Excellent Moviemaking

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 1998)

If only more Hollywood brass took this kind of filmmaking to heart. Director Ronald F. Maxwell is the anti-Oliver Stone. He takes a well -known historical event such as the frightening battle at Gettysburg, and tells it like the books and participants say it went. No personal views, beliefs, or wild left wing theories. Just plain ol' American history. And it works. It works great. Based on the late Michael Shaara's most acclaimed novel "The Killer Angels" (Shaara, unfortunately, died four years before production even began), Mr. Maxwell has a first rate cast of big stars, yet not big enough to distract you as to who is playing who, who take the material given and run with it. Besides a fake beard on Tom Berenger's General Longstreet which is more than a bit silly, these actors are completely believable. Jeff Daniels certainly deserved Oscar notice for his part, and even Martin Sheen has his fair share of top-notch scenes, as does Sam Elliott, among others. Special note should be made of the irony in that Richard Jordan's final scene on film (Jordan died some weeks before the film's release) is a death one, and one of the more poignant moments of the movie. Randy Edelman provides a stellar score along with the rich color and cinematography, so much so that his soundtrack bosses recently released a five year commemorative expanded edition of his music. One can't help but be somewhat dis-heartened that Maxwell has yet to be seen again after "Gettysburg". The box office numbers were quite high considering the limited showing times at theaters because of this movie's length (at four minutes longer than "Gone With The Wind", screenings were limited to twice a day). Rumors are he's at work on a "Joan Of Arc" project , after which he will get to work on a prequel for this movie... followed by a sequel! I suppose only time will tell... until then, I'll be happy with this effort.