Gods and Generals (film)

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Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals theatrical poster
Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell
Starring Jeff Daniels
Robert Duvall
Kevin Conway
C. Thomas Howell
Stephen Lang
Brian Mallon
Mira Sorvino
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) February 21, 2003
Running time 231 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

Gods and Generals is a 2003 film based on the novel, Gods and Generals, by Jeffrey Shaara. It is considered a prequel to the 1993 film Gettysburg, which was based on The Killer Angels, a novel by Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara's father.

The film stars Jeff Daniels as Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and Robert Duvall as Robert E. Lee.[1] While many of the actors from Gettysburg reprised their roles for this film, Stephen Lang is one of a few to play a different character: George Pickett in Gettysburg and Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals. Martin Sheen, the original Lee, had conflicts due to the shooting schedule of The West Wing, and was replaced by Duvall.

It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, who had also previously directed Gettysburg in 1993. After the box office underperformance of Gettysburg, Maxwell was unable to get the prequel greenlit until media mogul Ted Turner provided the entire $60 million budget.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

The film prominently features the Battles of First Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. It shows Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's life before the war, and also focuses on the personal life of Stonewall Jackson. A lengthy scene depicting the Battle of Antietam was also shot, but cut from the theatrical release.

[edit] Criticism

The film was a critical and box office failure. It was criticized for its pro-Confederate point of view, slow pace and awkward screenwriting; in particular, critics disliked the way the characters tend to deliver soliloquies at each other instead of speaking conversationally.[2] However, many critics such as Leonard Maltin praised the film's impressively staged battle sequences.

Civil War historians and aficionados also criticized the film's radical departures from the novel, a significant change from the film Gettysburg, which remained exceptionally true to its novel. These differences include the omission of Winfield Hancock as a major character; the deletion of Stonewall Jackson's less savory characteristics and eccentricities; the introduction of scenes and characters not in the original novel (primarily during the battle and destruction of Fredericksburg); and the complete expulsion of the actions of Darius N. Couch, John F. Reynolds, and George G. Meade, which led to the successful preservation of the Army of the Potomac after the defeat at Chancellorsville.

In addition, the first third of the book that deals primarily with the events leading up to the Civil War and gave important background information of the characters was also entirely deleted, particularly the unrest in Southern California, which was put down peaceably by Hancock and Armistead; John Brown's seizure of Harpers Ferry and the recapture of the arsenal by marines led by Lee and Stuart; the final farewell in California between Hancock and Armistead discussed in Gettysburg; Texas Governor Sam Houston's refusal to support secession; Lee's contempt for David E. Twiggs's surrender of the Department of Texas to the rebels as well as Lee's refusal of Winfield Scott's offer to command the federal forces organized to put down the rebellion. Similarly, critics claimed the film skirted the issue of slavery by having several Southern generals, particularly Stonewall Jackson, give historical anti-slavery speeches.[3]. (The real Jackson had ambiguous views on slavery. He believed that slavery had been imposed by God and therefore did not oppose it openly. His family also owned six slaves. However, the slaves of Lexington, Virginia, generally held Jackson in high esteem for his kind treatment and his flouting of Virginia laws to teach slaves to read in Sunday school classes. The widely criticized scene in which a slave expresses enthusiasm for working for Jackson as a cook has some historic basis—two of his real slaves, Albert and Amy, requested that Jackson purchase them in the 1850s because of the treatment they expected from him.)

An early scene depicts cadets at VMI hauling down the flag upon hearing of President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers, and Jackson says that this action had provoked conflict. (A scene very much like this in fact took place in Richmond the day after Confederate forces fired on and forced the surrender of Fort Sumter, six days before Lincoln's call for volunteers.) The Confederates are seen as the good guys throughout the film and most of the main characters are on the Confederate side. This is very different from "Gettysburg" where both sides are presented equally. Only two African-American actors are depicted with speaking roles, and both of them are pro-Confederate. Also, the movie completely skips over the Battle of Antietam, but in this it is similar to the book.

Those in favor of the film claim to the contrary. The film claims that many generals and common soldiers were fighting the war for the protection of their home and the rights of the states, not of slavery. It is pointed out that Robert E. Lee was critical of slavery, despite being a slaveholder. Also, the film does include a speech of sorts from Chamberlain in which he criticizes the Confederacy for being hypocrites for supporting "States' Rights" while denying human rights to an entire race of people.

Ron Maxwell himself talked about the opposing views of slavery as depicted in the film during an interview on the 700 Club. During his interview, he stated that most of the Confederates were opposed to slavery, but viewed the abolition of slavery as "God's will, in God's time." The Union held the view that the abolition of slavery was "God's will, by their hands." Maxwell briefly explored these opposing views of slavery in his previous film, Gettysburg (film).

There have also been reports that the next film in the series, the still un-produced The Last Full Measure, will be the direct opposite of Gods and Generals, depicting the last two years of the war mostly from the Union side, focusing on the characters of Chamberlain and Ulysses S. Grant. So, when the trilogy is complete, it will give a balanced perspective of the war from both sides.[citation needed]

[edit] Director's Cut

DVD cover for the film
DVD cover for the film

The "Director's Cut" version of Gods and Generals has an alleged running time of six hours, and has never been released to the public in any format, despite pleas from fans. For the theatrical release, almost two-and-a-half hours of footage was removed to get the length down to approximately 3 hours, 39 minutes. Among the footage edited includes a sub-plot which follows John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor who would eventually become the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. One scene towards the end of the extended cut of the film features Chamberlain and his wife Fanny attending a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in which Booth plays Brutus. Chamberlain and his wife have a conversation with Booth and his fellow actors after the end of the play.

Another scene cut from the film features a performance of Macbeth in Washington, D.C. Booth plays the role of Macbeth, which is being seen by President Lincoln. When he gives the famous "dagger of the mind" soliloquy, he looks directly at Lincoln while reciting it. Later, when Booth is offered the chance to meet with Lincoln, he refuses.

Possibly the one scene that historians were sad to see removed from the film was the sequence dealing with the Battle of Antietam. The battle was seen mostly from the perspectives of Jackson (who played a major strategic role in the battle) and Chamberlain (whose brigade was held in reserve). A few minutes of footage from this scene was available online, but appears to have been removed.

When Ron Maxwell showed the director's cut of the film in a very early pre-screening, it received a standing ovation at the end. However, there are apparently no plans being made by Warner Bros. to release the extended version of the film on DVD. At one point, Dennis Frye, who served as associate producer and helped organize the units of reenactors used in the film, supposedly said that the film was intended for release in the fall of 2005. However, this did not occur.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

In 2003, the film score was released in support of the movie. The soundtrack is notable for containing an otherwise unreleased Bob Dylan song, Cross the Green Mountain.

CAST: Martin Clark played Dr. George Junkin; Stonewall Jackson's (Stephen Lang) Spiritual Leader and ex-father-in-law.

[edit] Production

Ted Turner has a cameo in the movie as Colonel Waller T. Patton. Colonel Patton, the great uncle of George S. Patton, was mortally wounded at Gettysburg, a scene depicted in the movie Gettysburg. Most of the extras were War reenactors, who provided their own equipment and worked without pay. In exchange, Ted Turner agreed to donate $500,000 to Civil War battlefield preservation. United States Senators George Allen (Republican-Virginia) and Robert Byrd (Democrat-West Virginia) also have cameo roles, both playing Confederate officers, and Phil Gramm (Republican-Texas) appears as a member of the Virginia Legislature early in the film. Congressman Ed Markey (Democrat-Massachusetts) also appeared as an Irish Brigade officer.

Some scenes in the movie were filmed at Robert Duvall's estate in Virginia. The estate was the scene of several skirmishes in the War. Many scenes were filmed on private farms and property including two scenes filmed at St. James School, Hagerstown.

Russell Crowe was the original choice to play Stonewall Jackson. He had begun reading and practicing for the role until his wife went into labor back in Australia, forcing him to drop out. Stephen Lang had begun to reprise his role as George Pickett, but instead was asked to fill in the role of Jackson. Billy Campbell, who had played a 44th New York lieutenant in Gettysburg was called in to hastily replace Lang in the role of Pickett.[citation needed] Although Tom Berenger greatly desired to reprise his Gettysburg role as James Longstreet (which he called his favorite role) he was unavailable because of scheduling difficulties. Bruce Boxleitner was instead cast in the role after his original character of Darius N. Couch was cut from the screenplay (but later readded, portrayed by Danish actor Carsten Norgaard).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Robert Duvall claimed that he is related to Robert E. Lee on his mother's side of the family (Interview on CNN, February 15, 2003).
  2. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert
  3. ^ Film review in the Village Voice

[edit] External links

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