What Civil War Story, Person, Event Would Make A Great Movie?

The Red River dam bit would be great, and quite feasible with computer graphics.

@AndyHall, didn't Grierson also have hemorrhoids, which made horseback riding quite painful? Or am I thinking of another cavalry general?

Something on Grant would be good, too. Maybe the upcoming Ron Chernow biography will inspire someone. Maybe another rap musical?


I never thought of computers- boy have I missed Porter's fleet on technology. It would probably depend on the director, too. Remember John Huston insisted " African Queen " be filmed there, so off they all went, leeches, red ants and all. You're right, guessing expense could indeed be off set by invention in cyberspace- an entire fleet dropping over a dam's edge might be tough. Still. What a great story.
 
John Cusack is planning on making a movie about Brig General Thomas Francis Meagher.

I suppose a fair proportion of it would be his Irish nationalist days. Some on his days in the penal colony of Tasmania after being transported. Then his Civil War service and his post civil war days. Ending with his untimely death.
 
Elizabeth Keckley lead a very interesting life, meeting both Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Davis(as I remember).


This just hit me again, from this old thread. Her life would make an amazing story. Mary's part in it would have to be minimized or would overshadow what is an astonishing story. It's crazy good- born enslaved, white father, supported a dissolute family so beautifully with her sewing they would not allow her to buy her freedom and lived in ' both worlds ' for a very long time. Bought her mother, too. Her marriage was abusive and son, ' passed ', fighting in a white regiment- the pain of his death she keeps fiercely to herself- may have been forced into being a mistress, while enslaved, her husband not the young man's father?

Varina and Jefferson she speaks well of and states they asked her to go South with them. Keckely began and ran a massive Freedman's association, forget which, while still a sought after fashion genius. She really was. One of those once-in-a-lifetime talents we see, designed for the top levels in DC society.

Why a screen writer hasn't gotten their hands on her is a mystery. We have Vampire Lincoln, chainsaws carving up most of our country's teenagers, maniacal ghosts with homicidal proclivities which prefer summer months and once in awhile a dog dying over the course of 2 hours- surely, surely Elizabeth Keckley could get a word in edgewise?
 
The Red River dam bit would be great, and quite feasible with computer graphics.

@AndyHall, didn't Grierson also have hemorrhoids, which made horseback riding quite painful? Or am I thinking of another cavalry general?

Something on Grant would be good, too. Maybe the upcoming Ron Chernow biography will inspire someone. Maybe another rap musical?
Sorry to insert my 2 cents here, @MaryDee, but I have read that George Stoneman suffered extensively from piles, and that this was one reason his effectiveness was diminished.
 
Thank you. I actually never did see it when it was broadcast....I'll check it out on Netflix.
After learning a bit about Armistead, Hancock, Reynolds, and others who were friends and comrades in arms before the war, I 'm intrigued and saddened by how these relationships were affected by events. I've read that, unlike how they were portrayed in "Gettysburg" and The Killer Angels, Armistead and Hancock did not know the other was there at the battle. And that teary scene between Armistead and Longstreet is among those that never happened. Still an interesting human tangle I'd love to see dramatized.
 
Came back to this thread to add the story of civilians in Gettysburg would make a great movie- there's enough material for several movies. We're a little stuck on poor Virginia Wade and Burns certainly deserves attention. The thing is, I keep running into stories of ' what it was like ', enough human interest to keep it packed.

Dr. O'Neil's experiences stopping at each Confederate grave he came across to ensure they weren't lost, Maggie Butler in the church tower for 3 days, the captured civilians, homes as hospitals, encounters between soldiers and citizens, the just-passed town restrictions on firing a gun in town limits- I'd go on if wouldn't get long.

Heck, there are a gazillion civilian accounts " Where were you July 3rd, when the world exploded ", to make a movie.
picketts charge frank leslie.jpg

From public access, a Frank Leslie illustration. Think of it in color, noisy and with citizens in cellars- one professor called his son to witness this from the roof of their building.
 
I think an interesting movie could be made about Clement L. Vallandigham who was a Congressman from Ohio and leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the War. He served in the House of Representatives but in 1863 he was convicted by a military court of opposing the war and exiled to the Confederacy. He later escaped to Canada and ran for governor of Ohio in exile in 1863 but was defeated.
Vallandigham slipped back into the USA in disguise in 1864 and traveled to Ohio. In late August 1864, Vallandigham openly attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and served as a delegate for Ohio. He advocated the peace plank of the platform and demanded an immediate end to the hostilities. George B. McClellan was nominated as President and made peace conditional on the Confederacy being ready for peace and ready to rejoin the Union.
 
I would like to see one about Ben Caudill. He was a Regular Baptist Minister before the war. He formed the 10th Kentucky Rifles CSA. Colonel Caudill was captured during the war but got exchanged before it came to an end. His regiment was changed from the 10th to the 13th Kentucky Cavalry CSA.
 
Just sharing a tidbit, not gonna share any details I'm working on but maybe in the three of four years, there will be a new CW movie of a very deserving incident. Again not giving anything away, but in my short time since I started working small time in the film industry I recently found out some "stuff" to put in a intentionally mysterious way. It may be independent, a lot of things have to line up for it to happen, but it could very well happen. As long as there is no more major headaches.
 
Just sharing a tidbit, not gonna share any details I'm working on but maybe in the three of four years, there will be a new CW movie of a very deserving incident. Again not giving anything away, but in my short time since I started working small time in the film industry I recently found out some "stuff" to put in a intentionally mysterious way. It may be independent, a lot of things have to line up for it to happen, but it could very well happen. As long as there is no more major headaches.


Ok, that's just a teaser! Like the Star Wars clip released in time to keep everyone arguing over intentionally mysterious clues. If you forget to come back and tell us what story is being told, we'll send a Skywalker.

That does sound promising, thanks ( I think ) for posting!
 
Ok, that's just a teaser! Like the Star Wars clip released in time to keep everyone arguing over intentionally mysterious clues. If you forget to come back and tell us what story is being told, we'll send a Skywalker.

That does sound promising, thanks ( I think ) for posting!

I got in on the ground floor with the film industry about a year and a half ago armoring, and historical consulting, and after assisting in some screenplay editing, adding some things, and so forth to improve it and help the current film I'm working on, I've been urged to start getting things together and write one myself with possible backing and so on after current projects are done and profited. In other words I write they'll buy it.

I suppose one clue I'll part with is I have every intention of paying extreme attention to detail. Uniforms, drill, accoutrements, and so forth I plan on making sure they are 100% accurate to the time and place, or as close as it can be, on camera mainly because too many misconceptions that have been around for a hundred years need to be shattered for good. Most film makers have told me I'm insane to think to try it and it can't be done, but I think they don't know what they're talking about, (their filmmakers, not historians or informed on such things).

But don't worry I'll probably start a thread when it starts moving to advertise it, and build up a hype. It has to make money after all when its done. As of right now it'll probably be independent, (once a deathtrap for films, now with "Hollywood" essentially dying, not so much) but who knows a big distributer or one of the studios I know might want on board when it gets moving. Since I'm writing it I might try my hand at directing it, as directors love to put their own twist on thing to make it theirs and I want none of that shenanigans on a historical movie as it usually means a historically incorrect film.

But here is the final hint: The subject of the film has been mentioned in this thread.

Have fun with that.
 
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