As the American Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
Young Albert enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. Albert's hopeful journey takes him out of England and to the front lines as the war rages on.
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
In 1865, as the American Civil War winds inexorably toward conclusion, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln endeavors to achieve passage of the landmark constitutional amendment which will forever ban slavery from the United States. However, his task is a race against time, for peace may come at any time, and if it comes before the amendment is passed, the returning southern states will stop it before it can become law. Lincoln must, by almost any means possible, obtain enough votes from a recalcitrant Congress before peace arrives and it is too late. Yet the president is torn, as an early peace would save thousands of lives. As the nation confronts its conscience over the freedom of its entire population, Lincoln faces his own crisis of conscience -- end slavery or end the war.Written by
Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Liam Neeson, who was attached to play Abraham Lincoln since the project began development, decided to drop out. According to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part after waiting so many years for the project to get the go-ahead. Incidentally, Daniel Day-Lewis is only five years Neeson's junior, though still closest in age to Lincoln, who was 55 and 56 years of age at the time portrayed in the film. See more »
Goofs
In Lincoln's death scene, he is shown lying somewhat on his side, on top of the covers on a bed at the Petersen House (across from Ford's Theatre). In reality, Abraham Lincoln lingered nearly ten hours and had been put into bed under the covers to keep him warm, and diagonally, because he was so tall he wouldn't have fit otherwise. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Private Harold Green:
[speaking to Lincoln on the battlefield]
Some of us was in the Second Kansas Colored. We fought the Rebs at Jenkins' Ferry last April just after they killed every Negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. So at Jenkins' Ferry, we decided warn't takin' no Reb prisoners. And we didn't leave a one of 'em alive. The ones of us that didn't die that day, we joined up with the 116th US Colored, sir, from Camp Nelson, Kentucky.
See more »
Crazy Credits
No opening credits except for the main title. See more »
Alternate Versions
For international releases, an additional prologue about the Civil War was added prior to the start of the film. It mostly shows archive photos with the prologue text included in it. This was decided by the studio's marketing department in its research which realized that while many non-American audiences know of the titular character, most of them are not familiar with the war itself. See more »
The consensus on performance is "spot on"--there is not a bad performance in "Lincoln." In fact, they are stellar. DD Lewis can, on occasion, come off as a bit too studied and slightly transparent, but not often enough for it to matter. All the other roles are just spectacularly played.
However, and it is a big however, this film is often dull, insipid, and overly florid. I have several advanced degrees and can handle didactic films, however, Lincoln stalls quite often with verbosity that fails to entertain and drama that seems, well, a bit stagy. That is my take--there is a lot of room for disagreement here. But I think the bandwagon effect is propelling this film toward awards which from the vantage of performance are probably justified, but from the vantage of all other technical areas, is hardly justifiable at all. Journeyman work,yes, but inspired? Not at all. Despite my reservations, this is still a movie that most people will enjoy. It is very far from Spielberg's best("ET" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark")--fortunately, it is also very farfrom his worst ("Hook" or "1941").
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The consensus on performance is "spot on"--there is not a bad performance in "Lincoln." In fact, they are stellar. DD Lewis can, on occasion, come off as a bit too studied and slightly transparent, but not often enough for it to matter. All the other roles are just spectacularly played.
However, and it is a big however, this film is often dull, insipid, and overly florid. I have several advanced degrees and can handle didactic films, however, Lincoln stalls quite often with verbosity that fails to entertain and drama that seems, well, a bit stagy. That is my take--there is a lot of room for disagreement here. But I think the bandwagon effect is propelling this film toward awards which from the vantage of performance are probably justified, but from the vantage of all other technical areas, is hardly justifiable at all. Journeyman work,yes, but inspired? Not at all. Despite my reservations, this is still a movie that most people will enjoy. It is very far from Spielberg's best("ET" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark")--fortunately, it is also very farfrom his worst ("Hook" or "1941").