Ride with the Devil was filmed in Missouri, in Pattonsburg and some of the country just south of Bethany, which are about 18 miles apart in north Missouri. I grew up in and around Bethany.
It was Toby McGuire's first real effort at a major production movie. Set near the beginning of the Civil War, the story line has McGuire as a Southern sympathizer who joins a marauder gang known as the Bushwhackers, much like Quantrill's Raiders. Also in the film were Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, Jonathan Brandis, Jim Caviezel [Jesus in Passion of the Christ] and music star Jewel. The movie was critically aclaimed but did terrible at the box office. It had a $38 million budget, and grossed only $635,000 domestically. The odd thing is, it was Ang Lee's first major film. I think the movie really ought to get a closer look, because my opinion is it was pretty good.
The big scene of the movie was a recreation of the sacking and burning of Lawrence, Kansas. Old Pattonsburg filled in for Lawrence. The town had been devastatingly flooded 12 times since the early 20th century, and the government got tired of rebuilding and cleaning it up, so they moved the whole town a half mile to the east, on top of a hill. A lot of buildings in the old town, dating from the mid-19th century, made perfect fodder for the destruction of Lawrence. Sad those historic old buildings were used that way, and even sadder the movie they were sacrificed for didn't get the attention it deserved.
