Rating: 
Summary: One of the best!
Review: There seem to very little competition to good Civil War movies made in the modern day. Gettysburg is indeed the most famous but yet when it comes to the fighting, I would have to say Glory takes the lead! Glory is a great movie that captures the nations thoughts and ideas about a black regiment coming to arms to fight for the Union. It certainly is very accurate to history and follows the path of the 54th Massachusetts from the beginning of muster to near decimation at Fort Wagner. The cast is a wonderfully set group featuring Matthew Broderick,Morgan Freeman and Densel Washington. Each offers excellent acting and Morgan Freeman I would have to say was at his best! The story is bit off of history as the character Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) was bit off from history as he wasn't as nice or thoughtful to black soldiers as the movie may portray.Undoubtedly, this movie has the best fighting scenes I've ever seen in a Civil War movie. The first large scale battle scene at Antietam was absolutely outstanding and deserves a lot of credit as it captured the hostilities of war. I wished I could have seen more, but the movie wasn't about Antietam, it was about the birth of a new idea in fighting and how black soldiers with odds stacked against them gallantly fought. 5 STARS!
Rating:
Summary: Only 1 error!
Review: One fantastic movie, Glory shares several great actors and several great performances. The music and sound effects are outstanding. I just love the movie. The one and only error I found is at one point a little kid clearly has a digital watch on. Otherwise the movie plot is taken right from history with a bit of drama added. The 154th Massachusets was the first all black US regiment and Glory chronicles the regiment from it's formation to it's near destruction at the assult of Fort Wagner. Glory is great for the family and I think everybody would like it. I highly recomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine movie
Review: Washington comes in with another fine performance, but I was pleasantly shocked with Broderick's. Not that he is a bad actor, but up until this movie you keep seeing him as Ferris Bueller, not as a serious colonel out to train and protect his men. This movie also successfully protrays, I think, of what a horror the civil war was.
Rating:
Summary: Some strange omissions
Review: Given the number of reviews of this film done already, I will only add two additional comments: 1 I find it inexplicable that the director did not inform the audience that the first Medal of Honor awarded to a black soldier was to a soldier of the 54th for gallantry during the assault on Fort Wagner. 2 The Massachusett's government, after the war, wanted to reintern Shaw in Boston, and build him a mausoleum, and his parents said that he would have preferred to lie buried with his men. Five or six lines at the end was all it would have needed.
Rating:
Summary: GLORY (Special Edition)
Review: Great, historically accurate movie. Denzell and Morgan Freeman were great, and I was pleasantly surprised with Matthew Broderick.
I did not see the movie until recently (on TV). I immediately went out and bought it on DVD. Well worth the money.
I thought that the scenes leading up to and including the battle at the end of the movie were more tense and felt more real than other battle reinactments (ex. Private Ryan, Braveheart, etc.). The fact that it is a true story only makes it better. This is another example of a part of American history that many American know nothing about. I don't know if it's because of September 11th, but I find myself wanting to learn more and more about events in our great country's history, and I'm happy to now know about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry and their story. Background soundtrack makes it even better. Buy the special edition DVD!!! I'm not going to summarize the events of the movie as you can read it anywhere else on this page.
Rating:
Summary: As historically accurate as the Holy Grail
Review: It is a shame when Hollywood mover-shakers display so little faith in historical accuracy in creating their films, preferring to cast their lot with convenient fictions because they THINK a more truthful depiction won't sell. History is as dramatic and attention-getting as artistic fiction. But with a story to tell as important as that of Robert Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts, a story that is presented and consumed as history by students and non-students across the country - only by depicting the story accurately and faithfully is justice served. Glory is as historically accurate as Monty Python's "Search for the Holy Grail." "Glory" is ostensibly based on the letters of Robert Gould Shaw; but after reading "Blue-eyed Child of Fortune," I think the film's producers were banking on its viewers to take their word for it, and not read his letters. Well, here is the movie myth vs. historical fact, and you can make up your own mind:
Myth: Shaw accepts command of the 54th immediately.
Fact: Shaw declines the offer, but after a few weeks of reflection, and a sense of guilt over having let his abolitionist parents down, particularly his mother, he accepts.
Myth: The 54th is deprived of the necessary equipment, including shoes and uniforms, by a racist quartermaster. Tripp is caught on a foraging expedition for shoes, and Shaw has to raise hell to get needed supplies.
Fact: Shaw appointed the quartermaster, and finds him "a good quartermaster, who has got all the necessary stores." As soon as the conscripts reached the Readville camp, they were all made to wash in a nearby pond, then immediately issued their "blue suits." Aware that the eyes of the nation were on this showcase black regiment, the 54th was given the best and the the most up-to-date equipment from the very beginning. The only thing they lacked, for a while, was rifles, so they trained with muskets instead. As soon as rifles became available, the 54th was amply supplied. Myth: The troops of the 54th are informed that their pay was cut from $13/month to $10 - the men grumble, and Shaw dramtically destroys his pay voucher, and declares he will not accept pay either. The troops are impressed and the audience feels fuzzy over his selfless gesture.
Fact: The troops did get the paycut, but they didn't find out about it until they were en route to South Carolina.
Myth: When Shaw and the 54th arrive in South Carolina, they are placed under the command of a racist and profiteering commander named James Montgomery. On a foray into the town of Darien, Montgomery shoots one of his contraband troops for assaulting a white lady, and orders Shaw to instruct his troops to fire the town. Shaw is outraged and protests. Later in the film, Shaw confronts his commanding officers, who are esconced among their loot taken from plantation houses, and blackmails them into giving him combat command. Audience is outraged at the corruption of the commanding officers, of proud of Shaw's courage and purity of heart.
Fact: Shaw actually admired Montgomery greatly. Sure, Shaw was at first a little put off on ordering his troops to fire the town, but he had few qualms about ordering his troops to loot. But Shaw admired Montgomery's commitment to his cause. Montgomery was no racist, and would never have shot the contraband. Montgomery had been mentored by, and a close friend of, the great anti-racist of all time: John Brown. Both had together raided and fought the pro-slavery factions in the days of Bleeding-Kansas, and both hated enemies of liberty to the point of picking up swords and rifles to fight them. The wealthy George Stearns, appointed the head of the recruiting committee for the 54th, had once raised funds to buy rifles for the anti-slavery settlers of Kansas - and Montgomery would have been a recepient, and avid user, of one of these rifles. Stearns was also one of the Secret Six who financed John Brown's Harper's Ferry Raid. The idea of depicting Montgomery as a racist is unfair and slanderous, especially when one considers that one of his scouts was none other than Harriet Tubman. Shaw was a little put-off by Montgomery's insistence on destroying the homes of the secessionists, but Montgomery felt that Southerners had to feel the sting of war and thus lose the will to fight, that they should be punished for having tolerated the sin of slavery, and that since the Confederacy was not intending to follow the rules of war (white officers leading black troops would be shot, as would blacks in uniform; blacks helping the Union would be sold into slavery), then why should he. Shaw ultimately had profound respect for Montgomery's dedication and purity of commitment to freedom.
Shaw is continuously struggling with his own politically incorrect references to blacks, and since he never associated with blacks personally (the non-existent character of Thomas was a just a melodramatic device to make Shaw appear more rooted in egalitarianism than he truly was), he was not really sure of their abilities as soldiers until the James Island skirmish. When one considers the differences between the myth and the fact in the film, what's left in terms of historical value? Yes there was a Robert Shaw, a first Black Union regiment named the 54th Massachusetts which did endure attacks on their integrity as a fighting unit and as fighting men, and yes there were some tensions and tough choices among the men of the regiment, and yes they got creamed assaulting Fort Wagner - the rest is pure hokey. It's a well-made film, but if you're an educator presenting this film, a good discusion might involve the differences, and if they are material or not. Whatever you do, don't sell this as a historical story of the 54th because it's not - it is Hollywood fiction. This review was based on a study of Shaw's letters (Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune) and his biography.
Rating:
Summary: "Glory"
Review: Glory (R) *****/5
Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher.
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Synopsis: The true story of the first all black regiment in the civil war.
Special Features: Trailer.
Review: The greatest war film ever in my opinion. It is not over bearing in its war scenes. It does not indulge in or exploit gore. It is disturbing in its battle scenes in the way they should be the drama and emotion of them. The soldiers in this film must battle not only the enemy, but also racism from within their own army. This film is uplifting and saddening to an extent never duplicated in motion picture history. The acting was incredible despite worries casting Ferris Bueller would ruin it. Broderick is fantastic as the white soldier chosen to lead the regiment, the underrated Cary Elwes again is superb as Broderick's best friend and right hand man, the always dependable Morgan freeman comes through again, Denzel took the Best Supporting Actor Oscar home, and a excellent support performance by Andre Braugher as Broderick's butler turned soldier caps the cast off. Edward Zwick is incredible from the director's chair. This film has every shot right, and it's pacing is excellent. He also does a great job in keeping focus during the battles. As for the DVD? This is the single disc version, and it's a freaking flip disc d'oh! The only special feature is the trailer (hold me back). Do yourself a favor and buy the 2 disc special edition.
Rating:
Summary: Honor and Horror
Review: The story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry is told in a solid and entertaining movie. The casting is brilliant, including the surprisingly good choice of Matthew Broderick, an actor I'm normally indifferent to, who is utterly believable as the scion of a wealthy Boston family who accepts a commission as Colonel in command of the first black regiment in the Civil War. Rounding out the cast are Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, the two finest actors of ANY color working in Hollywood these days, and Cary Elwes in easily his best performance since The Princess Bride. If there is anything negative to say about this film, it is in the archetypical nature of several of the characters (I do not know how "fictionalized" the indivdual soldiers are) and a bit of, yes, "glorification" of what ultimately was one of the most horrific and wasteful events in history. But ultimately that is what makes honor and glory: sacrifice for the future. The tragedy should not be forgotten in the glory. So when you see this movie, let your heart swell for the glory and honor, and let your eye weep at the waste of human life.
Rating:
Summary: Glory Is Glorious
Review: Before I saw this movie I didn't know much about the part of African Americans in the Civil War. Even though we usually think of the Union as being anti-racist in the beggining of the war African American soliders were only allowed to do laborous activities like digging graves. They were even treated like slaves, if they disobeyed they got whipped. They were also treated like inferiors or like they were useless. But Glory is the story of a regiment of African American soliders in the union army that overcame all obstacles and proved to the world that courage, dedication, and honor are all qualities that are not based upon skin color. They fought to not be denied to use thier abilities to fight for thier country and for thier rights. The evolution that the soliders make from labeorers to some of the most honorable soliders is shown with great care in emphasizing the emotional and spiritual changes that they had to undergo. One reason this movie is so good is that is makes you feel like you know every single one of the soliders and watching this movie can make you very emotional. I have to say that I shed a few tears. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone by giving away any of the plot but I suggest that you go see Glory. Glory is Glorious and if you don't want to take my word for it watch the dvd yourself.
Rating:
Summary: perfection
Review: i love this movie. it has got to be the best war movie but can not be because i thought black hawk down was better. this has a great story no one could touch other than edward zwick. he directed the predictable courage under fire also. well here goes robert (matthew broderick) gets to be part of the civil war but he has a all black army. great performances by morgan freeman , and denzel washington. this did get predictable at one scene but its great otherwise.
|
