Best Civil War Movies

[barkhorn45]

some comments-jackson holding his arm up in the air relates to the first battle of bull run where he got his "stonewall"nickname,he had been wounded in the hand and was holding it up in the air to reduce the flow of blood from it.also could'nt watch gods and gen.jackson made to many speeches from what i've read he was'nt very talkative.i'm glad someone mentioned"the horse soldiers" the cadet attack actually happened tho not in miss.i believe it was in virg.and the two pieces of art.were named john and paul like in the movie.and wayne did'nt spank one of the cadets,one of his scouts called to him while they were retreating"i captured one of them what do you want me to do with him?" "why spank him of course" was his reply!another good civil war movie imo is alvarez kelly with richard widmark playing col.rossiter and also starring william holden as the title character.in fact i just stopped for the night{i drive a truck}and i think i'll watch it again on this laptop maybe also horse soldiers.thats after i play a turn of aacw of course!

[pepe4158]

I died gloriously, but that did not make the final cut.

How is dying in bed delirious glorious?

[Brochgale]

Perhaps someone has suggested this already but I think Turner Ashby would make a good subject for a movie? It would be a shorter one than one about Forrest and there would also be a great death scene? For those who are familiar with the Legend?
The movie title would not take a lot of thought either?

[mp84]

Hmm,

As for my opinion, one of my favorites is actually the TV Mini Series, North and South, (Books 1 and 2 , book 3 doesn't count, lol). I really liked the direction they went with that mini-series, through the eyes of two fictional families, yet still see a ton of historical characters play an interesting part and all. (The guy who portrayed Lincoln was awesome I thought) Although, the one thing I still to this day will never ever understand, is they go through all this trouble, to have the look of the 1840s-1860s, with the dresses, the way the towns look , etc.. but why ohh why, When they fired those rifles, sounded like current century gunshots that you hear today in movies and crap lol!

Gettysburg was also pretty good as well, and as for Gods and Generals, I have mixed reactions about that.

Ya, you can tell a lot of it was cut, while I liked the battle scenes, alot of the dialogue in between just dragged in my eyes, I don't know. Also, how can you cut Antietam!? , as for a Director's Cut, that would be extremly nice, and would look forward to it (I like director's cuts too, as it gave me an entire different impression of the movie Troy after seeing the Director's Cut of that, and also Kingdom of Heaven too!) But considering the movie did so poorly in theatres (Hell I saw that first hand when I went to the theatres opening night, and there was like a total of 10 people inside lol!), and that 3rd movie never got made, I doubt we will see it. Now if the 3rd movie gets made, then we may see that Director's Cut of Gods and Generals as a litlte promotion build up I think.

Also, eventhough it took place in the same period, but the civil war was more of a backdrop, then a main focal point, but really really loved the movie, I gotta say, "Gangs of New York" (Daniel Day Lewis is an amazing actor) is one of my favorites as well. Made me wonder was it really that harsh back then, lol..

MP

[Le Ricain]

Hmm,
Also, eventhough it took place in the same period, but the civil war was more of a backdrop, then a main focal point, but really really loved the movie, I gotta say, "Gangs of New York" (Daniel Day Lewis is an amazing actor) is one of my favorites as well. Made me wonder was it really that harsh back then, lol..

MP

I recommend that you read the book...it was harsh back then.

[Rear Rank 2]

As a long time Civil War reenactor (now retired,) I worked as an extra on several of the movies mentioned and I can tell you this-

The folks that did the Andersonville movie tried the hardest to make things look correct for the period of all the movie sets I was on.

Most scenes in the prison camp were shot like this- You had how ever many actors were in the particular scene (2 to 10 typically,) then around them you had a group of "hardcore" reenactors that looked the part and brought all their own uniforms and such. Depending on the size of the scene, then there might be a bigger group of reenactors around the principal actors and then around the reenactors there would be standard extras dressed in whatever the production company wardrobe department could fit them out in. On the far outside of the extras in the big panoramic shots were life-sized photographs of reenactors that were stood up as cardboard cutouts.

What impressed me the most, however, were the actors themselves. Most were constantly seeking us reenactors out to ask hundreds of questions- "How should I wear my hat?" "How do you roll up a shelter-half," etc... They wanted to really portray the Union Civil War soldier the way they actually looked and not how some Hollywood visionary thought they should look.

I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but the fellow that played Biff in the Back to the Future movies was a really nice guy!

They filmed Andersonville about 20 miles from where I live, south of Atlanta, and it was mostly in November, so if you ever watch the movie- when everyone is sitting around cold and wet and miserable.....they actually were.

[mp84]

I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but the fellow that played Biff in the Back to the Future movies was a really nice guy!
were.

The Great Tom Wilson of course! , besides that, also known for his role as Maniac in one of my favorite series of all times, the Wing Commander series (Played Manaic during WC 3, 4, 5 when it turned FMV!) , but thats competly off-topic here, sorry lol

MP

[Rafiki]

Thanks for sharing your story and personal experience with us, Rear Rank

[pepe4158]

As a long time Civil War reenactor (now retired,) I worked as an extra on several of the movies mentioned and I can tell you this-

The folks that did the Andersonville movie tried the hardest to make things look correct for the period of all the movie sets I was on.

Most scenes in the prison camp were shot like this- You had how ever many actors were in the particular scene (2 to 10 typically,) then around them you had a group of "hardcore" reenactors that looked the part and brought all their own uniforms and such. Depending on the size of the scene, then there might be a bigger group of reenactors around the principal actors and then around the reenactors there would be standard extras dressed in whatever the production company wardrobe department could fit them out in. On the far outside of the extras in the big panoramic shots were life-sized photographs of reenactors that were stood up as cardboard cutouts.

What impressed me the most, however, were the actors themselves. Most were constantly seeking us reenactors out to ask hundreds of questions- "How should I wear my hat?" "How do you roll up a shelter-half," etc... They wanted to really portray the Union Civil War soldier the way they actually looked and not how some Hollywood visionary thought they should look.

I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but the fellow that played Biff in the Back to the Future movies was a really nice guy!

They filmed Andersonville about 20 miles from where I live, south of Atlanta, and it was mostly in November, so if you ever watch the movie- when everyone is sitting around cold and wet and miserable.....they actually were.

Say just wondering, which Andersonville (movie or presentation) as I have actually seen a couple presentions on this account, one movie I saw in particular starred Shatner (you know Capt. Kirk from S.T.) as a lead prosecuter in the vegence case by the union, as this was the one incident, that happened in the war, the union did want reprisals against the south for.

[Rear Rank 2]

Say just wondering, which Andersonville (movie or presentation) as I have actually seen a couple presentions on this account, one movie I saw in particular starred Shatner (you know Capt. Kirk from S.T.) as a lead prosecuter in the vegence case by the union, as this was the one incident, that happened in the war, the union did want reprisals against the south for.

It was the one filmed for the TNT network back in 1995, directed by John Frankenheimer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115097/

[CWNut77]

Oops...posted this in another thread and then realized it should have been posted here:

Quick comment -- "Glory" = best Civil War movie of all time, to date.

"Gettysburg" = best CW battlefield film of all time to date, although it does go on a bit excessively.

"Gods & Generals" = trash...GOD, the multiple issues I have with this film!