Gods and Generals (2003)

The rise and fall of legendary war hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as he leads the Confederacy to great success against the Union from 1861 to 1863. Prequel to the 1993 classic "Gettysburg".

Director:

Ronald F. Maxwell

Writers:

Jeff Shaara (book), Ronald F. Maxwell (screenplay)

Stars:

Donzaleigh Abernathy, Jeff Daniels, Robert Duvall

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donzaleigh Abernathy	...	Martha
Mark Aldrich	...	Adjutant
George Allen	...	Confederate Officer
Keith Allison	...	Capt. James J. White
Royce D. Applegate	...	Brig. Gen. James Kemper (as Royce Applegate)
Bruce Boxleitner	...	Lt. Gen. James Longstreet
Bo Brinkman	...	Maj. Walter Taylor
Mac Butler	...	Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker
Robert Byrd	...	Confederate General (as Robert C. Byrd)
Shane Callahan	...	Bowdoin Student
Billy Campbell	...	Maj. Gen. George Pickett
David Carpenter	...	Rev. Beverly Tucker Lacy
John Castle	...	Old Penn
Jim Choate	...	Brig. Gen. Bernard Bee
Martin Clark	...	Dr. George Junkin

Storyline

The rise and fall of legendary war hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as he leads the Confederacy to great success against the Union from 1861 to 1863. Prequel to the 1993 classic "Gettysburg".

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Plot Keywords:

hero | confederacy | war hero | prequel | stonewall jackson | 

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Taglines:

An unforgettable story of the Civil War, from the Director of "GETTYSBURG"

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sustained battle sequences

Details

Official Sites:

Sonnet Digital Media Corporation Warner Bros. [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dioses y generales

Filming Locations:

Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$56,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,675,246 (USA) (21 February 2003)

Gross:

$12,870,569 (USA) (25 April 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Turner Pictures (I), Antietam Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

219 min 280 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kevin Conway often refers to reprising his character of Sgt. Buster Kilrain in this film as being part of the reason he turned down a supporting role in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which would have prevented him from shooting this film.

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Goofs

When the Beal brothers leave for war, the boom mic and set lights are reflected in their brass breast plates.

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Quotes

Sgt. Buster Kilrain: [using a dead Union soldier for cover]
Sgt. Buster Kilrain: Oh, Patrick... I hope you don't mind. I know you're in heaven, but you've still got plenty of work to do down here in this cold, pitiless world.

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Crazy Credits

No reenactors were credited individualy, rather there was general thank you to all the reenactors who participated in the filming.

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Connections

Spin-off Gods and Generals (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Rogues March"
Music by D. Emmett & G. Bruce
Performed by The Confederate Guard Fife & Drums

User Reviews

Great visuals, but where's the drama?

`Gods and Generals' plays less like a movie and more like a three-hour-and-49-minute long lesson in Civil War history. Grueling and plodding, the film is almost the antithesis of `Gone With the Wind,' in that while both films are epic tales told from the viewpoint of the defeated South, `Gods and Generals' (unlike the earlier film) has been essentially drained of all emotion, drama and characterization. `Gods and Generals' may be a more `realistic' war film than `Gone With the Wind' (what wouldn't be?), but it's not nearly as entertaining.

`Gods and Generals,' which begins right after the firing on Fort Sumter and ends shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg, is the first part of a planned trilogy. Despite a handful of `name' players in the cast (Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Mira Sorvino and even Ted Turner in a ludicrous cameo appearance), writer/director Ronald F. Maxwell is unable to bring a single character in his film to convincing life (with the possible exception of `Stonewall' Jackson, who gets to carry the burden of what little drama the film has almost single-handedly). In lieu of dialogue, the actors spend most of their time looking wistfully up to heaven or scanning the mist-shrouded horizon while delivering endless homilies about the rightness of the cause and the place of God in human affairs. To keep it all palatable for more enlightened and egalitarian-minded modern audiences, the filmmakers are quick to have the Southern characters declare that, even though the South is forced to fight against the North to protect its God-given right to sovereignty, they, as individuals, are all personally opposed to slavery as an institution and firmly believe that their resident blacks will be freed someday as a matter of course. Hell, the Northerners in this film seem more prejudiced against black people than the Southerners, who just can't say enough good things about their sycophantic slaves.

The battle scenes, though well staged and appropriately graphic in nature, are strangely unmoving, primarily because we have no emotional stake in any of the characters we see doing the fighting. Without anyone for us to focus on and care about, the audience becomes little more than curious bystanders, passive and unengaged observers of this brutal display of ritualized slaughter. Although the visuals are splendid throughout, the musical score, except in a few places, is like a thick, heavy syrup poured over the entire film.

By providing subtitled identification of the principal people, places, dates and battles, `Gods and Generals' does provide a service as a history lesson of sorts. As a drama, however, the film is woefully lacking in every way imaginable. `Gods and Generals' may thrill the heart of the diehard Civil War buff. The rest of us will have to stick to our dreams of Scarlett and Rhett, and of a romanticized vision of the South that only a Golden Age Hollywood mogul would have dared come up with.