Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)
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Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)

Average Rating:
Average rating of 4.5/5Average rating of 4.5/5Average rating of 4.5/5Average rating of 4.5/5Average rating of 4.5/5
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$14.98
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Product Info

  • Brand: NEW Line Home Video
  • EAN: 9780780632776
  • Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent

Spotlight customer reviews:

  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
  • Summary: Were the Confederates really that inept...?
  • Comment: From a movie-making and entertainment perspective this is a pretty good flick, but the portrayals of the Confederates is just plain weak. Robert E. Lee is seen as indecisive and a bit frustrated with the lack of his commanders' abilities to provide him with any useful information about the Union positions while the Union commanders appear to be cool, calm and collected, well-trained and able to make snap decisions. In fact, this imagery is consistent from top to bottom on both sides. The Union troops are all dressed in the same blue uniform and all show that they received good training before embarking on maneuvers. Even the 'deserters' are well-mannered men who fight valiantly. The Confederates, on the other hand, look like a rag-tag assembly of untrained farm boys who know nothing of disciplined fighting. Historically speaking the Confederates wore gray uniforms, but in this movie they wear just about every color under the sun and look more like a mob than an army. I realize that the North won the war and '...to the victors go the spoils...' but this is carrying it a bit too far. In one particular battle scene in the woods at the top of a hill the Union troops are badly outnumbered and are hoping to just hold the South off to give their other units more time in some battles below, but...voila! Here come those hillbillies running up the hill straight into the muzzles of the Union rifles just itching to get shot. Instead of digging in and engaging the Union from a secure position those 'rebs' just kept on running into the spray of bullets and died in droves. After several repeated drives the Union soldiers ran out of ammunition and had to use bayonets. Bayonets against bullets usually means defeat...but not when you're up against F-Troop. The movie is fairly well made and entertaining, but if you're looking for a more factual re-enactment, watch The North and The South.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
  • Summary: Excellent
  • Comment: This movie provides a great overview of this famous three-day battle in Pennsylvania. It is about the battle with only minor introductory material. Jeff Daniels is fantastic in this film. He made a moving speech to a small group of deserters about the reason to fight. It may sound like an obligatory speech about the abolition of slavery but with Jeff Daniels, it comes of sincere and moving. There were similar moments from the Confederate side about why they too thought the war was justified considering all they wanted to do was to quit the Union and be left alone with their own country. If one is willing to set aside the moral issue of slavery (no one should), one could see why the south felt this way. The film made sure in the begining and at the end that the audience could property recognize and identify the actors in character and the actual historic figures they represent. It is a very nice touch. The acting is good with the obvious exception of Martin Sheen playing General Robert E. Lee. His Lee was wooden, insignificant and not at all the majestic and larger-than-life figure that history has come to recognize Lee. His poorly done and high pitch southern accent is quite bothersome to the degree of being silly. It is almost enough to ruin the film's realism. The movie avoided the bloody carnage that historical accounts have left us. In the film, the dead and dying are relatively clean cut. A more modern movie would seek to be more realisitc in this area. The battle scenes are nevertheless very impressive. The difficult defence of the left flank of The Little Round Top by Colonel Chamberlain's men and the artillery exchange of the two sides just before the start of the Pickett's charge on the last day were both very fine battlefield scenes. The scenes depicting the consecutive firing of the large guns just before the charge are very impressive. The film does provide and excellent overview of the battle of Gettysburg. I highly recommend it for anyone about to visit Gettysburg or after you have done so for a visual review of what you have learned from your visit. It is also for those who appreciate Jeff Daniels as an actor.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: Leadership from the least likely of people
  • Comment: As a retired army officer and an adjunct history professor I thought it was important to review what I consider the best war movies depicting the challenges of leadership and the command of men.

    "Gettysburg" is one of the best movies showing how leadership is displayed from some of the least likely of people, like a college professor of rhetoric! The movie follows the historical and personal events surrounding and including the decisive American civil war battle. The defense of the Little Round Top by the improbable leader Union Col. Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels),(who was recently teaching rhetoric), and Pickett's Charge are highlighted in the three day battle that was a turning point in the Civil War. The movie is shown from the perspectives of both sides. Other important leadership emphasis is on Longstreet and Lee's relationship as they have differing strategic opinions.

    Another great movie showing how one man who leads his men properly can overcome insurmountable odds.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
  • Summary: Great Movie, came better than expected
  • Comment: The movie was in mint condition and even arrived earlier than expected. Granted my company's mailroom slowed it down getting it to me, it still came early.
    Thanks.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
  • Summary: A potential statement
  • Comment: While I consider this to be one of the finest Civil War movies made, there is a singular opportunity to make it even better. If Ted Turner and group would hire the special effects groups that did say, the Lord of the Rings, and show Picket's charge as it was with the full number of soldiers participating crossing the field and being slaughtered as they truly were, with more realism, with bodies and parts stacking up as they came on, showing an unrelenting view of the battle as it was, and then adding to the film at the end, a small vignette of the reunion (as described in Ken Burns Civil War) where the surviving soldiers in reenacting the charge tearfully throw down their arms and rush out to hug each other, then this could possibly be the one of the best anti-war movies ever made. Carnage is not glorious, and until people see war for what it is, we can never be free of it. And where else to bring it home, to show it, then with Americans against Americans in what is considered one of histories greatest battles.

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