Gods and Generals

[Donn]

I'm one of the few people on the planet who paid to see Gods & Gens the night it opened. Liked it and Gettysburg enough to buy them. The troubles I had were 1) Lang playing Jackson. To fans of Gettysburg like me, he's Pickett. And, 2) A prequel that's made years later. All the characters that appeared in Gettysburg are visibly older in an event that's supposed to have happened first, Jeff Daniels in particular.

 

[Philadelphia Patriot]

I'm one of the few people on the planet who paid to see Gods & Gens the night it opened. Liked it and Gettysburg enough to buy them. The troubles I had were 1) Lang playing Jackson. To fans of Gettysburg like me, he's Pickett. And, 2) A prequel that's made years later. All the characters that appeared in Gettysburg are visibly older in an event that's supposed to have happened first, Jeff Daniels in particular.

Jeff Daniels looks like he took his check from Gettysburg and went out to the buffet a few times before shooting Gods and Generals.

I thought Lang played a pretty good Jackson, but I agree I hate seeing actors play character A in one movie and actor B in another. I really want them to make the 3rd movie.

 

[GJH77]

Stonewall.

Note that the location of this statue is the campus of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. The building in the background is the VMI barracks (dormitory in regular college terms).
Gary-Class of 77

 

[CptCurl]

Gary,

This should look familiar:

Curl

 

[Faulkner]

I've heard Sheen criticized for his portrayal of Lee before, but to me he played Lee the way Lee was portrayed in the book "Killer Angels".

Sheen didn't really do a bad job playing the part of Lee, he was just the wrong person for the part.

 

[PA Reb]

When I was a little younger, I was heavily into ACW re-enacting with a local group. When Gettysburg was made and because it was being filmed so close to my location, several of us went down to live in tents for a week and take part in the movie as extras. A good friend of mine can be seen on screen as Union troops vacate the Devil's Den area. He can be seen on top of a rock handing the Union flag down to another soldier. We switched uniform colors all the time to fill the fields with whatever "color" they were filming that day. Only two scenes were filmed on the actual battlefield - Devil's Den and Pickett's charge for which Ted Turner paid big time for. Most of the filming took place on a property down past the Eisenhower farm and the barn that was used over and over (seen many times in the movie from different angles which makes it look like a different area) is till there. Other buildings that the crews built such as Meade's headquarters were torn back down. I think the costuming and makeup are much better in G&Gs but they are both good movies. I also got to meet all the "big name" actors and here is my impression of a few of them;

Martin Sheen as Lee - a very nice man that is cordial and a gentleman.

Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain - a nice enough guy but a little clumsy at times.

Tom Berenger as Longstreet - played a good part with a bad looking beard. A really neat guy to be around.

Sam Elliott as Buford - my opinion of him changed after I saw him in action. He was nice enough until there were a lot of women around him, then he got a little obnoxious. I believe he played a great part though.

Stephen Lang as Pickett - I think I'll just leave that one alone.

Got to meet just about all the people that played the roles of generals. All in all, fun times!

 

[Muley Gil]

CptCurl,

Do you have a picture of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

 

[shouldazagged]

"Gettysburg" on VHS was my late wife's gift to me on what we knew would be her last Christmas--she died less than a month later--so it has sentimental value. Good movie, I thought, except that much of the dialogue among the officer characters often was the stilted, formal Victorian speech I suspect the actual officers described in writing their memoirs later. The re-enacted battle scenes were well done.

I haven't seen "Gods And Generals", but my vote for the best Civil War movie I've ever seen goes to "Glory". Superb acting, especially by Washington, Braugher and Freeman. One fanatically meticulous Union re-enactor told me the uniforms, gear, etc., were the most accurate he had ever seen in a movie.

 

[CptCurl]

CptCurl,

Do you have a picture of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

This is from the rear.

Curl

 

[Donn]

Sheen did an adequate job as Lee in Gettysburg, but IMHO, Duvall nailed the part in Gods & Gens.