They Came To Cordura was among Gary Cooper's final films, and the aging, obviously ailing actor -- along with director Robert Rossen -- took full advantage of his deteriorating physical condition in executing his portrayal of Major Thomas Thorn, a career army officer whose moment of cowardice on the frontier with Mexico has marked him as unworthy. Cooper gives a beautifully internalized performance as a man seeking redemption by the only means left open to him, as the Awards Officer -- appointed to that post by army bureaucrats in Washington who, anticipating our involvement in the First World War then raging in Europe, and the need for heroes going into that conflict, Thorn intends to carry out his mission, to return five men worthy of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Cooper and director Rossen use the actor's obvious infirmity as a visual prop for his internal struggle, trying to bring out in these men -- all but one of whom has what he considers a compelling reason to reject the honor -- the greatness of spirit that he sees in them and their actions. Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte, and Michael Callan deliver some of the best work of their careers as the conflicted and ultimately mutinous soldiers, whose situation is complicated by the presence of Adelaide Geary (Rita Hayworth), and expatriate American accused of treason. Their anger -- a mixture of fear, confusion, and lust -- is palpable as the group struggles to survive the long and dangerous desert trek, each of them ultimately confronting their worst and best sides. Rossen keeps the action moving and the violence (including an attempted rape) brutal, but the acting is what carries this surprisingly psychologically-oriented outdoor drama. Also worth noting in the cast is Dick York as the youngest and least conflicted of the men chosen for the medal -- ironically, during the course of making this movie, which offered one of York's two best dramatic performances (the other being Inherit The Wind), York received an injury that left him bed-ridden for an extended time, and resulted in his addiction to the pain-killers that ultimately ended his acting career a decade later. The movie was based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout, who had earlier authored the underlying story for the similar but much less ambitious western film Seventh Cavalry.