Gettysburg

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT USE OF MY TIME & MONEY
Review: GETTYSBURG is an EXCELLENT film and a worthwhile use of time and money. One can sit down with one's family and actually enjoy a film that was made with true morally appropriate goals in mind. The man that wrote the book, the men who worked to get this film made over a period of 10 years and the re-enactors are worthy of the highest praise for a truly memorable piece of work which United States citizens of today can be proud. The usual fair from Hollywood makes us ashamed and sickened at the garbage they turn. Thankfully, GETTYSBURG is a masterpiece where truth, honor, valor, history, hard work, devotion, bravery, morality and patriotism are shown for the way it really was not as our history books present the history of the War Between the States!

Rating:
Summary: Nothing short of excellent...!
Review: I love this movie...! Despite a slow start, it's a very entertaining movie. Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen and Jeff Daniels were totally up to the parts and did a great job. I was also impressed by Richard Jordan(General Armistead), Patrick Gorman(General Hood) and Stephen Lang (General Pickett) who, by the way, did alot better as General Pickett than General Jackson in "Gods and Generals". I disagree with those who feel that Robert Duvall did better as General Lee than Martin Sheen. We see more of Lee in "Gettysburg" than we do in "Gods and Generals" and therefore we get to know Lee better in "Gettysburg" and Sheen did a great job of being the great General Robert Edward Lee, the best Army Commander America has ever seen. The scenes at Pickett's Charge are nothing short than stunning...! When that enourmous line of 15 000 Confederates advance across that field only to be slaughtered by the awaiting Yankees... Horrific.

In the end, the battle at Gettysburg decided the outcome of the Civil War. If General Lee had won again at Gettysburg, the Confederacy might have won the war. One can never know, but Lee's army never quite recovered after the defeat at Gettsyburg.

To put in General Lee's words: "Too bad. Too bad... Oh! Too bad!!"

Anyway, BUY THIS DVD for crying out loud!!

Rating:
Summary: Well done
Review: This is a well done movie about one of the biggest battles (over 3 days) in history.

A long list of top actors, detail-oriented production values, and actual (or very close to it) locations makes for an entertaining 261 minutes. Just don't look too close at the beards...

Nice DVD extras, and the price is right. Johnny Reb or Yank, you should like it.

Rating:
Summary: Berenger's and Daniels' best
Review: Tom Berenger's Confederate General Longstreet is a superb portrayal, his best work since the near-psychotic sergeant in the otherwise forgettable "Platoon" and not equaled since. It leads the list of excellent portrayals, including Chamberlain by Jeff Daniels, his best work ever (his speech to his unit was done with Civil War recreators from Maine and powerfully affected them and him). Martin Sheen is the wrong actor to do R. E. Lee but this unconvincing portrayal is not a fatal flaw. The acting, even where license is taken with the historical truth, does accurately reflect the people involved in the struggle. While a must-see for Civil War students, anyone interested in history will appreciate this film. The advantage of the DVD is, of course, the lack of interruptions so the viewer gets a better sense of the flow of things.

Rating:
Summary: When men fought like men.
Review: This film is about that one great and terrible moment in all of American history. Countless books have been written about it, it is known to nearly every American soul, this is Gettysburg. It was three days of blood, glory, and defeat, three days that have been remembered so well for 140 years and onward.

The film is a great example of the battle, even though many parts of the battle were left out. This is understandable since only one thing can be shown at a time and the three days must be compressed to four hours. It accurately displays the major deciding factors of the battle and portrays it in the epic style similar to Ron Maxwell's Gods and Generals.

PROS. The very nature of the film is one of heroism and sacrifice. It portrays men acting like men, fighting like men, dying like men. I extremely like the fact that the battle sequences were kept as bloodless as possible. Too many war movies have a plot of blood, blood, blood. This film is about Americans fighting against one another for a vast majority of reasons. It gives an equal account of the views of both the North and South. Actors Jeff Daniels (Joshua L. Chamberlain), Tom Berenger (James Longstreet), Kevin Conway ("Buster" Kilrain), C. Thomas Howell (Tom Chamberlain), Richard Jordan, ("Lo" Armistead), Brian Mallon ("Win" Hancock), Stephen Lang (George Pickett), and Sam Elliott (John Buford) all play their roles so well you think you are watching the actual historical persons themselves instead of just actors. Much of the photography is very well done and adds to the feel of the battle. What is the best part of the film? The Battle of Little Round Top. If you watch any part of the movie be sure to watch this. You will learn from Chamberlain what it is to be a leader, and a good one at that.

CONS. Even though I believe Ron Maxwell is the best one of the filmmakers of our time this film has flaws (like any other). The beards look somewhat fake (like Longstreet's). Some of the photography is choppy and shaky (listen to the DVD audio commentary to learn why). A poor performance by Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. In a sense he makes Lee seem like a whiner and wimp, not the courageous bold Lee we know and love (see Robert Duvall's performance of Lee in Gods and Generals, it is true to the character). Use of too much offensive language which I detest. I know that they may have used it that era (there is even some in Gods and Generals) but that does not mean it needs to go totally overboard. There is a time for historical accuracy and also historical discretion.

SUMMARY. This is a film that will make you love your country even more and will inspire you to be a man who stands for his beliefs. If you have a problem with language (as I do) then I suggest you use caution.

Rating:
Summary: Gettysbeard
Review: This is an awesome movie, and a real epic. While true that up close it is not very bloody and people stay intact, it still gets across well the scale of the battle. While being impressed by the bravery of Picket's Charge it still seems stupid and forlorn, and maybe it wasn't so clear cut on the day to those taking part. Even so I thought Martin Sheen was convincing as Lee, while Tom Berenger as Longstreet and Richard Jordan as Armistead were excellent. My only quibbles for me were the unconvincing Oirish sergeant and the sniffy British observer. The unpaid extras were great and must have had a wonderful time.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than I had hoped.
Review: I'm also glad I viewed it in the recently released DVD format, with commentary, behind the scenes narrated by Martin Sheen, maps etc. which help pull the movie itself together. Seeing Gods & Generals on DVD led me to Gettysburg, made 11 years earlier. I expected shoddy production values & a cheaply done movie when compared to G&G. Not so. I watched a old Robert Duvall playing Gen. Robert E. Lee morph into a younger Martin Sheen . The difference was neligible, but the most amusing moments in a decidedly not amusing movie were General Sheen gathering himself to attention to salute which he did a dozen times or so during the battle.
The Battle of Gettyburg was fought over a period of three days in numerous locations in the area. This movie covered three important engagements culminating in what is know as "Pickett's Charge". After day one the Confederacy was at it's high water mark. By the end of day three they had suffered reverses & losses of men they could not replace. This signaled the beginning of the end for the rebels although the war continued for almost two more years. The outcome was inevitable when it became obvious that Union would not stop & would not negotiate. Thus the war after Gettysburg was one of attrition.
I considered myself well educated on Gettysburg & the Civil War in general. That I learned so much from this movie pleased me & I say well done.

Rating:
Summary: Best Civil War Movie Ever
Review: If you're a fan of Shaara's book "The Killer Angels" you'll love this movie, as it doesn't stray from the book. If you're a Civil War history buff, you'll love this movie, as it portrays the situations, strategies, decisions and results of the most strategic 3-day battle on the North American continent accurately. It gives credit where credit is due and lets the blame fall where it may to both the North and to the South. The fate of the Union is at stake. It portrays the generals and the soldiers as the real people, with feelings, dreams and hopes. My girlfriend even liked this movie just for the story and the drama. Excellent cast, beautiful scenery and the largest civil war recreation ever on film.

Rating:
Summary: Well done, even if you're not war buff
Review: Thanks to Amazon.com for making the DVD available. I was just in Gettysburg in late December (first time since June 1960!) and they were all out.

First, I have to say, the music is overdone. One thing I did pick up in Gettysburg was the soundtrack. I even listened to that twice today as I painted. Then I saw the film. That it's long I can take; I'm a guy who can sit through Wagner's "Ring" with barely a break. So a few hours is nothing. But the same theme over and over and over again. It almost reminded me, God forbid, of a Hindi movie (for those who've been to India and seen one) in that some scenes may have been more effective without the theme music playing over and over. There was just too much music in spite of how appealing the music is!

As to historical accuracy, I'm not sure. I'll be able to tell you more when I finish Stephen W. Sears' "Gettysburg" (yes, available from Amazon.com.) While I'm not a war buff, the whole battle is quite fascinating. A whole lot of deaths, and that's a tragedy, but still a significant part of our history. It is historically accurate that there were officers on opposing sides who were classmates and friends while at West Point. There was an element of that in the film, though probably a little more sentimental than in real life. As to whether General Longstreet disagreed with Lee's decisions to continue, again, I'll finish Sears before I come to any conclusions on that.

Speaking of sentiment, I felt there was too much of that in the film, too many little soliloquies about how the men are fighting because of what they believe, and we're just a wonderful bunch of united Americans. Historically, there was conscription then, a draft. In other words, many had no choice but to serve in the military. Indeed, it was legal to buy your way out of service. So those with the money were able to do that legally, and many did. So, like nearly any war, the poor, or at least "less affluent" tended to make up the bulk of the grunts, the guys getting killed. Given that, I think the "beliefs" were somewhat less sentimental.

The National Park Service perpetuates a fashionable notion--also fostered by most school history texts--that the war focused on slavery. That's historical nonsense. Slavery was an element in the war only because it was an important ECONOMIC base of the south. (Indeed, my next door neighbor, a Tennessean and scholar, said that something like one percent of the southern population had anything to do with plantations. So it was not even that big an element of the southern economy, except that it was a base for the wealthy Southerners and significant for that reason. There was some reference to that in the film, again, kind of sentimentally.

The "Making of..." portion of the DVD was quite informative. Except there too some of those interviewed romanticized the objects of the war, the romantic theme of "unity" in which we Yanks claim to excel. There is, of course, an element of truth to that but to me it's little more than excess romanticism to make too much of it.

The acting was quite good. I can't think of anyone's I didn't like. The beards at times looked a little fake, and Tom Berringer's--wasn't his beard long or short from one scene to the next? But that's something I can live with. They relied for the making of the film on the countless "reenactors" who flock to Gettysburg frequently. Given that fact, i.e., the "amateur" status of the reenactors, it's remarkable it was as well made as it was.
I could kind of see why some critics saw the film as propoganda for the South. In Picket's charge, the rebels were slaughtered. But the reason I disagree with their reviews is that the point of the story, and the history, is that the decision to continue the battle was a bad military decision. It wasn't like the Yankees butchered the rebels; they were defending themselves.

Well, I don't want to go on for too long. I do recommend this film though, despite a few weaknesses. Just remember that it's based on a novel--and be sure you tell that to students if you're using the film as a teaching tool. It may stimulate some interest in the Civil War in general of the Gettysburg battle particularly. Either way, it's history, so it's valuable.

Rating:
Summary: Civil War Win for Hollywood
Review: Gettysburg is a great movie, and focuses primarily on three civil war battles: the first is between Union General John Buford and Confederate General Heth; the second is the battle of little round top between Col. Josua L. Chamberlein and Confederate General Hood; and the third, and largest battle, is the one between Maj. General Winfield S. Hancock and General George Pickett. Pickett's charge is one of my favorite scenes because it really shows the meaning of everything that has led up to this point and the full extent of what the Johnny Rebs(Confederates) tried to do.I think the acting is very good; even Martin Sheen did a decent job as General Lee (contrary to what some others might say). The battles are realistic, and I think the storyline is just as good. Some of the speeches seem a bit overdone, but some officers probably said pretty profound things to rally their troops.Some parts of this movies are a little slow, but can quickly turn to exciting action.
Again, a great movie for fans of the civil war. Even people who don't particularly like history can't help but get drawn into this movie.