Gettysburg - Rated PG - Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell
"Same Land, Same God, Different Dream" (tagline from the film)
Starring Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, and Jeff Daniels, Gettysburg is a depection of a battle in the Civil War at Gettysburg in 1863. The film is based on the novel Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. I'm going to give different reviews of the film from professional critics and offer my blog as a spot for others to reflect those reviews.
Steve Utley of the Austin Chronicle wrote a review on 10-15-1993:
"At four hours and eight minutes, plus intermission, Gettysburg is no date movie -- you won't have time for dinner before or energy for sex after. Originally intended as a TV mini-series, screenwriter/director Maxwell's adaptation of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Killer Angels, is faithful, fearless, and demands real commitment on the viewer's part. It repays with at least two Oscar-caliber performances and an epic recreation of the bloodiest battle in American history: thousands of Civil War reenactors trudge purposefully across the same rolling Pennsylvania farmland over which General George Pickett's division advanced to destruction 130 years ago. It is authentic right down to tobacco pouches and regional accents: a captured Tennesseean tells a bemused Union officer from Maine, “I'm here fightin' for my rats.” There are scenes of terrible beauty: the fight for Little Round Top, a savage melee on a gloomy wooded hillside, moved my companion, no Civil War buff, almost to tears. The overall production design by Austinite Cary White is superb. There is also, unfortunately, the Randy Edelman score, which sometimes overwhelms in its effort to make sure we know what we're watching is history come alive, or a real big movie, anyway. For all its lavish scale, however, Gettysburg is about the ideas and passions that propelled Northerners and Southerners at one another's throats. Early on, the earnest professor of rhetoric turned soldier, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Daniels, one of the bravest actors around), tells mutinous Union troops why they must continue to fight. The 1860s, as Shaara noted in his book, were “a naïve and sentimental time, and men spoke in windy phrases” that seem quaint to the modern ear. It's a mark of Maxwell's faith in the material that he retained this potentially fidget-making speechifying, and a testament to Daniels' ability that the scene works. On the Confederate side, Robert E. Lee (Sheen, in top form) is by turns the remote, brilliant Virginia aristocrat and the all-too-human victim of his own success. His absolute belief that his men can carry out any order he gives them is shared by the unabashed romantics who surround him -- among them, Lang's exuberant Pickett and Jordan's tormented Lewis Armistead, who agonizes over the fate that has placed him directly opposite his best friend in the Union Army. Only General James Longstreet (Berenger) stands slightly apart, one of the first of the new breed of warrior who has “sense the birth of the new war of machines”; unable to speak the order that will launch Pickett's charge, he can only nod disconsolately. Whether depicting great masses of men engaged in the hot, sweaty work of making war or focused on individuals trapped by their own standards of honor, morality, and manhood, Gettysburg enthralls. See it on the big screen. It is history come alive, by God. "
Chris Hicks of Deseret News offered some downsides to this film in part of his review written on 10-08-1993:
"....But there are also some serious problems here — and most have to do with pacing. The film has a stop-and-go mentality that never manages to pick up speed. First comes a lengthy God-and-country speech, then a rousing battle. Then, another sincere monologue, then another call to arms. And so, it goes, with stories that are not artistically or even interestingly intercut and with direction that is very unimaginative. The result is simply that it's impossible not to notice the picture's unwieldy length, despite an intermission at its center. The best sequence, and it's a lengthy one, is the battle at Little Round Top, which concludes the film's first half. After that, the film itself seems to very slowly proceed downhill......"
Out of all the reviews I read, Hicks' was the only one that had the negatives about the film. For those of you who've seen Gettysburg, how valid do you find the points I've presented from Utley and Hicks? Or perhaps, if you haven't seen the film, what from these reviews makes you want to see it or not see it?
I also found a site offering a learning guide to be used in the classroom along with this film. The link is:
http://teachwithmovies.org/samples/gettysburg.html
The site offers this as one of it's free lesson plans, but for other movies it asks for a yearly membership fee to the site.....unfortunate.
"Same Land, Same God, Different Dream" (tagline from the film)
Starring Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, and Jeff Daniels, Gettysburg is a depection of a battle in the Civil War at Gettysburg in 1863. The film is based on the novel Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. I'm going to give different reviews of the film from professional critics and offer my blog as a spot for others to reflect those reviews.
Steve Utley of the Austin Chronicle wrote a review on 10-15-1993:
"At four hours and eight minutes, plus intermission, Gettysburg is no date movie -- you won't have time for dinner before or energy for sex after. Originally intended as a TV mini-series, screenwriter/director Maxwell's adaptation of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Killer Angels, is faithful, fearless, and demands real commitment on the viewer's part. It repays with at least two Oscar-caliber performances and an epic recreation of the bloodiest battle in American history: thousands of Civil War reenactors trudge purposefully across the same rolling Pennsylvania farmland over which General George Pickett's division advanced to destruction 130 years ago. It is authentic right down to tobacco pouches and regional accents: a captured Tennesseean tells a bemused Union officer from Maine, “I'm here fightin' for my rats.” There are scenes of terrible beauty: the fight for Little Round Top, a savage melee on a gloomy wooded hillside, moved my companion, no Civil War buff, almost to tears. The overall production design by Austinite Cary White is superb. There is also, unfortunately, the Randy Edelman score, which sometimes overwhelms in its effort to make sure we know what we're watching is history come alive, or a real big movie, anyway. For all its lavish scale, however, Gettysburg is about the ideas and passions that propelled Northerners and Southerners at one another's throats. Early on, the earnest professor of rhetoric turned soldier, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Daniels, one of the bravest actors around), tells mutinous Union troops why they must continue to fight. The 1860s, as Shaara noted in his book, were “a naïve and sentimental time, and men spoke in windy phrases” that seem quaint to the modern ear. It's a mark of Maxwell's faith in the material that he retained this potentially fidget-making speechifying, and a testament to Daniels' ability that the scene works. On the Confederate side, Robert E. Lee (Sheen, in top form) is by turns the remote, brilliant Virginia aristocrat and the all-too-human victim of his own success. His absolute belief that his men can carry out any order he gives them is shared by the unabashed romantics who surround him -- among them, Lang's exuberant Pickett and Jordan's tormented Lewis Armistead, who agonizes over the fate that has placed him directly opposite his best friend in the Union Army. Only General James Longstreet (Berenger) stands slightly apart, one of the first of the new breed of warrior who has “sense the birth of the new war of machines”; unable to speak the order that will launch Pickett's charge, he can only nod disconsolately. Whether depicting great masses of men engaged in the hot, sweaty work of making war or focused on individuals trapped by their own standards of honor, morality, and manhood, Gettysburg enthralls. See it on the big screen. It is history come alive, by God. "
Chris Hicks of Deseret News offered some downsides to this film in part of his review written on 10-08-1993:
"....But there are also some serious problems here — and most have to do with pacing. The film has a stop-and-go mentality that never manages to pick up speed. First comes a lengthy God-and-country speech, then a rousing battle. Then, another sincere monologue, then another call to arms. And so, it goes, with stories that are not artistically or even interestingly intercut and with direction that is very unimaginative. The result is simply that it's impossible not to notice the picture's unwieldy length, despite an intermission at its center. The best sequence, and it's a lengthy one, is the battle at Little Round Top, which concludes the film's first half. After that, the film itself seems to very slowly proceed downhill......"
Out of all the reviews I read, Hicks' was the only one that had the negatives about the film. For those of you who've seen Gettysburg, how valid do you find the points I've presented from Utley and Hicks? Or perhaps, if you haven't seen the film, what from these reviews makes you want to see it or not see it?
I also found a site offering a learning guide to be used in the classroom along with this film. The link is:
http://teachwithmovies.org/samples/gettysburg.html
The site offers this as one of it's free lesson plans, but for other movies it asks for a yearly membership fee to the site.....unfortunate.
5 comments:
I have not seen the whole movie, possibly because of what Hicks is saying. It does have a very stop and go mentality, but overall it is a great history movie with great actors. You just cannot beat that. Another good movie you might want to consider is a movie called Das Boot by Wolfgang, I think. Happy blogging.
I haven't ever seen this movie, and to be honest, didn't know it existed! From what I gather, I am going to have to try to watch this movie sometime when I feel the need to take an entire afternoon off, or a day after I'm done running one of those stupid steeplechases. I have no favorite historical movies, but this sounds like a decent suggestion.
I am going to have to agree with AJ and Hicks to a lesser degree on this one. The movie could have been better in pacing; however, it is just an overall amazing Civil War movie. I also enjoyed the movie Gods and Generals, which also is a Civil War movie that is superb. This is going to be a great blog to read and comment on.
When I was in 8th grade, our class made a movie of Pickett's charge. Quite elaborate and the film alone was pretty expensive (16mm). The film was required viewing for every class after ours--and my poor little sister (12 years later!) still had to watch our very amateur production. It was a great learning experience, though....
I have not seen this movie either. I did not really know it even exsisted but know that i know it is out there maybe i will have to watch it.
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