The acting was horrible.

Great movie!!
According to the Imd trivia, Sam Elliott (Buford) really got into it ..."Sam Elliott was so in character on the set that a production assistant was sent out ahead of him in between takes to warn the re-enactors being used as extras that he only responded to salutes and would address individuals by their rank"!

Has anyone seen the Director's Cuts of the movies on BluRay?



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A friend of mine was in the movie. He is a reenactor. My great great grandfather fought for the Confederacy on Culp's Hill on the third day of the battle. I have a copy of his diary. I have been there many times and it is sobering experience. The old museum was quite good but the new version has received terrible reviews. As for the movie sheen as lee sucked.

Gettysburg is where Lee screwed up. It may be where he lost the war. He should have listened to Longstreet and withdrawn to defensible postions and let the union forces bleed out on the open ground. Still, it would have been interesting to see how it would have played out had Jackson been there.  Knowing him, he would have flanked the line and ended up attacking from the rear and changed the entire pitch of the battle.

My great grandfather was a private in G Company, 9th Virginia Infantry. He took part in Pickett's charge and was captured at the stone wall. He spent the rest of the war at Camp Delaware, on an island in the Delaware River near Wilmington. He was released on April 25, 1865 and walked home to Norfolk County, Va. where he died on September 5th of that same year due to typhoid fever that he caught in the prison camp.

Read Chamberlain's book.

Walking the ground gives an even greater appreciation for what happened there.

Greatest soldier either side.

He presided over the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Chamberlain's words and why he is so great:

   "The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply. I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition, which could be no other than a salute of arms. Well aware of the responsibility assumed, and of the criticisms that would follow, as the sequel proved, nothing of that kind could move me in the least. The act could be defended, if needful, by the suggestion that such a salute was not to the cause for which the flag of the Confederacy stood, but to its going down before the flag of the Union. My main reason, however, was one for which I sought no authority nor asked forgiveness. Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond;––was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured?


       Instructions had been given; and when the head of each division column comes opposite our group, our bugle sounds the signal and instantly our whole line from right to left, regiment by regiment in succession, gives the soldiers salutation, from the "order arms" to the old "carry"––the marching salute. Gordon at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and. downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual,––honor answering honor. On our part not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order, but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!"

"the darkies"



now that is period correct

They were filming the movie when my wife and I honeymooned in Gettysburg and down the Blue Ridge Parkway. We ate dinner at the Farnsworth House Inn (still has bullet holes from the battle on the brick walls), and Tom Berrenger and Kevin Conway (the actor that played Sgt. 'Buster' Kilrain, Chamberlain's guy) were having dinner a couple tables over from us that night. Pretty cool experience seeing it done while we were there.

I remember seeing a cameo shot of Brian Pohanka - Civil War historian.

RIP Brian

Out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 3.5 (tops).

It would be nice to see Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg tackle the Civil War as their next project for a HBO miniseries.
There is yet to be a Civil War movie that managed to capture the carnage of that war and show the horrors those boys went through.  

Really? I didn't know that.
I did spot Ted Turner and Ken Burns, though.

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sadly I'd would say that it would somehow become a love story.... Keep it a independent production. Most independent films are more realistic anyways.

The acting was horrible, but there are two parts I stood up and cheered for. The first was mentioned. The Chamberlain bayonett charge of the 20th Maine.

Battle of Little Round Top


The second was when Ted (Captain Planet) Turner bought it during Picketts charge. Ah, if only it were that way in real life!

Pickett's Charge

If you look closely, you can see Red Ted marching beside Armistead (Richard Jordan).

My G3 Grandfather John J. Handley was in Company G, 44th Georgia Infantry.  The 44th mustered in 1862 with 1115 men.  350 were killed and 450 wounded throughout the war.  According to the various reports I have read, the Regiment had an unheard of low rate of desertion, with only 4 desertions throughout the war.

Recongizing hindsight is 20/20, I must agree.  General Lee gave the order to take the Round Tops on the first day "if practicable".  Had that been General Jackson receiving the order, it would have no doubt been taken, changing the course of the battle.  But Gen Ewell was not Jackson...and he delayed.  So in my mind, Gen Ewell shares some blame for the outcome.

Standing on the ground a couple months ago, obvioulsy with the benefit of hindsight, I cannot understand what General Lee was thinking.  The war, to that point, had been largely about superior Union forces throwing themselves up against entrenced Confederates and being smashed to pieces.  The war was a lesson in the new killing power of weapons, with the balance of power going to the defence.  And yet Lee smashed his men (Pickett's Charge) up against Gen Meade's line after crossing over a mile of open field and getting hammered with artillery the whole way.

The one I understand in al this was General Longstreet and his utter horror at what he was powerless to stop.  Sadness beyond belief.

-David
Edgewood, NM

I liked it okay, I would not say it was the best war movie ever though...

Gettysburg is one of my all-time favorite movies.  It isn't perfect but it is still a great movie.

Some of the records indicate my g-g-grandfather was captured at Gettysburg while others indicate he was captured at Spotsylvania.  He served in the 1st South Carolina Infantry.  He also died in captivity at Fort Delaware.  I hope to visit the mass grave where he is buried next month.

Lee would be a tough one to pull off, but I agree.  Martin Sheen just doesn't have the depth required for Lee.





 

A 100% pure, grade AAA class act, Chamberlain was.  

It is a shame we don't have more people of his class these days.

Thanks.
I actually have the Director's Cut of Gettysburg on vhs from way back. It has some interesting scenes, mainly with Sam Elliot, but nothing major.

I'm hoping to finally get the blurays after Christmas when I'll inevitably end up with a collection of gift cards.

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Supposedly there's a Ford Econoline in the background of one scene...

Gettysburg was very good but the mess that turned out to be Gods and Generals killed any chance to ever see the 3rd book - The Last Full Measure - made into a film.  Gods and Generals was painful to watch.  Having the screenwriter serve as director, Ronald F. Maxwell in this case, didn't work. It could have been edited into a good 2 to 2 1/2 hour movie but it looks like ego got into the way.

No, its a horseman with a flag. Its during the scenes right before Pickett's Charge. I'll admit it did look like a white van in motion on my vhs, but its a bit clearer on dvd and I assume on bluray.

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Love that speach.

He was, essentially, the opposite of Sherman (a good thing).  Men like him largely went away after WWI.

Chamberlain and Gordon were perfectly cast, in this final chapter.  Two totally under appreciated and largely unknown leaders.

"Wonderful Ground you've chosen John... Now let's go surprise Harry Heath"