Gettysburg

Rating:
Summary: CALLING ALL CIVIL WAR BUFFS...
Review: This is an outstanding film. Based upon Michael Shaara's Pulitzer prize winning book, "The Killer Angels", it tells the story of the battle at Gettysburg, which took place over the first three days of July in 1863. For the most part, the film examines that pivotal battle, one of the bloodiest of the war, from the perspective of the commanders who were calling the shots (no pun intended).

The viewer will be enthralled by the film's recreation of the battle at Gettysburg, which examines some of the militairy stratagems employed and the reasons for them. It attempts to explain how it was that over fifty thousand (50,000) men lay dead at its conclusion. It also recreates one of the most amazing routs in history, when Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, defying the odds, held off the Confederates at Little Round Top, part of the high ground that the Union needed to retain at Gettysburg. Chamberlain, who was not a professional soldier but a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, ultimately received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor and success in holding the Confederacy at bay at Little Round Top. Jeff Daniels, who plays the role of Chamberlain, is superlative.

The rest of the star studded cast is likewise marvelous. Tom Berenger as General Longstreet, Martin Sheen as General Robert E. Lee, Richard Jordan as General Lewis Armistead, and Stephen Lang as General Pickett, in particular, all deserve a standing ovation, as does Jeff Daniels. This is a film that attempts to be historically accurate, and it succeeds brilliantly. It does not glamorize war, but shows it in all its heartbreaking reality. It even depicts General Pickett's audacious charge, which saw the loss of an entire division of Confederate soldiers. This is a film entirely about the men who took part in the battle at Gettysburg and the outcome that set the course for the country we know today. Kudos to director Robert F. Maxwell, who directed this film. It is simply a magnificent movie. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent telling of the Killer Angels
Review: Although it would be impossible to tell the story of Gettysburg in less than a mini-series, the movie (and the book), provide a balanced insight into the situation and human sacrifice. If you don't feel a cold shiver run down your spine as Jeff Daniels calls for a bayonet charge because they've run out of ammo or as the Virginians step out after the artillery duel to begin Picket's Charge, you're just not human. Recently we've discovered that we had at least three relatives at Gettysburg, serving in the 26th NC Troop (Part of Heth's Div). During the first day's fighting 588 of 800 of the 26th were killed or wounded, included two relatives. The remnants of the 26th were part of Picket's Charge, ending their fight at Gettysburg with nearly 90% casualties. My two relatives were wounded, with one passing five weeks later in a Union hospital, the other surviving to fight and be wounded again defending Petersburg in '64.

Rating:
Summary: Best Civil War Film I have seen-along with Glory
Review: I visited the real life battlefield and having seen the movie before and after I visited made me realize how good a movie it is. My favorite scenes are Pickett's Charge and the 20th Maine going on a bayonet charge in the woods. What makes the film great is that it was filmed on location and that its on DVD finally. The VHS version is good too but get the DVD if you can.

Rating:
Summary: who cares if made for television
Review: this film will go down as one of the greatest war movies of all time. The dialogue is crisp, the setting is right, the acting is perfect, the mood is correct. featuring an all star cast of actors like Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Sam Elliot, Jef Daniels and Stephen Lang this film never runs out of drama. The fight scenes are incredible especially the heroic pickett's charge will have you holding your breath until it's all over. As strong acting drives it along the music perfectly fits the action. this is one movie you cannot pass up especially for those into civil war movies. historically balanced with nice interpretation i give the movie two thumbs up

Rating:
Summary: A Great Epic hiding poor performances
Review: It is very hard to bash this movie. The shots are great (when else do you get the feeling of 100 cannon firing at once.) The script is fine, the cameos are fun (Ted Turner, Ken Burns) And little round top was clearly Epic. I have watched this movie over and over for the battle scenes, but....

It still seems to be missing something, it took several viewings to figure it out, but what it is missing is acting. I have never seen so many bad performances by good actors. Tom Beringer and Martin Sheen were not believable in their roles. Jeff Daniels , I could just see Dumb & Dumber. Jeb Stuart wooden. John Bell Hood, wooden.

There were just too many subpar performances, it took away from the few fine ones, ( Lang, Gordon, Howell Conway.) The real stars were in my opinion the reenactors from all over who considered this a labor of reverance. It is worth watching for their sakes.

I only hope we will see better from the prequel.

Rating:
Summary: "6,000 bayonets, being locked into place"
Review: I had been anxiously waiting the filming of The Killer Angels, but did not realize that it was happening until I picked up the Philadelphia Inquirer and read a reviewer's account of the filming of Pickett's Charge. "It was hot and still at Gettysburg yesterday. And then there came a chilling sound not heard on those fields for 130 years: 6,000 bayonets being locked into place."

That this wonderful motion picture was filmed on the hallowed ground of Gettysburg makes it almost perfect. Are there points over which students of the War for Southern Independence can quibble. Sure there are.

But as the lights came up for the inter-mission in a theater in St. Louis county -- a theater filled almost entirely with men -- there were sobs. I turned to the fellow next to me and said "I first read about Little Round Top when I was 8 years old. I have finally seen it." He could only nod.

Get it and treasure it!

Rating:
Summary: this must be taken for what it is... Hollywood
Review: I have read many of the reviews about this movie on this site, and most people are not very bright obviously. They dont understand that, this is a hollywood movie and not a documentary, and expect it to be exactly true and they dont understand that things need to be changed to make it more entertaining, that is done with most movies like glory, patriot,peral harbor, and many more. If they made it with nothing but complete historical accuracy's it would not be as entertaining, and these people need to do what they can to make it entertaining or they dont money and noone watches it.I watched this movie as what it is.. a form of entertainment and not a historical documentary, and I loved it. I have studied much on the actual battle and and have a large collection of documentary's I would love to share the titles names with whoever asks, but remeber always this is for entertainment. Next time you see one of these period pieces remeber that and dont go looking for historical inaccuracy's. It ruins the point of the film, have fun!!!

Rating:
Summary: Pitiful Lee, Gross Yankee Self-righteousness
Review: Read Shaara's book -- fast-forward to the battle scenes.

Filmed on location, some of the visuals are truly memorable, despite easy-to-spot multiple uses of the same scene.

I did buy a copy after seeing it more than once, but there are serious problems here for the student of history or cinema.

Martin Sheen as Robt E. Lee is a gross disappoinment. It's as though he were reading cue cards, his accent sometimes on the wrong syllables even -- does Sheen speak English as a second language? He makes a better Bill Clinton.

Whoever plays J.E.B. Stuart fails miserably to capture anything of the man but his tardiness at the battle.

Too many "we're fighting to free the slaves" references to be stomached by any serious student of the war, or any Southerner in particular. There are no blacks anywhere in the Army of Northern Virginia, despite the documented presence of literally thousands throughout the war. The obligatory runaway slave in broken manacles and the rousing "War-to-Set-Other-Men-Free" speach by Joshua Chamberlain is completely over the top. FF.

The accents are generally contrived -- the dialogue is poorly written. It sounds more like 5th grade backyard drama than 18th century Americana.

Longstreet, is not bad, but for the accent, the wierdly wagging false beard, and incredibly HUGE hat. Other than that, great job by Tom Berenger.

Finally, the blubbering representation of Armistead crying over his erstwhile friend Hancock is nauseating in the extreme -- it goes on so you would almost think the two were lovers.

Battle scenes were definitely the highlight. Some weak long shots consisting of poorly painted mattes.

JEFF WHITE
Major, United States Army MS, DMSM

Rating:
Summary: Ted Turner's "Horse of a Different Color"
Review: This is the Battle of Gettysburg as presented by Turner Home Entertainment/Turner Pictures. You will recognize Ted Turner -- top banana in this bunch -- as the man known worldwide as Mr. Jane Fonda.

The battle scenes are as advertised in the blurbs on the box: "...some of the most authentic Civil War battle scenes ever committed to film, accurately depicting events and battles...." Yes, the battle scenes were impressive, convincing, and appeared to be the result of a good deal of effort by the director and the cast.

The actors, appropriately, speak through great, obvious wads of cotton batting pretending to be whiskers, as they deliver their lines. Apparently, this film provided work for many re-enactors and students of the Civil War.

Right from the get-go, however, Turner Home Entertainment stakes out the anti-Confederate low ground with this film. They depict the South's greatest hero -- and arguably the greatest general of all time -- as an almost dwarf-like creature astride a stunted horse. This is an elaborate metaphor, involving casting, direction, and the portrayal of General Lee, intended to diminish honor, glory, bravery, and to revise history. Both horse and rider appear as "smaller-than-life" characters.

In scene after scene, General Robert E. Lee, a man of erect bearing just over 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds is shown among men who tower over him, both on foot and on horseback. If this were the case, the entire Confederate army would have to have been over 6 feet 4 inches tall. The only people obviously shorter than Robert E. Lee, in this film, are the 12-year-old drummer boys.

The "Dukes of Hazard" had a more convincing General Lee.

Martin Sheen, a small (in many ways) leftist actor, but not without talent, plays the heroic Southern General as a stubby neurotic in various states of confusion bordering on hysteria. The viewer is led to picture Robert E. Lee as a Leprechaun instead of the giant that he was.

Mr. Sheen's Southern drawl was well done, almost musical, but one wonders if Professor Henry Higgins would find it appropriate for a man raised in Northern Virginia?

Not content with this miscarriage of history Ted Turner and his hench-persons perform the same alchemist's transformation on Traveller: General Lee's trusty battle charger. The war-horse is depicted not only as too small, but also as the proverbial "horse of a different color".

The real Traveller was in Lee's own words: "Confederate gray with black mane and tail," while the animal under Martin Sheen in the film appears white, with gray mane and tail (sometimes it appears as all white).

The real Traveller was fully 16 hands high and over 1,300 pounds, apparently too much horse for the diminutive Sheen. So, a great battle charger was transformed into a stunted pony-like animal.
Quite an effective metaphor really: depicting Robert E. Lee as a stubby historical figure. It is only a short hop to the conclusion that, because he was small in stature, he had small ideas, small talents and little courage. None of this is true.
Despite the shortcomings discussed above, this film is worth watching for the battle scenes and for the attention paid to the details of the battle of Gettysburg.

Rating:
Summary: Probably the best Civil War film yet.
Review: This is probably the best Civil War film yet made. The acting is , on the whole, excellent and the events are accurately portrayed. When attempting to make a movie like this the temptation to descend into commercialism must be strong indeed. This is entirely absent here. History is left to speak for itself, and rightly so. I wish the producers of the unspeakably bad "U-571" and "The Patriot" had taken a leaf from the same book. Sheen is brilliant as Lee. For me his best scene is when Lee reviews Pickett's division. With only facial expressions he totally captures Lee's character. Berenger,Jordan & Daniels are teriffic as well. My only regret is that I did not see this film on the big screen. To the best of my knowledge it was only shown in two cinemas in London because of its length. A great shame. How about a movie about Patrick Cleburne? That great Confederate's life and career deserve the same treatment.