Civil War History - Gettysburg ForumGettysburg! It's not just a National Park. It's a Civil War Battlefield. For some it's historic and storied past are almost an obsession! All related discussions are welcome here!
I would be willing to bet the speech is all Hollywood but probably not too far from something he could have said. Chamberlain was the real deal, an eloquent, educated man. He was a true believer in the Union cause. IMO worthy of the attention he is getting these days. It’s too bad that all of the mythology about him has clouded the truth. According to Grant he is the only person to whom he gave a battlefield promotion.
BTW I much preferred Robert Duvall as Lee. Who should play Grant if they ever do "Last Full Measure"? Sheen actually looked more like Grant than Lee!
__________________ "We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle.... We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers"
- Robert E. Lee
The Battle Flag of The Madison Light Artillery (Louisiana) MOODY'S BATTERY - 24 Pound Howitzers
Alexander's Battalion
Longstreets Corps
Martin Sheen, aside from some of his statements about the severity of the war and a longing for a completion of the conflict, did Gen. Lee no favors. Now the world thinks he was a little soft spoken man.
Martin Sheen wasn't many people's idea of Lee. However he did grasp the point of Killer Angels= that an overconfident Lee ordered an attack he shouldn't have, and his loyal troopers, confident in the leadership that had produced so many victories, carried in out. Classic hubris, leading to disaster. In the movie, the stunned Pickett wandered back across the field looks, not angry or sorrowful, but bewildered. He hadn't lost a battle, but a personal idol.
Yes, I agree. The guy (name not recalled) who portrayed Pickett in Gettysburg at least left us 21st century viewers with some compassion for his predicament. Sympathy also for the plight of James Longstreet who knew he was walking several thousand men to their doom for no purpose than to deplete the population and perhaps bring the war to an end. Lee must have known that himself.
Believe I heard the same thing. Didn't pay much attention to "Gods and Generals," but someone, somewhere said Stephen Lang played Jackson.
As another aside, Jackson without his beard, was quite a handsome man. Did you know that "Beauty" was JEB Stuart's nickname during his West Point years? No wonder he grew that beard.
Ole
The actor Stephan Lang did play both parts...George Pickett and the great Jackson.
"Beauty" Stuart: He was a nice looking guy I guess...maybe he stood out or something. Have ya'll seen his ante-bellum photo/sans beard? You can judge for yourself.
Call me crazy but I like Sheen's Lee better and better everytime I see Gettysburg.
I also like Sheen's effort as for the close-ups. Somehow I still picture Lee as a bit more of a soldier. Lee had been commandant of West Point and spent years doing civil engineering projects such as flood control for St. Louis, not to mention his time fighting in Mexico with his friend U. Grant.
I thought Gods and Generals was possibly the worst movie ever made, so even guys like Jeff Daniels who did well in Gettysburg were crashing bores, and excellent actors like Robert Duvall were wasted.
Sheen was too dumpy and lacked the necessary grandness or greatness. He was pretty hopeless on a horse too. But I think he understood the role and did something with it. Duvall recited his lines, peeled off the beard and cashed his check.
I don't think Lang really got Jackson, although I confess I couldn't bear to watch the agonizingly slow, static scenes all the way through. G and G betrays the idea of a "moving" picture.
Can anyone understand Jackson from our perspective? Religious in a way tough to understand nowadays, secretive, controlling, inconsistent, talented, his eccentricities make interesting reading, but what does it add up to?
Hey guys,
I thought Lang did an awesome job of portraying Jackson.I easily find Jackson the most fascinating man in the war and I thought he did a good job of capturing the man.
Jackson hardly ever lost so he should get some credit for that.It's a generals job for his troops to fight hard(like a coaches job for his players to play hard) and his men certainly did.I only recall once where he was beaten so his record was pretty impressive.I realize modern scholarship likes to point out his flaws, but many in the Confederacy at the time of his death considered him and not Lee to be the real superstar.He certainly was eccentric wasn't he.
I think you guys are being a little hard on the actors.They weren't flawless,but they did the best representations of Lee that I've seen in a movie.Pickett was awesome in Gettysburg when he said ,but general I have no division.He conveyed the emotions appropriatley.I wonder about those stroke rumors Lee had at Gettysburg.Do you guys believe them?Longstreet came across looking superior to everyone in Gettysburg,but his record hardly made him a defensive general.
I'm penecostal so I can understand Jackson really well religiously.Particularly by conversing with old-timers at my church.My generation doesn't see things exactly the same way.Jackson's diary about telling God that he must remove his servant Stonewall first for the Yankees to win was quite telling to me.It seemed to me to indicate that he thought he would die and that perhaps he thought God willed a Union victory.Just my take on the matter.Poeple by and large were more religious then, because they needed God more then.On mission trips in places where technology hasn't progressed much poeple are still fanatically religious.
Regards,
Ashley
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