Good film slightly flawed by Turner TV style production

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 1999)

When I saw Gettysburg the weekend it opened I think around summer of 1983 I was somewhat disappointed but considering the rarity of historical epics " my favorite film genre " and the quality or lack of 80's & 90's films it was a refreshing change of pace and a decent film. Gettysburg was also a subject I had been waiting a lifetime to be put on film having been a Civil War buff. I was disappointed even prior to seeing the film with the knowledge Ted Turner was involved with the production. I expected and was correct in my assumptions that it would be similar to many of the TNT made for TV productions in style and pace, have some political correctness and be mild in the area of blood and graphic violence all of which were detrimental to the film. On the first point I thought the direction was lackluster and the battles did not have the intensity of the much more moving and exciting Glory. Concerning PC I thought the speech by Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain was moving and one of the best scenes in the film however his sergeants comments about blacks was out of place and a little too much for 1863 ! I don't think its always necessary to have blood & guts all over the screen as in most current films depicting violence but I do believe that if ever graphic violence was necessary to convey a historical event it was needed most notably during Pickett's charge in which bodies were ripped to shreds by the massive fire that was inflicted upon them and was part of the great tragedy and horror of the Civil War. I would have also liked the film to be in a wide screen format but again I think this has to do with Turner and TV. I liked all of the performances of the small star cast in the film even Martin Sheen as Lee " I'm not sure why his performance was criticized so much " my favorites were Jeff Daniels and Tom Berenger with the only exception being Sam Elliott a perennial TNT movie star who was annoying with his over-acting. On the plus side was the very fine score and for a 4+ hour film it flew by and had many moving scenes one of them was the rousing cheer of Lee's men as he came to greet them prior to the climactic battle and two great scenes involving Chamberlain " his speech early on and leading his ammunition depleted men on a desperate bayonet charge" . I also have to admit I watch this film every time its on Turner and my appreciation grows for it with every viewing and the shortcomings I mentioned bothered me initially but not in my repeated viewing and considering the extreme rarity of Civil War epics I now would highly recommend seeing Gettysburg.