Ridley Scott and Tony Scott - GETTYSBURG - The Documentary

[DavidAcheson140PVI]

I felt the same way. You never got a sense of the scope of the battle. I'm going to watch Gods and Generals tonight. Someone recommended it to me. Don't know if it' any good.

I personally love the movie but others find it dull and not very interesting. I have only seen the cut version where the parts with jakcson and the little girl are left out. So I think it is great. Damn now I have to go watch it since you made me remember it. FREDERICKSBURG!!

[RDBoles]

I watched the Gettysburg movie \ docu-drama on the History Channel. It was the first time I ever stopped watching anything from the civil war era. After 45 minutes I gave up. What a complete bust. I know some high school kids that can produce better stuff. What happened to quality historical movies? There is a vast library of historical events in the thousands of years we have been keeping records. And they some how come up with these grade school movies and docu-dramas. I will stick to books by great writers and personal accounts of those that participated. I wash my hands of the History Channel, good bye.

[Mazikainen]

born2see: Gods and Generals is definitely worth watching, but take it more as a movie about some of the personalities of the civil war more than a war movie. There are three battle scenes in the movie and between them a whole lot of stuff most people are not very interested in. Thomas Jackson was a feverishly religious person, almost to the point of madness, and this is driven home in the movie by displaying a lot of scenes of Jackson praying and talking to God. It's ok if you watch the movie with the right attitude.

As for the battles, the Fredericksburg battle is just excellent and the charge of the Irish Brigade to Marye's heights still makes the hair in my neck stand every time I watch it.

BTW, I heard they're finally releasing an edition of Gods and Generals with the Antietam portion in it. Now also with more character drama.

[Little Powell]

The new Gettysburg docudrama wasn't geared towards history nuts like us. We are Not the target audience.

My wife actually really enjoyed it (although I had to bite my tongue a few times to keep from spoiling her enjoyment). She mostly commented on the cinematography, sound, etc.. Any program that gets people interested in the battle is a good one in my opinion. Then the history nuts like us can come up and set them straight as to the realities of the Battle.

[Mazikainen]

The documentary was pretty much what Call of Duty: American civil war would probably look like
Before I saw the film I saw some comments posted by re-enactors complaining about unhistorical equipment and stuff worn the wrong way and I thought to myself "heh, geeks, gotta love them!" I think I myself could have swallowed the bad portrayal of nineteenth century warfare as just being a wargame geek, but there were a lot of other things wrong with the delivery of the documentary. Did they have to portray Ewell and Sickles as comical looking buffoons just because they made errors on the field? Did the narrator have to use an action movie trailer voice?

Now that I think of it, a lot of these things might be a part of a larger phenomenon on how especially a lot of the US made documentaries are made as they strive to be entertaining as well as educational. Or is this a history channel thing?

PS: Not a whole lot of love delivered to the Lost Cause people either in this one

[DavidAcheson140PVI]

born2see: Gods and Generals is definitely worth watching, but take it more as a movie about some of the personalities of the civil war more than a war movie. There are three battle scenes in the movie and between them a whole lot of stuff most people are not very interested in. Thomas Jackson was a feverishly religious person, almost to the point of madness, and this is driven home in the movie by displaying a lot of scenes of Jackson praying and talking to God. It's ok if you watch the movie with the right attitude.

As for the battles, the Fredericksburg battle is just excellent and the charge of the Irish Brigade to Marye's heights still makes the hair in my neck stand every time I watch it.

BTW, I heard they're finally releasing an edition of Gods and Generals with the Antietam portion in it. Now also with more character drama.

Finally I have been waiting for the antietam scenes!

[born2see]

Watched Gods and Generals last night. I agree Mazikainen, it is a movie about personalities rather than the battles. A friend of mine lives in DC and visited Antietam a couple of weeks ago. She sent me the 140th Antietam commemorative issue of the magazine "North and South". Inside was an article on the making of Gods and Generals, which I had never heard of. The guy who wrote the article made that exact point. I liked the movie, the battle scenes were great, but the dialog was a little stilted for my taste. It sounded like the period writings of the time that I've read. Maybe people talked that way then, I don't know. I did think Robert Duvall as Lee stole the show. Anyway, it's certainly worth watching.

[Jack ONeill]

My opinion is as posted in the discussion section of the forum here. Again I say, Tony and Ridley Scott should be ashamed of themselves. Oh, and the History Channel has sunk to a new low.

Jack

[Jack ONeill]

AND again, the Geico ad was the best part of the whole thing.

Jack

[AZReb11]

Must say that I LOVE the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Some of the few Civil War movies I have or watch.
-Jack, I didn't see the GEICO commercial. Which one was it?