[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rough_riders.jpg]]

''The Rough Riders'' is a 1997 three hour television miniseries about future President UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and the regiment (the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry; aka the Rough Riders). The series prominently shows the bravery of the volunteers at the Battle of San Juan Hill, part of the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar of 1898. It was released on DVD in 2006. The series originally aired on Creator/{{TNT}}.

The movie opens with Lieutenant Coronel Theodore Roosevelt (Creator/TomBerenger) giving an impassioned speech.

This is the second movie about Theodore Roosevelt's life directed by Creator/JohnMilius (the other being ''Film/TheWindAndTheLion''), part of a planned but probably never to be completed trilogy.

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!! This includes examples of the following tropes:
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: A group scene set the night before the assault on Kettle Hill has the soldiers discussing why they're at war.
* BadassNative: The Rough Riders enlist several American Indians, most notably the young Sioux warrior known as "Indian Bob." Also notable is Delchaney, an Apache friend of O’Neil who [[DrillSergeantNasty assists with training]] and can tell with a single DeathGlare whether a man has killed someone or not.
* BloodKnight: Roosevelt early on, though [[CharacterDevelopment he soon sours on the idea]]. General Wheeler arguably qualifies, as well.
* BoisterousBruiser: General Wheeler.
* TheCameo:
** Creator/BrianKeith as President UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley. Keith played Roosevelt in ''Film/TheWindAndTheLion''.
** He's easy to miss, but Creator/RLeeErmey plays Secretary of State John Hay.
* TheGoodCaptain: Captain O'Neil, who also fits the SergeantRock role.
* DeadpanSnarker: The French Ambassador's wife and Roosevelt's wife have their moments.
---> '''Mr. Roosevelt''': "My wife's letting me go see the elephant in Cuba."
---> '''[[FrenchJerk Mademoiselle Adler]]''': "I can see why."
---> '''Colonel Wood''': "Theodore, do you know that you're mad?"
---> '''Mrs. Roosevelt''': "It's never stopped him before."
* DirtyCoward: Nash starts out this way, then [[TookALevelInBadass becomes more heroic]] throughout the story.
** A soldier loses it when one of his officers is shot. He runs all the way back from the front line to Shafter and Wheeler exclaiming the war is lost. Wheeler has to be talked out of shooting him on sight.
* DrillSergeantNasty: One shows up at the training camp and is run out of town by Captain O'Neil.
** An Apache warrior named Delchaney fills this role for the Rough Riders at O'Neil's request. Notably, he pulls it off without speaking a single word until he thinks the recruits are ready. When O’Neil asks who among them has killed before, Delchaney picks out the liars with a brief silent DeathGlare.
** O'Neil to a degree. He's appointed as a Captain, but carries out most of the unit's training himself.
* FishOutOfWater: Oddly enough, the commanding general of the Cuba campaign. He's overwhelmed by the complexities of getting an army to a battlefield.
--> '''GEN Shafter''': [exasperated at the logistical mess] I've never seen anything like this before in my life!
--> '''GEN Wheeler'''" [civil war vet] That's because nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime.
* FoeTossingCharge: Theodore ''charges'' across a crowded ballroom, knocking innocent waiters out of the way.
* FormerRegimePersonnel: General Wheeler was a cavalry officer in the Confederate army during the Civil War. When the Spanish are pushed off of San Juan and Kettle Hills, the malaria-stricken General exuberantly shouts, "We've got the damn Yankees on the run!"
--> '''Lt. Wheeler''': "Spaniards, sir, Spaniards, and they're falling back to prepared positions."
--> '''General Wheeler''': [[BloodKnight "Don't spoil it, son!"]]
* GeneralFailure: General Shafter, the American commander, is fat, lazy and earns little respect from his officers.
* GetOutOfJailFreeCard: Henry Nash and George Neville enlist to escape what they think is a pursuing posse.
* GilliganCut: One scene cuts from a young man explaining to his fiancee that he is going to stand up to his father and refuse to go to war... to the same young man, with a resigned look on his face, saddling up to leave.
* HowWeGotHere: The opening scene is an older Nash paying his respects to his comrades' memorial, and then flashing back to his outlaw days.
* IncomingHam:
--> '''Senator''': "Ladies, brace yourselves!"
* IntrepidReporter: William Marshall and Stephen Crane.
* LargeHam: Both Roosevelt and Wheeler.
* MilitaryMoonshiner:
--> '''Captain Pershing''': "Sergeant, would you care to refresh yourself?"
--> '''Sergeant''': "No, sir, I've had some water earlier on today."
--> '''Pershing''': "Sergeant, would you care to ''refresh'' yourself?"
--> '''Sergeant''': "Refresh myself? [beat] Yes, sir!"
* NobleSavage: Deconstructed and averted.
* OldMediaAreEvil: Hearst and company.
* {{Outlaw}}: Nash and Eli, the main heroes.
* PetTheDog: When Hearst comes across a badly-wounded Marshall, who’s been struck down by artillery fire, he immediately orders that the man be taken aboard his yacht and given the finest medical treatment, and personally thanks him for his work for the paper.
* RagtagBandOfMisfits: New York aristocrats, Western cowboys, Native Americans, Mexicans, assorted roughnecks and adventurers... if ever a military outfit deserved this appellation, it's the Rough Riders.
* RefugeInAudacity: Roosevelt sending Admiral Dewey's fleet to attack the Philippines without orders. It works, but Colonel Wood warns him that he won't tolerate recklessness in the field.
** This is subverted with the Battle of Las Guasimas, where General Wheeler launches an attack without orders and leads his troops into a well-laid Spanish ambush. The Americans manage to win, but it's a near-run fight and Wheeler himself admits afterward it was a mistake.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge:
** To the public, the war is this for the sinking of USS ''Maine''. Nobody with any real knowledge of the incident [[PretextForWar really believes that it was the result of any hostile action by the Spanish]].
** Invoked at Kettle Hill after [[spoiler: Captain O'Neil]] is killed. Indian Bob, who has already marked his face with traditional Lakota war paint, uses his blood mixed with dirt to paint his forehead black. Among the Plains Tribes, this facial marking in battle signifies that a warrior seeks revenge for a member of his family.
* RuleOfSymbolism: [[http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1236821006_1.jpg This]] shot near the end of the film.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Subverted in an opening sequence that is a near point-by-point parody of ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'' -- the "posse" Nash and Neville are desperately fleeing just happens to be going in the same direction as them and don’t want to miss the train.
* SedgwickSpeech: [[spoiler:O'Neil]], which is TruthInTelevision.
** O'Niel specifically said they hadn’t made the ''[[ExactWords Spanish]]'' bullet that could kill him. He evidently missed the memo about the Spanish buying all their stuff from the Germans.
* ShelteredAristocrat: Examined and ultimately subverted: Craig Wadsworth, William Tiffany, B.F. Goodrich and Hamilton Fish are intelligent and extremely capable. Roosevelt himself practically punches this trope in the face.
-->'''Wadsworth:''' [Talking about Roosevelt] He [[NoHoldsBarredBeatDown thrashed a man nearly to death]] in the Dakota territory for [[DisproportionateRetribution calling him "four-eyes."]]
** Roosevelt shows up to the camp in a tailored uniform with suitcases in both hands and remarks that he has more baggage on the way. He's eager to soldier, but needs a lot of training first.
* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The New York characters recite the St. Crispin's Day speech from ''Theatre/HenryV'' during the final battle. Their less-well-educated colleagues are somewhat baffled, concluding "They're educated men."
* SergeantRock
* StillWearingTheOldColors: Some officers express concern about facing hostility as they travel through the Deep South on their way to board a troopship in Florida, as the Civil War had ended only 33 years earlier. Sure enough, plenty of old Confederate veterans turn out in their Rebel gray, but it turns out they’re there to salute the Rough Riders on their way to war.
* TrueCompanions: As Manhattan aristocrat Sergeant Hamilton Fish is dying of a bullet wound, his only concern is for the safety of similarly-wounded Arizona ex-outlaw George Neville. For his part, Neville tells Fish not to worry about him.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: When Nash and Indian Bob try to sucker one of those fancy rich boys into riding an untamed bronco who has just bucked off half the squad. Said rich boy happens to be a polo champion.
* WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism:
** Executing a captured German military adviser. This is despite him posing no threat and him helpfully explaining how to operate the Maxim machine gun. By all accounts, this scene was invented entirely for the miniseries. The presence of any German military personnel in the depicted battle is disputed in real life, so the German officer they kill is most likely wholly fictional.
** The second is when a Spanish soldier tries to surrender and is promptly shot dead. It's worth noting he himself killed a Rough Rider prior to his attempt to give up, though.
---> "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword."
* WarIsGlorious
* WarIsHell
* YoungFutureFamousPeople: John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, then a lieutenant in the all-black 10th US Cavalry, features as a supporting character.
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