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I made a recent inquiry about the film Fields of Freedom and it got me thinking...are there any truly great Civil War films that exist? And by great I mean truly great, not just, "Yeah, it was alright." In racking my brain, very few come to mind. In fact, I can't really think of more than one and the one I'm thinking of is Glory, which isn't all that terrific for numerous reasons.
Gettysburg to me doesn't really stand out; I could never really get behind that picture once it was released. I was apart of the filming process and during the shooting I had a feeling in my gut that it wasn't really going to hold up upon its release. Then there's Gods and Generals and that one I'm not even going to touch. Aside from those Hollywood backed "epics" there are a few independents out there milling around (Field of Freedom for example), but none of those really stand up to the bar either, in my opinion. I have yet to see Wicked Spring (more because I'm afraid to than for any other reason) and I fear that that one won't "wow" me either.
Other conflicts in history have their appropriate gems in cinema and I fail to see why this is so hard to achieve with the American Civil War. I mean, the Civil War was arguably the most important event (or rather, series of events) in American history, right? Other wars, for instance, like World War I has Johnny Got His Gun and All Quiet on the Western Front (both versions), World War II has The Thin Red Line, Vietnam has The Killing Fields, etc, etc. So, what's the deal?
With all that said, if someone can recall some Civil War and/or Civil War related films that are truly great, that I missed in my rantings, then please list them here and make your case. Otherwise, does anyone out there besides me think that the subject matter of our nation's greatest fight, on film, deserves some immense improvement? In the meantime, I suppose I'll just watch my nine volumes of Ken's masterpiece(s) again (but that's a documentary...though it is an untouchable documentary).
Gettysburg to me doesn't really stand out; I could never really get behind that picture once it was released. I was apart of the filming process and during the shooting I had a feeling in my gut that it wasn't really going to hold up upon its release. Then there's Gods and Generals and that one I'm not even going to touch. Aside from those Hollywood backed "epics" there are a few independents out there milling around (Field of Freedom for example), but none of those really stand up to the bar either, in my opinion. I have yet to see Wicked Spring (more because I'm afraid to than for any other reason) and I fear that that one won't "wow" me either.
Other conflicts in history have their appropriate gems in cinema and I fail to see why this is so hard to achieve with the American Civil War. I mean, the Civil War was arguably the most important event (or rather, series of events) in American history, right? Other wars, for instance, like World War I has Johnny Got His Gun and All Quiet on the Western Front (both versions), World War II has The Thin Red Line, Vietnam has The Killing Fields, etc, etc. So, what's the deal?
With all that said, if someone can recall some Civil War and/or Civil War related films that are truly great, that I missed in my rantings, then please list them here and make your case. Otherwise, does anyone out there besides me think that the subject matter of our nation's greatest fight, on film, deserves some immense improvement? In the meantime, I suppose I'll just watch my nine volumes of Ken's masterpiece(s) again (but that's a documentary...though it is an untouchable documentary).
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