his meager Columbia contract paycheck and hoping for better days.
The Long Way Home is cherished by devotees of director
Phil Karlson, though in truth this represents an off-day for that hard-working journeyman, wasting too much valuable screen time haranguing over the futility of war. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide