Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest

Not a cavalryman, but don't forget John Gordon (who Lee didn't dislike) - he went from captain to major general on merit and a commanding voice.
As amateur soldiers go, is he really in a class with Forrest and Hampton?
 
As amateur soldiers go, is he really in a class with Forrest and Hampton?

I don't think Forrest is in the same class as Hampton. I admire the South Carolinian more. But you know this.

That digression aside, I don't think so. Gordon was a charismatic leader and a hard fighter, but his tactical eye doesn't strike me as being exceptional. Not poor, mind you, but I'd rather have Cleburne (technically professionally trained but as a private, not an officer) or one of the two cavalry officers (Forrest or Hampton) on that score.

But Lee may have felt otherwise, judging by the fact that he went to some trouble to give Gordon a division in 1864 (I can't recall the details, but it involved several brigades being swapped around) and kept him instead of Early (whose reputation stank at the time but who was the official 2nd Corps commander) when 2nd Corps came back from the Valley of Humiliation.
 
Has he been in a movie where he had a role that was anything similar? I see some resemblance, just not sure about the acting.
 
Now a movie about Nathan Bedford Forrest would be excellent! His life is a good story, and definitely full of action during the war.
Although, sorry, I don't agree about Mathew M. being the guy for the part. He's a good actor, I just don't see him as Forrest.

Hmmmm, as I was typing that, I was thinking, I don't believe I would want to see a movie about Forrest, not in today's PC world. One of two things would happen, they would either focus on, and blow all out of proportion the stuff that his critics like to focus on OR they would have to do like they did with the disappointing remake of "Wild Wild West" and have Will Smith play the part of Forrest.....
 
I think Matthew McConauhey would make a good Nathan Bedford Forrest. Doea anybody agree?
I was thinking of that one, too, since Mr. Dos Equis has been told "don't call us, we'll call you." Jim Caviesal probably wouldn't be interested, since the role would obviously involve a lot of cussing. But see him in Ride With the Devil, probably my all time favorite ACW movie.
 
Southland,

Actually, Robertson does mention the illegitimate child rumor in his tome on Stonewall - but if you blink you might miss it! I think he spent all of six words on it and dismissed it completely. Krick had an article about it somewhere, going into a little more detail - he said it was supposed to have been by a Mexican lady during the Mexican War. He, too, dismisses it. Robertson mentions that Jackson became very interested in a Mexican lady while there during the war and learned Spanish just so he could converse with her but that was as far as it went. He didn't bring home a bride but he always associated Spanish with romance and liked to tickle his wife's ears with Spanish love notes! But there were no little Stonewalls in Mexico. Krick suggests that Jackson was maybe a little more sinful in his youth than his later austerity might indicate and perhaps that was why some of his staff thought the rumor might be true. Cadmus Wilcox had the distinction of being the only person who had ever seen Jackson drunk - said the future general danced a great buck and wing barefoot! (I'd like to borrow Mr. Peabody's Way-Back Machine to see that!)

Hi, Diane. After mentioning War with Mexico, I do recal I have read that before. But as you noted there was nothing to it.
 
I'd love to see a well-written bio-pic of Forrest, too. My vote would be Jude Law, pretty much because of his eyes! (My casting sense might be odd, though - I've always thought Michael Keaton would be excellent as Jeb Stuart. Ya gotta think about that one for a little!) I think there would be even more interesting casting with who would play his brothers and his son, wife and mother? Bill Forrest would be a really interesting character to play, I think. He was his brother's right hand, seldom if ever brought him bum information, and was known as a kind and generous man. He was also known to have had an incredibly violent and unpredictable temper - so much so he was said to be the only living man Bedford Forrest feared. Said Forrest, "No man alive can tell when Bill is going to get mad."

The controversy would hit the roof, though, it's true. That's why I think Forrest is probably the most misunderstood person in American history. The other side painted him as a savage brute, which is only natural, and his tally of 30 dead men is unmatched but, as he said himself, "I never wanted to kill anybody except in the defense of my country or my life." And, if so many weren't trying to gain the glory of bringing Sherman Forrest's spurs, he probably wouldn't have killed that many. Nor is it noted very often if at all that a good portion of those were killed when Forrest saved or tried to save somebody's life. Despite his hot temper, Forrest was a peacable man - he rarely started a fight but he had no problem finishing one. For a 'savage', he seemed to be well-respected. He served as constable and coroner for DeSoto county and was elected alderman in Memphis four times. His involvment with the klan I look at as something that came from anger and fear. He ended the war a middle-aged man who was pretty well shot up and nearly back where he'd started from. With no education to fall back on, it had to be a frightening prospect. His right side was a mess, eventually it became fairly hard to use - he often had his wife or son write for him as his hand became crippled - because of getting shot twice in the arm, having the same arm hacked up with a saber, and dislocating his shoulder (more than once) on that side falling from a horse. Since he was naturally left-handed he tended to shield with his right side so most of the injuries were there. He had a slight limp from the foot injury from Tupelo and some continuing tingling and numbness from his famous wound at Shiloh. Today he would have been drawing veteran's disability and going the rounds of doctors and physical therapists but then he had the prospect of providing for his family and dependents crippled up or not. He can't be blamed for wanting his world back. I give him a lot of credit for coming around and supporting black civil rights, encouraging them to become educated and to vote their minds, being against segregation and inviting the black people to come closer to the white people - racial reconciliation. Maybe it was late in the day but it is extraordinary that a man of his background would come around at all. That should be in the film for sure!
 
Has to be somebody who can ride, is physically imposing, can be scary one second and believably deliver a funny line, and whose accent doesn't sound so fake I want to throw up. Hmmmmmm......
 
If we must go with someone, I'm thinking a Brit might do. I'm pretty good with Jonathan Rhys-Myers, but again, he's already been in an ACW movie....although he doesn't seem to be too bothered with political correctness in his roles. Daniel Craig might---with the right makeup--and he'd be close to the right age to do Forrest at the beginning of the war and the end.....I'll keep searching. I know Hollywood is waiting breathlessly for my choice :smile:
 
I think Matthew McConauhey would make a good Nathan Bedford Forrest. Doea anybody agree?

I talk about this website at work a lot due to the fact that I work with a lot of people who are also very interested in the ACW. I brought the question up to a few guys as to who should play Forrest in a movie and within the first three seconds, they decided that McConaughey should be the one.
 
Obviously, I have to be able to watch this without A) going to sleep or B) throwing up. My #1 pick is still Matthew. I mean, the guy grew up around horses and has a ranch. I would just die if there was a film about Forrest--finally--and the actor was bouncing around like a sack of potatoes. Old Bedford might just rise up out of the grave and give everyone a piece of his mind. Of course, then we could finally find out if ghosts are A) naked and b) floppy (see that other thread--those are KHale's words, not mine)
 
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