NF What Civil War story do you think would make a fantastic movie?

Non-Fiction
I'd love to see a movie about the Civil War WAY out West. Highlight the exploits of Company A, Arizona Rangers from their formation until their painful decision to depart Tucson in the face of overwhelming Union forces from California. It had everything, subterfuge (the of capture Capt. William McCleave under false pretenses) encounters with hostile Apache (where the only Confederate casualties were suffered at 'The Battle of the Bulls') miscalculations in battle (when Lt. Barrett made the mistake of leading his mounted troopers into a thicket, resulting in his own death, and the death of two of his detachment) and political intrigue (as Confederate officials made their way into Mexico in hopes of enlisting some help from the border states of Chihuahua and Sonora.)

All of this set against a backdrop of towering mountains, craggy hills, stately Saguaro Cacti, riotous wildflowers (the winter of '61-'62 was particularly wet, and the resulting spring wildflower show was reported to be stupendous) and Arizona sunsets. Ah, if John Ford were still alive... of course, he'd muck it up by relocating the whole thing to Monument Valley!
 
The John Brown raid could also make for an interesting movie. A terrorist who launches an attack for a noble cause, kills innocent people and then predicts the coming bloodshed in the war to come right before he hangs…

Been there, done that, including Brown's prediction on the scaffold. Santa Fe Trail 1940, Raymond Massey as John Brown, Errol Flynn as JEB Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Custer and Moroni Olson as Robert E. Lee.
 
There have been a few great, many not-so-great ACW movies, and apparently a stubborn market for producing such films.

However, if you could successfully lobby Hollywood to tell the story of a particular person/theme/battle what would that be?

I've long considered that the story of the Ellet brothers could be powerful on film.
The CSS Alabama Raider would be a great movie!
 
I would like to see my book, Trapped in the Crossfire, to be made into a movie, in order to remind America of the devastating collateral damage of Civil War to families, communities, something that has been a sidebar note in many movies, but not fully explored.
 
Everyone knows the movie "Carrie" so how about "Carrie in Black" or simply "Carnton"
November 30, 1864 Union and Confederate armies clashed at "Carnton" Plantation in Franklin Tennessee for the battle of Franklin. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederates and became the defining event of Catherine Winder "Carrie" MaGavock's life as well as her family's. She previously had lost three children of her own which makes her a sympathetic character to begin with notwithstanding her wonderful plantation home commandeered as a field hospital where blood is still seen on the floor to this day. Picture everybody's now favorite villain, General NB Forrest, riding up on King Phillip to commandeer it to boot! The bodies of four of the six Confederate generals who were killed in the battle – Major General Patrick Cleburne and Brigadier Generals John Adams, Otho F. Strahl and Hiram B. Granbury, were laid out on the family’s back porch after the conclusion of the fighting.
When it became apparent that a cemetery to accommodate about 1500 Southern casualties was needed, the McGavocks responded by donating their land and supervising the transportation of the dead from the battlefield to the new burial ground. The graveyard consumed Carrie McGavock, who forever wore black, and the remnants of the family fortune until her own death at age 76. The 2005 historical novel "The Widow of the South" by author Robert Hicks renewed interest in her story.
There would be something in it for everyone! Her backstory, bloody battle, plantation field hospital, a plantation mistress/instant nurse who forever grieved for 1500 soldiers and an ongoing story of a historic cemetery. Plus, it is still there and coupled with some expert CGI could be close to authentic as possible!

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Sorry to go off-thread. Be a great thread ( please? )!
 
I would like to see my book, Trapped in the Crossfire, to be made into a movie, in order to remind America of the devastating collateral damage of Civil War to families, communities, something that has been a sidebar note in many movies, but not fully explored.


Just yes. There are around 20 events in there which would be incredible in a movie- and a few that would leave the proverbial ' no dry eye in the house'. Really, beyond GWTW, ( no comment ) not a movie covering the ' what happened ' to civilian populations in the South.
 
Another vote for the 1864 Red River campaign. The special effects could be fantastic, and, thanks to modern computer technology, shouldn't be too out of line financially.


And the sequel, " Bailey's Dam, The Great Escape Of The Civil War "

Did someone already mention Rose's story, from Libby?

AND a wonderful movie could be made about Elizabeth Keckley.
 
There are some great stories within the overall sweep of the CW, but I think it really would be difficult for most modern film makers to tell them without interjecting a personal agenda in some way. The suggestion to have the Coen brothers direct a film really caught my imagination, because they would do it in such a quirky way.
 
Movies about military justice seem to arouse interest. So maybe a CW movie about the arrest, trial and ordeal of General Fitz John Porter who became something of a scapegoat for General Pope's loss at Second Manassas.


FYI

The Andersonville Trial is a television adaptation of a 1959 hit Broadway play by Saul Levitt, presented as an episode of PBS's on May 17, 1970 as part of the anthology series Hollywood Television Theatre.

The movie was based on the actual 1865 trial of Henry Wirz, played by Richard Basehart, commander of the infamous ConfederateAndersonville prison, where thousands of Union prisoners died of exposure, malnutrition, and disease. A notable cast included William Shatner as the Chief JAG Prosecutor Norton Parker Chipman, Jack Cassidy (who was nominated for an Emmy) as Wirz's defense counsel, Cameron Mitchell as Lew Wallace, a Union general and the future author of Ben-Hur, and Buddy Ebsen as a Georgia physician called in to testify about the fate of many of the Union prisoners.

The television adaptation was directed by actor George C. Scott, who had played Chipman in the original stage version.

(from Wiki)
 
There are some great stories within the overall sweep of the CW, but I think it really would be difficult for most modern film makers to tell them without interjecting a personal agenda in some way. The suggestion to have the Coen brothers direct a film really caught my imagination, because they would do it in such a quirky way.

I agree to a certain extent but I think most of the civil war movies I've seen have been fantastic with no agendas apart from Gettysburg which was a mess and Gods and Generals both were extremely annoying.

Red badge of courage , Cold Mountain , Are my two favourites .
 
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