THE Movie

If you want see Gettysburg, don’t bother. Read “Killer Angels” instead. Also, know that Jeff Shaara is not half the writer that his father was, avoid everything he has written on the Civil War. Also, the charge of the Army of Tennessee at Franklin was over two miles of open ground without any artillery prep, while Pickett had to contend with one mile and had a two hour artillery barrage to prepare the way (and inform the Yanks that he was coming). As a former yank, I appreciate the sacrifice of your hero ancestors of Picketts’ Charge, and as an American, too. Gettysburg is just a bad movie. It’s bad because it was created and filmed as a TV series then the marketing folks determined to market it as a movie for theatrical release. It just doesn’t work. Need a good Civil War movie… Gone With the Wind. This is not THE movie by any stretch. Hollywierd has never really done a very good job with the War. Watch Ken Burns’ Civil War instead. Off hand I can’t really think of a great Civil War film. But, most importantly stay clear of Jeff Shaara’s so-called Civil War novels, they are utterly awful.

sorry for the 2nd post… GLORY is an excellent movie.

As far as Culp’s Hill is concerned, wasn’t there a scene cut out that shows Lee confronting Ewell and friends about the failure to take it on the first day? Not that this addresses your observation about Gen. Greene. I have noticed that in the begining of the film an actor protraying Ewell is mentioned, but never seen. Guess I have to wait for the Directors Cut.

Glory and Red Badge of Courage are both good films. Another interesting little film is “Pharaoh’s Army”.

I have enjoyed the thoughful comments about the film. I can not disagree with any of them either pro or con. I think the movie has flashes of greatness and lots of less than greatness.

For me the most interesting portion is the Pickett’s Charge sequence which seemed pretty accurate to me. Have you ever wondered what a brigade of Confederate infantry looked like as it moved out of the woods to the edge of the field into line of battle? It is there. Have you ever tried to imagine the sound of a regiment of Confederate infantry as it fixes bayonets and shoulders arms? It is there. The shouted commands? They are there too. Have you been curious as to the speed of a Confederate divison as it marches in line of battle over open ground? It is there. What was it like at the Copse of Trees? It is there too.

So for me, I am willing to overlook the flaws in favor of those parts which are realistic and great. Those parts which are great are enhanced by a fine musical score. And in that end–while it entertainment, not history–I think the movie offers much to those folks who are curious about the battle of Gettysburg.

>I thought Tom Berenger was good too, even though he distinctly looked >like a man with a dead animal on his face and not a beard.

It’s funny, your choice of words here, Eric; I remember reading an essay by William C. Davis that referred to the movie and took issue with, among other things, “the restless beaver miscast as Longstreet’s beard”.

Considering the problem of trying to depict something like Gburg, I think the movie did a creditable job, and I value the work Brian Pohanka did on it. For me, I think it does the best job of showing the scope of battle warfare in this period. What I consider its shortcoming is that in most movies designed in this way, there is a contrast of the two opposing headquarters. In this one, that is lacking. I guess that is symptomatic of the novel (and carried to horrendous extreme in G&G). It seems like the idea of Meade being awakened on the eve of the battle, and told he was to relieve Hooker (and knowing that Reynolds would refuse to do so for very good reasons) would be very dramatic. You could do alot with that, the tension with Butterfield and Sickles, etc.

(And of course, the third day cavalry battles would be of interest :))

I think Sheen gets a bum rap. He’s dumpy in uniform and awkward on a horse, but he did have a clear idea of how to play Lee: out of touch in a scary way. Its a point of view.

I thought Lang as Pickett was great. A brave man, a believer, with the failure of the attack, its not just a military loss, its a loss of faith.

Other points:
Many are killed in the movie, but none bleed. Many are thrown comically in the air, but no one loses an arm or a head.

Excluding incidents from the battle is OK actually, I mean, you’re got to do it. Skipping Greene’s defense of Culp’s Hill, or a dozen other worthy incidents is unavoidable. Excluding classes of people is a problem. Instead of the umpeeth campfire scene, what about a field hospital? Where are the thousands of slave laborers in Lee’s army?

Improved scenes: Longstreet and Fremantle. I loved when Fremantle replies to Longstreet about the English Civil War “that was ages ago. We wouldn’t dream of it now.” But later Longstreet shoots down Fremantle’s idea of a Anglo Confederate Alliance: England wouldn’t support a slave owning republic. Longstreet then muses: “We shouldn’t have freed the slaves first, then seceded.” Fremantle could have capped the conversation with “You’re rather missing the point of your cause, old chap.”

What about Pickett’s Charge done by POV camera. Gasping for breathe, vision of backs, comrades on each side, ghastly bodies step over.

Some of the acting by bit players is amazingly wooden.

If the details were a little off, I really don’t care. Cap badges wrong, wrong shade of blue, rifles a model from a year later. Who cares?

Evening all,

I was fortunate to see the movie in a theater as well, and IMHO works better on the big screen than TV.

As many have said, it is based on a novel. Obvious to me when Michael Shaara was writing this, he never went to Culp’s Hill as the Greene story is just as important as JLC on LRT.

Buck Taylor as Gamble was very good as well, and one of my favorite performances in the movie. As for the actor who played Devin, J.D. would have done the part better. 🙂

The soundtrack is one of the lasting legacies of the movie, as it pops up every now and then on Olympics coverage, and various other sporting events. Randy Edelman’s master work composing wise, and just check out other movies he has written music for, and not even close to what he accomplished scoring Gettysburg.

Highly recommend if you can find the 2 cd special edition set of the soundtrack, get a copy.

Glad to see that Pharoah’s Army was mentioned as well. Very good movie, and for those who have not seen Ride With The Devil, check that one out as well.

Regards from the Garden State,

Steve

Regarding the lack of gory violence: Keep in mind that “Gettysburg” was originally intended to be aired as either a made for TV movie or a mini-series, I can’t remember which. When Ted Turner saw an initial screening he made the decision to turn it into a full blown, “big screen” production.

Just a comment from one of the FX crew about the blod and gore stuff.
We were quite prepared to make it gory, we even had some actual amputees on hand who had volunteered to “lose” their limbs again for the sake of the film. Almost all of this was vetoed by those on high.
There was some blood, I spent enough hours making blood hits in the FX shack at any rate.

There was also an extensive field hospital scene shot, using the same barn that masquerades as the Codori barn in other scenes. Like several other scenes it was cut to make the movie under 6 hours 😉

Brian P did his level best, he really did try. I overheard Ron Maxwell telling him at one point “Brian, you just can’t fight us on everything…” I remember seeing him going around adjusting the gear on the extras, trying to do what he could. RIP Brian, I’ll always remember my pard tackling you into the mud at Cedar Creek in that lovely uniform 😉

I just watched the movie for the 3rd time during a trip this week. I was curious of what other people thought about the historical accuracy so I found this site.

A couple thoughts:

– I also noticed the lack of blood. I didn’t know this was intended to be a tv series. I was thinking that this was filmed before the PG-13 rating (not sure if it was or not). The film could have been more realistic with a PG-13 rating while staying away from an R rating that would limit it’s audience.

– Thought the Chamberlain portrayal was brilliant. Also thought Longstreet was very good. Agree with the comment about the beard.

– Got tired of seeing guys hit with a ball (they were still using balls with rifled muskets, right?) and his body jerks and then he just falls dead….as if a bullet to the right shoulder would cause instant death.

– One big problem with Pickett’s Charge scene: How convenient that the Federal battery was shelling the area where the Confederates were forming up in the trees, yet when the Confederates emerged from the trees to form their lines the Federal guns went silent and stayed silent until the Confederates were halfway up the hill. I think it would have been even more impactful if the Confederates had been forming up under a steady barrage of cannon fire.

If Chamberlain defended the Union right flank with the 20th Maine, can someone please tell me where the two Wisconsin Iron Brigade units that were on his right, where we’re they in the fight. I stood at the end of the union line I 2003 marveling at the monument of the 20th Maine but couldn’t help but notice the two monuments yet further to the right.

To Peter: Chamberlain did not defend the right of the Union line at Gettysburg. His position was on the back slope of Little Round Top, which was the extreme LEFT of the line. The Iron Brigade was not on or anywhere near Little Round Top. On the first day of the battle, they fought on the outskirts of the town in the vicinity of the Chambersburg Pike. After that, they were deployed on Culp’s Hill – THAT was the right flank of the Union line.

The monuments to the right of the 20th Maine’s on Little Round top were probably monuments to the Pennsylvania and New York units who were deployed to the right of the 20th Maine.