Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
Director:
Edward Zwick
Stars:
Matthew Broderick,
Denzel Washington,
Cary Elwes
Ted Turner is a huge Civil War buff. He financed two more films on the subject, Gettysburg (1993) for theatrical release, to which this movie is the prequel, and Andersonville (1996), a successful and acclaimed television movie about the worst and most notorious Confederate P.O.W. camp for captured Union soldiers in the entire war. See more »
Goofs
Robert Edward Lee and Thomas Jonathan Jackson are shown wearing full beards at the very start of the Civil War, but they did not look like this until sometime later. Lee had dark hair going gray and wore a drooping mustache of the type favored by army officers in the 1850s. He grew his well known beard while serving as Jefferson Davis's military advisor. Jackson was clean shaven and grew a beard later out of his well known disinterest in personal grooming and appearance. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Title Card:
A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of a native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge. The best introduction to astronomy is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one's own homestead. - George Eliot
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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. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Director's Cut of the film includes additional action scenes from the Battle of Antietam. The battle scenes are shown from the perspectives of Jackson and Chamberlain, and mostly focus on the fighting in Miller's Cornfield which was a major deciding point of the battle. See more »
Gods and Generals (despite the ravages of many critics) is a very good film. The acting, writing, cinematography are all of top quality. Billy Crystal once said, "We know where we would be without the critics, but where would they be without us?" This film is historically accurate, deeply moving, and with outstanding acting by all concerned. Stephen Lang's performance of Stonewall Jackson should be remembered at Oscar time. Some critics condemn it as being sympathetic with the Southern cause. Jeff Daniels and others give their side in eloquent dialogue for their feelings on the conflict. I suppose Gone With the Wind would be criticized the same if released today. Since the story revolves around Stonewall Jackson it will obviously give his point of view on the subject also. The religious overtones given by the characters of both sides conformed with the religious feelings of the times that is lacking today and as such it gives the critics something else to condemn. And the moving scene with human emotions between Jackson and the little Corbin girl brings the human touch to the character. What is wrong with the critics....they must have slept through most the film. They say it is pro-slavery. There are at least three fine speeches by Martha, Jim Lewis and Lawrence Chamberlain bringing out the wrongness of that issue. Even Jackson says that slavery should be abandoned. Such is a great movie trashed by the critics and they miss the whole reason for this masterpiece. I give it ten stars. See it, and decide for yourself about this film. Every minute of it's close to four hours is worth it. Yep. Yep. And Yep.
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Gods and Generals (despite the ravages of many critics) is a very good film. The acting, writing, cinematography are all of top quality. Billy Crystal once said, "We know where we would be without the critics, but where would they be without us?" This film is historically accurate, deeply moving, and with outstanding acting by all concerned. Stephen Lang's performance of Stonewall Jackson should be remembered at Oscar time. Some critics condemn it as being sympathetic with the Southern cause. Jeff Daniels and others give their side in eloquent dialogue for their feelings on the conflict. I suppose Gone With the Wind would be criticized the same if released today. Since the story revolves around Stonewall Jackson it will obviously give his point of view on the subject also. The religious overtones given by the characters of both sides conformed with the religious feelings of the times that is lacking today and as such it gives the critics something else to condemn. And the moving scene with human emotions between Jackson and the little Corbin girl brings the human touch to the character. What is wrong with the critics....they must have slept through most the film. They say it is pro-slavery. There are at least three fine speeches by Martha, Jim Lewis and Lawrence Chamberlain bringing out the wrongness of that issue. Even Jackson says that slavery should be abandoned. Such is a great movie trashed by the critics and they miss the whole reason for this masterpiece. I give it ten stars. See it, and decide for yourself about this film. Every minute of it's close to four hours is worth it. Yep. Yep. And Yep.