Cold Mountion

[texascavcadet]

I never got a chance to see it, but I imagine someone here on CivilWarTalk did. Was it good? Do yall think it made some people want to reenact? Some say it was "OK"

What do yall think?

 

[larry_cockerham]

Cold Mountain was probably not a great inspirational film for reenactors. They spent a few minutes with the explosion at Petersburg, mostly inside the compound. The outdoor scenes mostly dwelled on renegades doing less than honorable deeds. Gettysburg or Gods and Generals were far better for your purpose.

 

[texascavcadet]

Yes thats what i heard , I think Gettysburg or Glory, Shenadoah
were classics

 

[william42]

I agree with Larry that it probably wasn't a good film as far as re-enacting, but I did learn from it. I had no idea that there existed such things as a "home guard" in the south, or at least in that Carolina region, as it was shown in the movie. I don't remember it in any of my reading. If the movie was anywhere close to the truth about the people involved with the home guard, then I think if I were a Johnny Reb I'd have a tough time deciding which way to go - home to help my family or staying in the war. It's tragic that those kind of people existed back home for the boys to have to deal with, if they made the decision to leave the fight, especially considering the hardships they endured while doing their time in the war itself.

Terry

 

[gary]

As a point of order, South Carolinians were on the site of Elliot's Salient (the Crater) when she blew and not North Clina types.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Home Guard

My own gg grandfather Cockerham, a young man with five kids at the time was harrassed by the home guard in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1863. He joined the 10th TN US Cavalry and served til war's end while his brother who shared his farm and the two of them married to sisters, served the entire war as a Confederate, as did most of the neighbors. Yep, the home guard existed all over the south. That was much the reason for the original clan in Tennessee that had Gen. Forrest as it's figurehead. This was not a pretty time.

 

[larry_cockerham]

goats

While the Cold Mountain movie was highly fictional, the old lady with the goats and herbs is a conglomerate of rural isolated mountain self medicine of the time, though probably a bit prior to the civil war. Her helpful attitude toward the young soldier would have been typical of mountain folk, an attitude that still exists today.

 

[Fifth Iowa]

Cold Mountain

I found the film quite moving. The combat scenes were brief, but powerful. The portrayal of the harsh life (the war, so to speak) of the civilians on the homefront carried an even greater emotional impact. I agree that it would not be particular useful as a recruiting tool, but I would highly commend the movie for viewing. (Aside, I regret to say, from some unnecessary nudity that has become endemic in contemporary cinema.) The young soldier whose journey home comprises one story arc in Cold Mountain is extremely noble. Although the film portrays some of the saddest aspects of the war, it also upholds some truly virtuous themes.

 

[william42]

Larry, thanks for the story on your ancestors. I didn't know that the home guard was that entrenched in the rest of the south. I guess it was pretty much everywhere. It seems as though the south could've put the people involved in the guard to better use... like on the front lines. The movie gives the impression that for the most part they were cowardly bushwhackers and not much else. But, as I know little about it I'd best abstain from any further comments. One of my major faults is that being only partially informed on a particular subject doesn't necessarily stop me from voicing my opinion about it. Thanks again for your post, Larry. Take care.

Terry

 

[texascavcadet]

Thanks for the info, I think it was filmed someplace in south america or in jungle.

 

[johan_steele]

Actually the film was made inEastern Europe... less power lines & obvious 21st Century issues, the majority of extras were Hungarian Army IIRC as it was easier to get men who looked the part that way than going for the avaerage CW re-enactor. We're too well fed and generally too tall.

Despised the book, never saw the movie... I'll wait for the Library to get a copy.

 

[texascavcadet]

Thought it was somewhere not in the USA

 

[larry_cockerham]

Filmed in Romania. Didn't look much like NC to me, but then I was concentrating on Nicole Kidman part of the time.

 

[Fifth Iowa]

Actresses

...and not Renée Zellweger???

 

[larry_cockerham]

Fifth Iowa, you must not have seen the movie. Considerably different presentation.

 

[Fifth Iowa]

Ah, But I Did...

Fifth Iowa, you must not have seen the movie. Considerably different presentation.

I was just kidding. Nicole is quite alluring in the film. But, of course, I'm only saying that from an objective point of view. I'm a truly blessed man, looking forward to celebrating my thirtieth wedding anniversary this coming July!

 

[matthew mckeon]

Cold Mountain: botched Eastwood western

Cold Mountain is actually a remake of the awesome Clint Eastwood movie, Outlaw Josey Wales. Like CM, Clint is a returning war vet. Like Jude Law, he kills people by the dozen, like Jude Law he runs across quaint country folk, and falls in love with a beautiful blonde.

Clint kills and kills in this picture. He's supposed to be a bushwhacker with Bloody Bill Anderson, he' armed with ten or fifteen pistols, and he's constantly shooting Jayhawkers, bounty hunters, stray fur traders, grubby smugglers and a couple of dirt farmers. My brother and I once counted how many, and I lost count at 19. At one point, someone suggests they bury some of his latest victims. Clint sneers "buzzards gotta to eat, same as worms." Who is he kidding? He'd have to wait for the invention of a backhoe
to bury the mounds of corpses in this classic flick.

Like Jude Law, he has a final showdown with the bad guys and shoots a bunch. Unlike Law, Clint knows to shoot ALL the BAD GUYS!

 

[Fifth Iowa]

The Outlaw Josey Wales

This is my favorite Clint Eastwood movie. You have a neutral farmer from a border state drawn into the war by atrocities committed against his family. (Doubtless this happened many times, on both sides.)

Along with Eastwood, we get a very memorable performance from Chief Dan George. He plays Lone Watie (who, in the book, is identified as the nephew of General Stand Watie, a Cherokee from Indian Territory, who was the last Confederate general to surrender at the end of the war.)

Watie offers the delightful line: "I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender. They have him pulling a wagon up in Kansas I bet."

 

[matthew mckeon]

Chief Dan George definitely steals the movie. Another line:

"They called us the civilized tribes. Civilized means easy to sneak up on."

The homeguard in Cold Mountain were seen as nasty nasty nasty, which may be true of the CW period(I don't know). They have a modern feel to me, like the menacing "security forces" or "militias" in Bosnia or elsewhere.

 

[blue_zouave]

A remake??

Cold Mountain is actually a remake of the awesome Clint Eastwood movie, Outlaw Josey Wales. Like CM, Clint is a returning war vet. Like Jude Law, he kills people by the dozen, like Jude Law he runs across quaint country folk, and falls in love with a beautiful blonde.

So the filmmakers of The Outlaw Josey Wales have not yet sued Charles Frasier for plagarism??

Maybe they're just both based on "The Odyssey." Homer has been dead too long for his estate to sue for the use of the idea.

Zou