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
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas.
Director:
John Lee Hancock
Stars:
Dennis Quaid,
Billy Bob Thornton,
Emilio Echevarría
The intermission was actually included in the print and was almost an entire reel of black film. Theaters added light cues at the beginning and end of it. See more »
Goofs
Before the Battle of Fredricksburg the the Irish Brigades famous green flags were in the process of being replaced, the only regiment to have the green flag was the 28th Massachusetts. Days after the battle Gen. T.F. Meagher, commander of the Irish Brigade, had the new emerald flags presented at what is known as the "Deaths Dinner" while the deaths of their comrades were still fresh on their minds. 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
See more »
Crazy Credits
The movie was dedicated to the memory of John F. Maxwell and Royce D. Applegate. See more »
It amazes me that the people who made this film could not see what a mind-numbing, boring turkey they had produced. Actors carefully reciting lines obviously drawn from letters, and thus speaking like nobody ever speaks; long, boring scenes where nothing happens (we do not go to films to see T.J. Jackson in bed with his wife or Joshua Chamberlain lecturing his brother on 19th-Century politically-correct terminology for blacks); endless numbers of soldiers being hit by bullets and falling down...). There is no sense of strategy or how the war is going, no feeling for the ebb and flow of battle, nothing but endless vignettes. Jackson would be better represented by giving some idea of why he is considered a great soldier (the Valley campaign) rather than being shown as primarily a sentimental, but simultaneously bloodthirsty, religious crackpot ("hoist the black flag... kill everyone..."). The film also tried to do too much: Gettysburg also has its very boring parts, but is unified by concentrating on the major stages of one battle. And, IMHO, the General Lee in Gettysburg is a much more real character than the one in G&G (who, however, gets little screen time). This movie deserved to fail, and, though I am in some ways sorry that "Last Full Measure" will therefore not be produced, I am apprehensive what these filmmakers would have done with it. It may be just as well.
26 of 42 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
It amazes me that the people who made this film could not see what a mind-numbing, boring turkey they had produced. Actors carefully reciting lines obviously drawn from letters, and thus speaking like nobody ever speaks; long, boring scenes where nothing happens (we do not go to films to see T.J. Jackson in bed with his wife or Joshua Chamberlain lecturing his brother on 19th-Century politically-correct terminology for blacks); endless numbers of soldiers being hit by bullets and falling down...). There is no sense of strategy or how the war is going, no feeling for the ebb and flow of battle, nothing but endless vignettes. Jackson would be better represented by giving some idea of why he is considered a great soldier (the Valley campaign) rather than being shown as primarily a sentimental, but simultaneously bloodthirsty, religious crackpot ("hoist the black flag... kill everyone..."). The film also tried to do too much: Gettysburg also has its very boring parts, but is unified by concentrating on the major stages of one battle. And, IMHO, the General Lee in Gettysburg is a much more real character than the one in G&G (who, however, gets little screen time). This movie deserved to fail, and, though I am in some ways sorry that "Last Full Measure" will therefore not be produced, I am apprehensive what these filmmakers would have done with it. It may be just as well.