a contrarian opinion

Rating: 5/10 (8 July 1999)

The makers of 'Gettysburg' are to be commended for releasing it on video in 'letterbox' format to preserve the broad sweep of the cinematography as seen in the movie theatre, which is especially important in the battle scenes.
This is a looooooooooong movie (over 4 hours) and I wish I could say it didn't seem that long, but I can't (It took me 3 nights to get thru it, so maybe I missed the continuity that would come from a continuous viewing). I have mixed feelings about this movie, which I wanted and expected to rave over, but something about it is lacking. It never seems to rise above being a good documentary to the level of conveying in a fully involving way, emotionally and intellectually, the full historical significance of this seminal battle in a seminal war. One wonders what a David Lean would do with the subject.
Part of it was the score, which I found sadly lacking. This subject needs a John Williams and a full symphony orchestra; the producers settled for a synthesizer and a composer not up to the task. In many cases, I found the music inappropriate in mood for the particular scene, and the pacing of the score overall did nothing to build the dramatic tension. There were lapses in the accuracy of the speech patterns for the period (I don't think "how ya doin'?" was in currency as a greeting at that time). 'Meaning' is provided by the heavy-handed insertion of many dialogue scenes, so we have a disjointed effect of action-dialogue-action-etc. The script in the dialogue scenes is, overall heavy-handed and obvious.
Good acting all around, especially Sam Elliott as Gen. Buford and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. But the standout is Richard Jordan, who brings real emotional impact to his portrayal of Gen. Armistead (his death shortly after the movie was finished, gives an added poignancy to his portrayal).
No quibbling about the battle scenes, which are played by hundreds (thousands?) of history buffs from clubs which regularly recreate Civil War battles. In particular, Pickett's charge, the climactic point, is powerfully portrayed in all its horrible and tragic grandeur.
'Gettysburg', flawed as it is, is none the less essential viewing for Civil War buffs. But if you aren't one, you'll never make it through all 248 minutes.