NF The Blue and the Gray

Non-Fiction

KianGaf

Sergeant Major
Joined
May 29, 2019
Location
Dublin , Ireland
I’m halfway through The Blue and the Gray and have mixed feelings on it so far. I know it was made in the 80’s so allowances have to be made. I thought the first episode built up the impending war well but I’m on the second and was shocked at how Bull Run/first manasas was filmed. I’m not sure how even in the 80’s they got away with such a small scale depiction of the battle I found it very very shoddy.
 
My first movie stint as a reenactor was in the filming of the Bull Run sequences at Prairie Grove Battlefield Park in northwest Arkansas. They were also doing a lot of exterior filming at historic houses in nearby Fayettville. It was the first time a film was shot using Civil War reenactors, so it was a new experience for everyone. We did have enough Federals to form a column of companies four or five companies deep to advance on Henry House Hill. It sure seemed cool at the time.
 
Wasn't it also a TV miniseries? I'm sure it being TV in the 80s limited the budget, as well, compared to what is spent now on shows.

I've watched parts of it and enjoyed what I saw. Hadn't realized it was filmed around Prairie Grove. I live in NWA and will have to watch it to see if I can spot any familiar sites. :smile:
 
I thought the part with John Brown was interesting it’s the first time I’ve seen him portrayed in film or tv.
A picture of his fort I took in Harper’s Ferry , WV.

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Last time we were at the used movies store my wife wanted to buy it for me but I passed on it.
 
IMDB gives it a rating of 7.7 which is very high . I never watched it , but it did have several well known actors . I also saw that Cooper Huckabee and Royce Applegate of "Gettysburg" fame were in it .
 
As mentioned it has been spoken of recently.

To me the show is decent. As far as uniforms, guns, other props, battle depictions, yeah its pretty bad, but it was way better than most everything in those regards than anything that came before it depicting the CW (exempting some war scenes of Good, the Bad and the Ugly). Of course North and South does a bit better in "book 2" in those regards, but that came afterwards. As for the story itself in The Blue and the Gray I'd say its pretty good, not a bad story in anyway.

All and all I'd say its a decent film, and was a groundbreaker for CW filmmaking as it was the first use of CW reenactors in film, and I think the first large scale attempt to film the big battles of the war in America, (still the only one I know of that featured Vicksburg). Its easy for me to forgive this mini-series for some mistakes for a plethora of reasons. It was a completely different era, it was the end of one CW film era, and the beginning of another that still lasts to this day, whenever a CW movie filmed that is, which is rare. In short the mini-series itself is history now.

(On another note its easy to tell in the movie who was a reenactor and who was an off the street extra.)
 
My first movie stint as a reenactor was in the filming of the Bull Run sequences at Prairie Grove Battlefield Park in northwest Arkansas. They were also doing a lot of exterior filming at historic houses in nearby Fayettville. It was the first time a film was shot using Civil War reenactors, so it was a new experience for everyone. We did have enough Federals to form a column of companies four or five companies deep to advance on Henry House Hill. It sure seemed cool at the time.
Then you are no doubt somewhere in this souvenir photo of the occasion provided by the production company:
Image (97) 66.jpg
 
I’m halfway through The Blue and the Gray and have mixed feelings on it so far. I know it was made in the 80’s so allowances have to be made. I thought the first episode built up the impending war well but I’m on the second and was shocked at how Bull Run/first manasas was filmed. I’m not sure how even in the 80’s they got away with such a small scale depiction of the battle I found it very very shoddy.

I had to watch it in high school one week when the regular teacher was out sick and we had a substitute teacher.

I think that it's cheesy in that 80's / 90's way. However, I think that this came out before the North and South miniseries came out, and I know that it came out before a bunch of other Civil War movies. I think that the movies that came out later set the bar really high for audience expectations.
 
Didn't the movie have a really sappy story line about a little drummer boy?
That sounds more like a certain story line from North & South. I don't recall any drummer boy story lines in The Blue and the Gray.
I think you're right. Billy Hazard connects with a drummer boy in North and South Book II. I don't recall any particular storylines with drummers in The Blue and the Gray.
Parker Stevenson and the (I think) extra playing the drummer boy posing for publicity stills on the Petersburg set outside Natchez, Miss.:
North and South Part IIA.JPG
 
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Started to watch North & South. I’m finding it enjoyable so far. The acting is good in it. I goes a bit heavy on the love story aspect but I don’t find it off putting. In particular I find the portrayal of the differences in culture of the northern v southern society’s at the time interesting.
 
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