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40 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
A moving semi-western with excellent performances and well-controlled mood…, 28 July 2005

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

With a Civil War background, "Shenandoah" is a deeply human work spread with that current of emotion that is often tried to obtain by directors and actors, but very infrequently found… It is old-fashioned in the sense that it deals with love of family and friends in a tender way... For this, and many other reasons, it stays in the heart and mind…

Stewart has never been in better form than in "Shenandoah." He is an archetypal widower, deeply concerned for his six sons and one daughter on their farm in a remote section of Virginia, while the Civil War rages around them… A pacifist and a man who refuses slavery, Stewart holds himself and his sons away from both the Confederate and Union causes… But, for all his hatred of war, the rush of events finally draws him into that tumultuous and heartbreaking clash…

When he loses his 16-year-o1d youngest boy to the Union soldiers as a prisoner, he is compelled into action… He presides with cold affection over his daughter's marriage to a young Confederate officer… He visits his wife's grave (she had died giving birth to the son who is now a prisoner) and in simple and sincere words movingly talks with her… Stewart's hatred of war is continually intact, but his faith in family remains stronger than ever…

The film is alive with great performances… Katharine Ross, in her first film role, is moving as the daughter-in-law… Rosemary Forsyth is strong and stately as Stewart's only daughter, who dresses in male clothes and joins her brothers in their search for their captured sibling… George Kennedy is effective as a Union officer who helps Stewart with a pass to obtain his son… Paul Fix is affecting as the attentive and concerned family doctor, and many others round out a superb cast…

"Shenandoah" was Stewart's first film with director Andrew V. McLaglen, the 45-year-o1d son of the famous Victor, who had won a Best Actor Oscar in John Ford's "The Informer" in 1935… McLaglen had been an assistant director to John Ford, Budd Boetticher, and others, and had absorbed much from them, before emerging with his own individual directing style…

Nominated for a Best Sound Oscar, "Shenandoah" exudes a quality that seems to have partially disappeared from American life… The picture represents a time of moral sentiment and regardful devotion to certain established ideals…

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30 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
Well-acted, beautifully realized story of a peace-loving family's struggle to survive the Civil War, 2 July 2001
Author: Steven Mears (rmears@worldnet.att.net) from Clifton, Virginia

A peaceful, hardworking farming family suffers the strains and unavoidable losses of the Civil War in `Shenandoah.' James Stewart is the head of the clan, who does not keep slaves and refuses to fight for men who do. Since the death of his wife, he has raised his large family to work hard and fight for what is right, and now the onset of the war forces them to come to terms with everything they believe in.

The film is largely set on Stewart's farm in the Shenandoah Valley. At the start of the film, the family tries to go about its business as if the war did not exist. Ignoring the war becomes increasingly difficult, however, with soldiers constantly marching through the property trying to recruit the sons and requisition the livestock. When the youngest son is taken prisoner Stewart decides the time has come to take action, so they set out to find the boy. Along the way, lives are lost, values are tested, and mindsets are changed with experience.

Stewart's performance as the proud patriarch is excellent. It is a grizzled, more mature Jimmy Stewart than one is used to, with a cigar stub constantly dangling from his mouth and a perpetual scowl on his face, but in essence it is the same proud, upright character that he has always specialized in. He is effective in conveying the fear and vulnerability of a man who is unsure of the right thing to do, looking out for his family and land in the midst of a war-torn nation. His conversations at his wife's gravestone stand among the most poignant work of his career.

`Shenandoah' takes its time in telling its story, interspersing simple, low-key scenes (in church, at the dinner table) with action sequences. Its characters are real people with real problems, and with whom the audience can readily identify. It is a mature, beautifully realized film, with scenic photography and sensitive performances.

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21 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
James Stewart gives a riveting performance in Shenandoah, 16 August 2006
Author: raysond from Chapel Hill,North Carolina

In may important ways,this is one of Hollywood's most accurate attempts to show what the Civil War was like,both on the battlefield and at home. But director Andrew McLaglen,the 45-year old son of famous movie director Victor McLaglen,and writer James Lee Barrett never let strict adherence to accuracy get in the way of their historical soap opera,and that why the film has been such an endearingly popular hit. When it was released in 1965,it came out during the time of the Vietnam War(when it was still a hot issue),and the violence of racial turbulence that occurred during the Southern United States. Not to mention during the height of the Civil Rights movement. It was also the basis for a very successful Broadway musical(which had nothing at all to do with the film itself).

In the fictional community of Shenandoah Gap(in the hills of Virginia),widowed patriarch Charlie Anderson(James Stewart)rules his clan of six sons and two daughters and is determined not to pay any attention to what is happening beyond the boundaries of their 500-acre farm. "This war is not mine and I take no note of it," he states without hestination or doubt. Anderson does not believe in slavery and has no thoughts on the preservation of the Union. He's more concerned with the raising of his children and the running of the farm. During the first part of the movie,it takes almost an hour to limit in the details of that world-the conflicts with neighbors and authorities,and the romance between daughter Jennie(Rosemary Forsyth) and Sam(Doug McClure of The Virginian TV series),a young Confederate officer. About half-way through,Anderson is forced to take action,and the pace of the film quickens. Well-timed coincidences keep things moving briskly,but the whole tone of the film takes on a sad quality as the family comes to understand how badly the war is going for Virginia. By far the best scene is an encounter between Anderson and Colonel Fairchild(George Kennedy),a Union officer whose warweariness seems absolutely authentic. In that moment,the film has the tough-mindedness associated with the James Stewart-Anthony Mann westerns of the 1950's. But McLaglen quickly reverts to the sentimental melodramatics and breathtaking action scenes that were always his strong suit. If the battle scenes(which are brilliant in detail)give some of the scope of other Civil War epics,then they are true to the individual combatants and greater more tactics as engagements. As such,they're believable,though in appearance and sensibility,the film has the standards characteristics of a western. Since the producers pitch this as a western picture in further perspectives.

At the time Shenandoah was made,the top three westerns of their day were at the top of the TV ratings:"Gunsmoke","The Virginian",and "Bonanza". It was the TV series "Bonanza",that was the top rated show on television and at the time was at the peak of its popularity. Any similarity between these two families is intentional since in character and story setting the TV series Bonanza was based in the regions of the Nevada Valley,while the motion picture Shenandoah was based during the height of the Civil War in the hills and valleys of Virginia. For the most part,McLaglen wisely keeps the camera on his star,and James Stewart carries the film and gives one of the most riveting performances of his career. While several of his younger supporting cast adopt unfortunate Southern accents,he sticks to the voice that everyone knows. That's a good thing,because Stewart is called upon to deliver many long,weighty and wise monologues since on a actual note was to be the most pontificatory role of his long established career. The speeches work because they're grounded in a believable sense of reality. The locations for shooting of the picture did not occur in the Southern regions of the United States,but in areas of Oregon that are similar to the Shenandoah Valley. Slavery was not as prevalent there as it was in other parts of the South;smaller farms were prevalent since the central crops were tobacco,corn,and cotton(in some areas)and not to mention a lot of chicken production and turkey farms(they grow a lot of turkeys down there). Finally,the film's refusal to take sides in the war serves as well. This was not only a sensational action-western flick,but one of those Hollywood tear-jerking melodramas that means to entertain while remaining fairly faithful to history. It does just that.

Shenandoah was one of the highest grossing movies of 1965,and was nominated an Academy Award for Best Sound. It was right up there with some of the biggest movies of that year.."In Harm's Way","The Sound Of Music","The Greatest Story Ever Told","Thunderball","Doctor Zhivago", and "The Sons Of Katie Elder".

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25 out of 33 people found the following comment useful :-
Timing is everything, 25 January 2003
Author: lauramae from Moss Landing, CA

I saw this movie the 1st time with my dad when I was in grade school. It brings up a lot of big issues. Like "High Noon" or "The Searchers" there is an underlying theme that may or may not have been intended. Released in 1965 when Vietnam was just beginning to become a hot issue. In his last 'chat' with his dead wife, he vocalized a dove perspective on war in general--that the people who think that war is a good idea usually aren't the ones who will be dodging bullets, chemical weapons or bombs.

Having the youngest son rescued by an African American was also a daring move at the time.

Worth a look. It may not be historically accurate, but it touches on some important and timely, considering the nature of current events.

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16 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
It Never Gets Old, 1 December 2006

Author: aimless-46 from Kentucky

It is intriguing how some comments confidently classify "Shenandoah" (1965) as an anti-war film and others see it as pro-war propaganda (insert Vietnam here). The anti-war advocates must be basing their position on the film's similarity to "Friendly Persuasion" while the propaganda pundits appear to have been influenced by the fact that screenwriter James Lee Barrett would write the script for "The Green Berets" a couple years later. But given that the screenplay was written in 1963 and actual production completed by late 1964, it is unlikely that Vietnam (pro or con) was much of a factor. National consciousness was a couple years away from regarding that little adventure as something of real significance.

I think the real strength of "Shenandoah" is that it maintains the same kind of uneasy neutrality that the Anderson family holds to throughout the film. It shows good and bad people on both sides as the family attempts to just distance themselves as much as possible from the conflict. That they are not entirely successful in doing so hardly sends a clear message of either pacifism of patriotism.

Director Andrew V. McLaglen's films are some of the least political you are likely to find, the exception being his frequent focus on strong women. In "Shenandoah", neither Charlie Anderson (James Stewart) nor his six sons are a match for daughter Jennie (Rosemary Forsyth). The father-daughter dynamic purposely gets a disproportionate amount of screen time as Jennie is shown to be the child most like the father and the only one who routinely stands up to him. This merits the most attention if one is looking for subtle political messages in the film.

Stewart is the only cast member with more screen time than Forsyth. Her romantic scenes with Doug McClure are also first rate, with a touch of comic relief as you begin to realize that he has little idea what he is getting himself into. And their reunion scene at the prisoner of war train is handled extremely well.

Civil war buffs will generally enjoy this film as it presents the war from the (until then unprecedented) point of view of a southern family who did not buy into the frenzy for secession in 1861 and remains resolute even as their property is overrun with union troops. It wouldn't be until "Cold Mountain" that another film would present the reality of a not so united southern home front. Eastern Tennessee and western Virginia remained pro-union, and Winston County, Alabama seceded from the state and attempted to stay in the union.

Of course the buffs will find many inaccurate historical details. At one point the doctor mentions losing a son the year before at Gettysburg, yet much later Carter notes that the besieged troops at Vicksburg are eating rats (the Gettysburg battle ended the day before Vicksburg surrendered). And just after Jennie drives away the federal procurement agents with a single shot rifle, the family rides off equipped with the latest lever action models.

Like McLaglen's "The Rare Breed", "Shenandoah" is somewhat of a chick flick, making it a novelty among historical action adventure films.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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22 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Not my kids and stay off of my land., 12 April 2001
Author: dwc2-1 from Hamilton, Ontario

This is a classic. A real beauty of a film. Produced during the nightmare period of racial integration in the Southern United States, and the Vietnam War. The story plays out in one main location, a Large farm in the Shenadoah Valley during the American Civil War. The history of the valley is crucial to an understanding of the two central themes of the story, Man against man and man against God, so I recommend a basic understanding of the history of the valley in conjunction with viewing the film.

We are taken on a journey of faith, and strength of family, by a family surrounded by the madness of war. Considering the epic nature of both the themes and the war, this film manages to navigate a very clear and coherent path from beginning to end. The family's patriarch, played very convincingly by James Stewart, is trying to successfully resolve three conflicts.

He is at odds with God for taking his wife from him. This inner conflict is beautifully captured by his handling of grace at the family supper, and his retreating to the grave of his wife and speaking to her spirit in heaven while he maintains his anger with God.

He is also faced with the conflict of protecting his property while the two armies virtually destroy the valley around him.

And, he is faced with the conflict of saving his sons from senseless slaughter in a losing war to protect the right to own slaves. This is the film's central conflict and forms the main plot. The issues of terror and inhumanity are handled with subtlety, tact, and diplomacy. Many will enjoy watching this film simply because it tells a great story beautifully and raises important issues without graphic violence. This is a great film and a good vehicle for generating family discussions about racism, family, God, faith, and inner strength.

For the thicker skinned and more mature among us, another wonderful movie that loosely parallels this one would have to be The Patriot (2000), Directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Mel Gibson

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Jimmy Stewart is my favourite actor and this is his best film, 17 July 2006

Author: (michaelp@peterwerth.co.uk) from United Kingdom

I must have seen this film 10 times and every time it leaves a lump in my throat, its something about Jimmy Stewarts acting and the storyline that I find so believable and so sad. The three scenes that really get me are when he speaks about his missing son being the apple of his eye, when he confronts the soldier who accidentally shoots his son and most of all the final scene in the Church. I know some people may find the film sentimental but I just feel that its the best ever , even better than Its A Wonderful Life. I think as you get older and you have your own family the things that J Stewart say have real meaning and therefore I recommend anyone with a soul to watch this film and enjoy a sentimental but ultimately uplifting film

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
This Land Here Is Anderson Land, 9 August 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If James Stewart had done Shenandoah twenty years earlier he would have had the role that Glenn Corbett has of the son challenging the Anderson family neutrality policy at the dinner table. The Anderson patriarch would have been played by Lionel Barrymore.

Charley Anderson is a man raising a family with six sons and a daughter all on one family farm. He owns no slaves as did many in the South back in those Civil War days. Some of his sons want to get into the Civil War as a matter of regional pride. He doesn't think that's reason enough or a real good idea in any event.

But when youngest son Philip Alford is taken by the Union soldiers because he was wearing a lost Confederate hat he found, Stewart sets out to get his son back. The journey is filled with the heartbreak and tragedy visited on a man who never wanted to get involved in a war he considered none of his business.

There sure were easier places you could be neutral in the Civil WAr. In New England you had little danger of invasion and Florida saw no great land battles of the Civil War. But the Shenandoah Valley was one of the major theaters of war back in the day. Viewers of Shenandoah know that and when the film is over we know that the Anderson family and the rest of the people living there will have more to deal with.

Shenandoah became a long running Broadway musical in the Seventies starring John Cullom. But I think more people identify with it as a James Stewart project.

Saddest moment in the film, the deaths of Patrick Wayne and Katherine Ross. Very poignant indeed.

Funniest moment is easily when Doug McClure is looking for the hand of Rosemary Forsyth from James Stewart. Funny, but also wise in terms of what makes a long term relationship possible.

Shenandoah still holds up very well forty years later as grand family entertainment.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than The Searchers, 3 June 2007
Author: tieman64 from United Kingdom

"Shenandoah" is a moving and emotional drama set against the backdrop of The Civil War. Jimmy Stewart plays an archetypal widower, deeply concerned for his six sons and one daughter. They live on a farm in a remote section of Virginia, the Civil War raging all around them.

A pacifist and a man who refuses slavery, Stewart keeps himself and his sons away from both the Confederate and the Union Causes. He refuses to let his boys fight. But, for all his hatred of war, the rush of events eventually draws him into battle.

When he loses his 16-year-o1d boy to the Union soldiers as a prisoner, Stewart is compelled into action. Before this, he presides with cold affection over his daughter's marriage to a young Confederate officer. He visits his wife's grave (she died giving birth their youngest boy and in simple and sincere words movingly talks with her.

"Shenandoah" was Stewart's first film with director Andrew V. McLaglen, the 45-year-o1d son of the famous Victor, who had won a Best Actor Oscar in John Ford's "The Informer". McLaglen had been an assistant director to Ford, Budd Boetticher, and others, and had absorbed much from them, before emerging with his own individual directing style.

Nominated for a Best Sound Oscar, "Shenandoah" exudes a quality that seems to have partially disappeared from American life. The picture represents a time of moral sentiment and regretful devotion to certain established ideals.

There are a lot of flaws, however. The film is corny at times, there are numerous historical bloopers, and the script doesn't milk it's true potential. But the film still works. It's what I call a "Shawshank Redemption" film. IE- a flick that has no right to work, but yet does. It has a lightness and earnestness, which sometimes gives way to a great sense of drama and darkness. Stewart is simply brilliant to watch, and the film flows with a engaging sense of drama.

8/10 - worth one viewing.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Despite historical flaws this is a great movie!, 12 February 2006

Author: gmwnj11 from United States

I have seen this movie several times and each time i appreciate Jimmy Stewart more and more. Jimmy Stewart is at his best in this film..tough and tender witty and sarcastic..idealistic and true to his values......i wont rehash all the details, enough to say if you a JS fan you will love the movie, if you a Civil war reanactor, you might not. Its well worth the time to view. Try not to be too harsh on the Production values and costuming here. There are plenty of Civil War movies for those of you who want those fine details. Try and pay attention to the story and Stewarts performance. Also notable are the performances of James Best, George Kennedy and the first screen role for Katherine Ross.

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