Shenandoah

[Blockaderunner]

with James Stewart. I saw this on TV last night for the first time in years. I had forgotten how good it was. Surely one of the all time great Civil War movies.

 

[Bobbie]

Yes, it's a good movie. It's main theme is similar to Mel Gibson's The Patriot (I should write more chronologically that The Patriot bears some resemblance to the Shenandoah), as it shows a head of family who tries not to get involved in the Civil War, which he believes is not his business. Yet, circumstances force him to get involved.
And the movie itself seems to be quite "uninvolved" in politics, it doesn't state which side of the conflict was right. It concentrates on the internal conflicts of the main character.

 

[Glorybound]

And the movie itself seems to be quite "uninvolved" in politics, it doesn't state which side of the conflict was right. It concentrates on the internal conflicts of the main character.

I agree with that Bobbie. The movie came out in 1965, only a century after the fact. I think there was a great effort by the producers to keep the movie from taking a side, and it turned out pretty well. The focus is on a Virginia family who's patriarch is trying to keep himself and his family from being consumed by the war, but his youngest is mistaken for a Johnny and taken as a POW by the Yankees. All bets are off when that occurs, and the family is thrown right into the middle of the conflict as they try to find the boy. This film has always been one of my favorites.


http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/44279/Shenandoah/trailers





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