1 9 8 2 (USA)
3 x 160 minute episodes
Stretched out to nearly eight agonising hours, this 1982 CBS miniseries attempted to tell the story of the Civil War through the eyes of John Geyser (John Hammond), a sensitive young newspaper illustrator (shades of John-Boy Walton) originally from Virginia but finding his allegiance a little further north.
At a reported cost of $16 million, the miniseries was laden with authentic costumes, grand battle scenes and a star-studded cast that included Gregory Peck in his TV-movie debut in the role of Abraham Lincoln.
It was a mind (and butt) numbing experience full of hokey acting and sloppy direction that moved as fast as refrigerated honey.
The battle of Bull Run, for example, was presented as an unbelievable mess of sloppy staging and camera placement.
In fact, most of the camera work had the look of an episode of Matlock, and the overall pacing seemed to skip over anything important while dwelling endlessly on unimportant details and characters.
The Blue and the Gray was also filled with weirdly confusing moments, like an early scene where two characters named John discuss a third character also named John or an unexpected shot of a shirtless Stacy Keach – as Union spy Jonas Steele – standing in profile rubbing his own ass.
Jonas Steele
Stacy Keach
John Geyser
John Hammond
Mary Hale
Julia Duffy
Jacob Hale Sr.
Robin Gammell
James Hale
David W. Harper
Lester Bedell
Gregg Henry
Matthew Geyser
Cooper Huckabee
Professor Lowe
James Carroll Jordan
Malachy Hale
Brian Kerwin
Capt. Potts
William Lucking
Maj. Harrison
Charles Napier
Pvt. Grundy
Walter Olkewicz
Emma Gayser
Penny Peyser
Capt. Randolph
Duncan Regehr
Christopher Spencer
David Rounds
Maj. Fairburn
Christopher Stone
Evelyn Hale
Diane Baker
Kathy Reynolds
Kathleen Beller
Arbuthnot
Paul Benedict
Ben Geyser
Lloyd Bridges
Gen. George Meade
Rory Calhoun
Maggie Geyser
Colleen Dewhurst
Phineas Wade
David Doyle
Mark Geyser
Michael Horton
Maj. Welles
Warren Oates
Sgt. O’Toole
Gerald S. O’Loughlin
Mrs Lovelace
Geraldine Page
Luke Geyser
Dan Shor
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Rip Torn
Sen. Reynolds
Robert Vaughn
Secretary of State Seward
John Vernon
John Brown
Sterling Hayden
Jonathan Henry
Paul Winfield
Abraham Lincoln
Gregory Peck
Jake Hale Jr.
Bruce Abbott
Mary Todd Lincoln
Janice Carroll
Hattie
Veronica Redd
George
Fred Stuthman
Alvin Mooney
John Voldstad
Gen. Herman Haupt
Walter Brooke
Johnny Reb
Steve Nevil
Lt. Hardy
John Dennis Johnston
Captain Grimes
Fredric Cook
Dr Bennett
William Bryan Curran
Gen. Robert E. Lee
Robert Symonds
Lt. Mercer
William Wellman Jr.
Bates
Ebbe Roe Smith
Lamar
Paul Harper
Luanne
Diane Sommerfield
Sergeant Ogilvie
Peter Jason
Count Von Ziller
Warwick Sims
Nell
Maggie Wellman
Sykes
MC Gainey
Judge Richard Parker
John Petlock
Secretary of War Stanton
John Rolloff
Private Lawrence ‘Coward’ Jones
George Newbern