NF Sam Elliott playing Robert E Lee … say what?!

Non-Fiction
Sheen and C. Thomas Howell had fake facial hair, too. But theirs didn't look quite so bad.

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He’ll always be Longstreet to me :smile:
 
Or sitting down at the Farnsworth house with Elliot and Berenger. From what I’ve been told. The Farnsworth House had become a favorite watering hole for cast and crew. It would have been awesome to have been in town during the filming of the movie.

Wow, yes!!! And Tom Berenger always wanted to be adressed as "General Longstreet" … where were we all when that happened???

I wasn't aware he has been married to Katherine Ross for about 35 years!

I once read that people instinctively choose their partners from their own level of attractiveness. Whenever I see pictures of Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross, I think by myself how true that is. They really equal each other and Katherine Ross is the type of woman I find extremely attractive. Aw, some people just have it all ….
 
Whoever he played would have been the most handsome looking general in the movie, lol.
I think the Berenger fans would disagree :biggrin:

Also, I've always had a thing for Martin Sheen :lee:

Worst beard award in my book definitely goes to J.E.B. Stuart, and I love J.E.B. Stuart's beard :cry:

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:timebomb:
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(First colorized photo I've seen of this image btw)
 
I think Sam Elliot could pull off Lee. He naturally looked more and was built more like Lee for the most part, and he's an excellent actor and I believe he would have performed that role well. Martin Sheen as Lee? I've never been a fan his, "place of origin" shows, at least to me, when he talks, he was also a little too overweight and short for the role of Lee in my opinion. Sam Elliot while a far from perfect match, he would have been a better match for the role in my eyes, even though he was a little "rough" for the role.

Also Lee spends more time in the saddle in the movie than Buford...
And if the issue is Buford is a cavalryman and Sam Elliot is only believable as a cavalryman, well Lee commanded a famous cavalry regiment before the war...
 
Elliot could have risen to any role in that movie. It is no accident that Buford was the best character in the movie, it was Sam Elliot's skill and talent. I think he would have made a great Armistead.
The role might have been written for Elliott!
It was, in fact the perfect Sam Elliott role -- growling and glaring, fuming and surging with pent-up masculine fury.
It's what Sam does best.
 
Wow, yes!!! And Tom Berenger always wanted to be adressed as "General Longstreet" … where were we all when that happened???



I once read that people instinctively choose their partners from their own level of attractiveness. Whenever I see pictures of Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross, I think by myself how true that is. They really equal each other and Katherine Ross is the type of woman I find extremely attractive. Aw, some people just have it all ….
I have a DVD copy of a seldom-seen 2012 movie produced by and starring Robert Redford called The Company You Keep and in its stellar cast includes Elliott in a cameo role as the current live-in love interest of British actress and 1960's-70's heartthrob Julie Christie - that was a believable paring too!
 
Sam Elliott as Lee is something to ponder.

I like Martin Sheen as an actor generally, but I just didn't see anything in his portrayal of Lee in Gettysburg that caught fire. Lee inspired a lot of loyalty and confidence (warranted or not) in his troops, and I didn't get any of that in Sheen's performance. I can imagine people leaving the theater asking, "so what was so great about Lee, again?"

Patrick Gorman was much better as Hood, although he looked much too old for the role. I still think the scene where he rides over to complain to Longstreet's beard Longstreet is a great scene, even if it never happened that way IRL.
 
Sam Elliott as Lee is something to ponder.

I like Martin Sheen as an actor generally, but I just didn't see anything in his portrayal of Lee in Gettysburg that caught fire. Lee inspired a lot of loyalty and confidence (warranted or not) in his troops, and I didn't get any of that in Sheen's performance. I can imagine people leaving the theater asking, "so what was so great about Lee, again?"

Patrick Gorman was much better as Hood, although he looked much too old for the role.
Patrick Gorman would have been a good Lee, come to think of it.
 
And just to round things off (... but really we could discuss Buford, Elliott, Longstreet, Berenger et al forever)

Here is Sam Elliott's shirt he wore in the movie and now proudly on display at Farnsworth House. Happy days @War Horse !!!


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One of the few days I’d like to revisit my friend. A very special time sitting in the Farnsworth house listening to you quote Buford/Elliott.

“Meade will come in slowly, cautiously, new to command... And then, after Lee’s army is entrenched behind nice fat rocks, Meade will attack finally, if he can coordinate the army. He’ll attack right up that rocky slope, and up that gorgeous field of fire. And we will charge valiantly, and be butchered valiantly. And afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chest and say what a brave charge it was. Devin, I’ve led a soldiers life, and I’ve never seen anything as brutally clear as this.”

Your facial expressions, your timing and delivery were perfect. Believe it or not, the Australian accent even made the performance that much better.

Good times for sure.
 
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