HF Last Full Measure? Hello?? Anyone???

Historical-Fiction
Let’s face it, those of us who find interest in the American Civil War are rapidly dwindling in numbers. Few schools teach anything about the Civil War any more than the standard one-liner that it was all about slavery and the North won. Talk to a millennial today and half have no idea when it was fought, who fought in it, or where the battles occurred.

The bulk of Hollywood consumers today are millennials. That’s followed by Gen Z and Gen X. Civil War movies would likely do better in Hollywood if the typical consumer was a baby boomer, but times have changed. Interests have changed. Movie goers today want fast paced, action oriented adventure flicks with lots of CGI and graphics. Unless you throw in a stereotypical BS love story too thicken the plot, it’s just not going to draw an audience, despite those of us who would definitely go see it. Hollywood won’t risk it, and the numbers just aren’t there. very sad to say, but look at what is happened with reenactments.... 50 years ago they would draw hundreds of reenactors and equally excited crowds. Today you’re lucky to get more than a handful of tourists watching 10 Yankee and 10 rebel reenactors on a field portraying an entire battle. America has been groomed to lose interest in anything historical in nature. While Hollywood can still generate interest in World War II flicks, I fear that too will lose ground steadily over the next generation or two as baby boomers day off and the American education system continues to downplay the importance of history in the classroom.


How many schools teach about World War 1? There is a movie coming out next week called "1917". it is at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. People will go see a well made movie. The CW movies you are speaking of were poorly made. Poorly written and poorly directed.

 
How many schools teach about World War 1? There is a movie coming out next week called "1917". it is at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. People will go see a well made movie. The CW movies you are speaking of were poorly made. Poorly written and poorly directed.


I do believe you may have hit the nail right on the head.

Get a good writer, good director, good promoting and CW movies will shine again.
 
"The Killer Angels" is a stand-alone novel. I suspect "Gettysburg" was intended to be a stand-alone project also. It spawned the poorly written GaG novel, which, unsurprisingly, became a poor movie. BTW - both of them look better on a TV screen than they do on a movie screen. I think "The Last Full Measure" is actually a pretty good novel, so it might make a better screenplay. Shaara the Younger created a pretty compelling character in the way he wrote Grant, and fewer of the characters Shaara the Elder wrote were left for his son to pick up. I don't particularly care for him, but his Mexican War novel "Gone for Soldiers" is actually a pretty strong work, and probably the book I like best of his body of work.
 

Does anybody else think that making The Last Full Measure seems somewhat pointless when you consider that the epilogue for Gettysburg gives away several key plot points? To my mind, this makes the case that Gettysburg should probably not have been part of a trilogy in the first place.



In all fairness, we kinda know how the civil war ended anyway, lol!
 
I look at the success the History Channel has had when the do actual history in the last ten years...looking at you Hatfields and McCoy's. They could put out a Civil War miniseries or movie every year or so.
 
Well yes, they do hate confederates, but you're right, they hate losing money more. Maybe if people were less PC, and more into the civil war, we'd have better movies more often.
How do you define PC? Would you argue that Birth of a Nation was a more fair and balanced film?
Leftyhunter
 
In today's day and age, and considering how close we are to the hundredth anniversary, I think its safe to say we'll have a remake of Gone with the Wind by 2040.

I can't wait to see how badly they screw it up.
Rating movies good or dad is highly subjective at best. There billions of people with billions of opinions and tastes.
The only objective movie measurements are profits vs losses.
Leftyhunter
 
Hollywood made some money with The Beguiled and I think the film industry will eventually give a Civil War movie another go. However, they need a bigger success that would make them feel comfortable with risking a lot of money for production.
Per Wiki The Beguiled 2017 cost 10 million and grossed 27 million. Assuming the gross is split 50/50 between the studios and cinema owners that would be a very modest profit.
Steven Spielberg' 2012 biopic Lincoln grossed 275illion and cost 65 million. That's one reason Spielberg is the man.
Leftyhunter
 
How do you define PC? Would you argue that Birth of a Nation was a more fair and balanced film?
Leftyhunter



I've never watch Birth of a Nation before, so I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean..

Gettysburg and Gods and Generals gave the Southern point of view like no Hollywood movie would do now. They gave the view that most southern soldiers had during the war, and that they were fighting to keep the yankee out of their lands. Nowadays, they'll paint a big racist label on all southern soldiers, that isn't fair, or accurate. Its to fit a modern day political narrative to be honest...
 
I've never watch Birth of a Nation before, so I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean..

Gettysburg and Gods and Generals gave the Southern point of view like no Hollywood movie would do now. They gave the view that most southern soldiers had during the war, and that they were fighting to keep the yankee out of their lands. Nowadays, they'll paint a big racist label on all southern soldiers, that isn't fair, or accurate. Its to fit a modern day political narrative to be honest...
Actually the 1915 film by D.W.Grifeth Birth of a Nation was the first Hollywood blockbuster. No movie ever made gives a " Southern view" because Southern opinion of the ACW is very divided at best as forty percent of the Southern population was enslaved or treated at best as second class citizens. A substantial amount of white Southerners supported or fought for the Union.
It would be more accurate to say some movies have a pro Confederate viewpoint vs a pro Union view point.
All movie affectiontos of the ACW should watch BON because it set template.
Leftyhunter
 
I've never watch Birth of a Nation before, so I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean..

Gettysburg and Gods and Generals gave the Southern point of view like no Hollywood movie would do now. They gave the view that most southern soldiers had during the war, and that they were fighting to keep the yankee out of their lands. Nowadays, they'll paint a big racist label on all southern soldiers, that isn't fair, or accurate. Its to fit a modern day political narrative to be honest...
You can rent BON on Netflix. Watch it and let us know if you think BON is an objective or subjective movie.
Leftyhunter
 
Two movies that we're very financially successful with ACW themes was the 1966 Italian film"Django" which decades later was the loose template ( with major changes) For Quinten Tarantino' s "Django unchained". Django unchained cost 100 million and grossed 425 million which is pretty good.
I don't know how much Django cost to make but it grossed over a billion Italian Lira. .
We're both movies historically accurate? Maybe not but neither was BON a documentary. Django unchained seems to of reflected the fantasy wishes of a substantial portion of the Southern population.
Leftyhunter
 
I think a big part of the problem is that many of us expect a Civil War movie to be made for us. For Civil War buffs. But that isn't going to happen simply because they have to make a movie that appeals to as many moviegoers as possible. That means often doing things differently than we perhaps would.

I think The Last Full Measure would be a more Union slanted piece anyway. I think it almost has to be Grant centiric, at that point in the war. He's the main story anyway from what I know of the book.
 
I think a big part of the problem is that many of us expect a Civil War movie to be made for us. For Civil War buffs. But that isn't going to happen simply because they have to make a movie that appeals to as many moviegoers as possible. That means often doing things differently than we perhaps would.

I think The Last Full Measure would be a more Union slanted piece anyway. I think it almost has to be Grant centiric, at that point in the war. He's the main story anyway from what I know of the book.
No doubt about that. Ever since Birth of a Nation ACW movies try to reach the largest audience possible. It has been suggested that with CGI technology the cost of making movies will go down so maybe we will see more ACW movies in the future. Definitely ACW movies currently are hit and miss in terms of profit.
Leftyhunter
 
@leftyhunter I keep seeing you mention Birth of a Nation and keep speaking of it as the biggest and most aspired to CW film. That movie had its time, but it was silent era, that era was almost completely forgotten, by the public and the film industry and I suspect neither end wants to remember it. Heck my grandad was born in the 20's watched movies with an addiction, and he never heard of it and I know many people in the film industry who've never heard of it. That film was the first blockbuster, but as something of an inspiration to reach the widest audiences possible with the CW? I'd say it fizzled quickly. It was born in probably the most racially charged period in American history, hence its popularity at the time, and after it all got out of hand in 1919's "Red Summer" everything changed, in their own weird complicated ways. None of the sides in that era wanted to revisit that mess, and Birth of a Nation was very much part of it.

If you want the ultimate CW movie that inspired the industry to go big or go home with CW films, I think that place in history belongs to the awful "makes me hate the protagonist" movie Gone with the Wind. Every CW movie since has been measured by it to this day and for some reason beyond me its still popular. Plus I'd say its wildly different from Birth of a Nation best examples, no great big spectacular battle scenes, no specific focus on race, (though the circumstances very much present), and its a chick flick. Be honest I wonder if it inspired the chick flick now.

If I've misinterpreted you, my apologies.
 
@leftyhunter I keep seeing you mention Birth of a Nation and keep speaking of it as the biggest and most aspired to CW film. That movie had its time, but it was silent era, that era was almost completely forgotten, by the public and the film industry and I suspect neither end wants to remember it. Heck my grandad was born in the 20's watched movies with an addiction, and he never heard of it and I know many people in the film industry who've never heard of it. That film was the first blockbuster, but as something of an inspiration to reach the widest audiences possible with the CW? I'd say it fizzled quickly. It was born in probably the most racially charged period in American history, hence its popularity at the time, and after it all got out of hand in 1919's "Red Summer" everything changed, in their own weird complicated ways. None of the sides in that era wanted to revisit that mess, and Birth of a Nation was very much part of it.

If you want the ultimate CW movie that inspired the industry to go big or go home with CW films, I think that place in history belongs to the awful "makes me hate the protagonist" movie Gone with the Wind. Every CW movie since has been measured by it to this day and for some reason beyond me its still popular. Plus I'd say its wildly different from Birth of a Nation best examples, no great big spectacular battle scenes, no specific focus on race, (though the circumstances very much present), and its a chick flick. Be honest I wonder if it inspired the chick flick now.

If I've misinterpreted you, my apologies.
I would have to disagree. The themes of Birth of a Nation are still with us to this day. It's not like in 1919 it was Kumbya in the US.
Leftyhunter
 
Back
Top