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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1990s
    Movies - 1990s Movies - G 6 Mins Read

    Gettysburg (1993)

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    Gettysburg begins in June 1863 with a voice-over, map, and images describing the progress of the (Confederate) Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen), crossing the Potomac River and marching across Maryland and into southern Pennsylvania as it invades the North.

    On 30 June, Confederate spy Henry Thomas Harrison (Cooper Huckabee) reports to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet (Tom Berenger), First Corps commander, that the (Union) Army of the Potomac is moving in their direction, led by Gen. George G. Meade (Richard Anderson).

    Lee commands his troops to stop near Gettysburg. Meanwhile, at the Union encampments near Union Mills, Maryland, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) of the 20th Maine is taking over the command of over 120 men from the previously disbanded 2nd Maine.

    In Gettysburg, Brig. Gen. John Buford (Sam Elliott) and his cavalry division spot elements of Major Gen. Henry Heth’s (Warren Burton) division of Third Corps commanded by Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill (Patrick Falci) approaching the town. Buford asks I Corps (First Corps) commander Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds ( John Rothman) for reinforcements.

    Heth’s unit meets Buford’s men the next day (1 July 1863), and Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell (Tim Scott), moves in to flank them. As the unit advances to battle, Reynolds is shot and killed by a Confederate soldier.

    The Union army is forced to retreat to Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet suggests that Lee and his army go on the defensive, but instead, Lee asks Ewell to secure the Union position “if practicable.” Ewell expresses some uncertainty, and the armies consolidate their formations.

    At Confederate headquarters at Seminary Ridge, Maj. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble (William Morgan Sheppard) criticises Ewell’s hesitation to Lee’s direct order and asks to be reassigned.

    On the second day (2 July), a brigade from the Union V Corps led by Col. Strong Vincent (Maxwell Caulfield) is sent to Little Round Top, and the 20th Maine and Chamberlain position themselves in wait for the Confederate forces. Lee meanwhile commands Longstreet to send men to capture Little Round Top and Big Round Top as well.

    Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood (Patrick Gorman), commanding one of the divisions, baulks, telling Longstreet he will lose half his men if ordered to attack the well-defended high ground.

    Longstreet ignores Hood’s suggestion and moves forward with the attack, and Hood sustains injuries while fighting at Devil’s Den.

    Meanwhile, at Little Round Top, Chamberlain and the 20th Maine repel repeated attacks but begin to run out of ammunition. Improvising, Chamberlain surprises the Confederates and forces them to retreat down the hill.

    That evening, Lee’s cavalry commander, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. “Jeb” Stuart (Joseph Fuqua), arrives on the battlefield. At the same time, Longstreet’s remaining division, under Maj. Gen. George Pickett (Stephen Lang) reaches the field.

    On the third day (3 July) of the battle, Lee decides to order three divisions – led by Pickett, Trimble, and Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew (George Lazenby) – to conduct a frontal assault on the centre of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge.

    Longstreet tells Lee he thinks the attack will fail; there is a mile of open ground to cross under massed artillery fire and the Union’s II Corps’ 10,500 riflemen under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (Brian Mallon) are deployed behind
    a stone wall.

    Nonetheless, Lee orders the attack to go forward, preceded by a protracted artillery barrage to silence the Union guns on the ridge.

    Though the Confederate batteries commanded by Col. E. Porter Alexander (James Patrick Stuart) fail to make any appreciable impact on the Union guns, the attack proceeds as planned. The Confederates who survive the withering artillery fire and reach the Union lines are mowed down by point-blank volleys of cannon grapeshot and musket fire.

    Pickett’s decimated division is forced to retreat. Meeting with Longstreet that evening, Gen. Lee decides to withdraw the remnants of his shattered army.

    The film ends by recounting the fates of the major figures of the battle.

    Robert Duvall was initially cast as Robert E. Lee but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced at the last minute by Martin Sheen.

    Originally planned as a TV miniseries, Gettysburg was shot over a 10-week period, mostly on set locations at Yingling Farm, three miles west of Gettysburg.

    Shooting on the actual battlefield was limited to just eight days due to National Park Service restrictions and numerous large granite war monuments that interfered with sightlines.

    The shoot involved 100 actors and as many technicians, supplemented by some 5,000 Civil War re-enactors who came from all over the country at their own expense, equipped with their own replica firearms, uniforms, gear, and sophisticated knowledge of the battle – an indispensable element that increased authenticity and saved the production millions of dollars.

    As the film took shape, Ted Turner liked what he saw so much that he decided to release Gettysburg as a feature film instead of a television miniseries.

    Released on 8 October 1993, Gettysburg grossed $10.7 million – respectable box office returns for a small-scale release- but despite strong sales in the video market after its theatrical run, the film still failed to earn back anywhere near its $20 million production cost.

    Reviews were also mixed, although historians credited Gettysburg with a high degree of historical accuracy – notwithstanding its pro-Confederacy slant.

    General Robert E. Lee
    Martin Sheen
    Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet
    Tom Berenger
    Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett
    Stephen Lang
    Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead
    Richard Jordan
    Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett
    Andrew Prine
    Henry T. Harrison
    Cooper Huckabee
    Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood
    Patrick Gorman
    Maj. Walter H. Taylor
    Bo Brinkman
    Lieut. Col. Arthur Fremantle
    James Lancaster
    Maj. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble/Narrator 
    William Morgan Sheppard
    Maj. G. Moxley Sorrel
    Kieran Mulroney
    Col. E. Porter Alexander
    James Patrick Stuart
    Maj. Charles Marshall
    Tim Ruddy
    Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper
    Royce D. Applegate
    Cap. Thomas J. Goree
    Ivan Kane
    Maj. Gen. Henry Heth
    Warren Burton
    Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early
    MacIntyre Dixon
    Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
    Joseph Fuqua
    Lieut. Gen. Richard S. Ewell
    Timothy Scott
    Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew
    George Lazenby
    Maj. Hawkins
    Alex Harvey
    Brig. Gen. Willilam Barksdale
    Charles Lester Kinsolving
    Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes
    Graham Winton
    Lieut. Gen. Ambose Powell Hill
    Patrick Falci
    Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
    Jeff Daniels
    Brig. Gen. John Buford
    Sam Elliott
    Lieut. Thomas D. Chamberlain
    C. Thomas Howell
    Sgt. ‘Buster’ Kilrain
    Kevin Conway
    Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock
    Brian Mallon
    Col. William Gamble
    Buck Taylor
    Private Bucklin
    John Diehl
    Col. James C. Rice
    Joshua D. Maurer
    Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds
    John Rothman
    Maj. Gen. George G. Meade
    Richard Anderson
    Lieut. Pitzer
    Billy Campbell
    Col. Thomas C. Devin
    David Carpenter
    Col. Strong Vincent
    Maxwell Caulfield
    Capt. Ellis Spear
    Donal Logue
    Capt. Brewer
    Dwier Brown
    Sgt. Andrew J. Tozier
    Herb Mitchell
    Brig. Gen. John Gibbon
    Emile O. Schmidt
    Capt. Atherton W. Clark
    Scott Allan Campbell

    Director
    Ron Maxwell

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