The movie Gettysburg was a four and a half hour movie based on the novel, The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. The film’s title was changed because it was feared that the public would confuse it with, “just another biker movie”. I have included a clip of one of the pivotal battle scenes in the movie—Chamberlain’s defense of Little Round Top. From the first ideas and story drafts, to the final editing and postproduction, it took almost 15 years of work to make this film.
On October 8, 1993, the film Gettysburg, was released in theaters nationwide. It was originally conceived as a mini-series for Ted Turner’s TNT network. Turner realized that he had something special and so he prepared it for theatrical release.
The film covered the three-day battle involving 150,000 men on both sides. As the story begins, the narrator noted that Lee was aware that a note was delivered to Abraham Lincoln dictating terms of the surrender. Lee badly wanted this to be the last battle of the war.
The film covered all the major parts of the battle, from Chamberlain’s stand at Little Round Top to Pickett’s charge. Many of the actors in the film were exceptional. Sam Elliott did a wonderful job as John Buford who predicted the coming battle and held the high ground for the advance elements of the Union Army under John Reynolds. Buford told his men, “You know what is going to happen here in the morning? The whole damn reb army is going to be here. They'll move through this town, occupy these hills on the other side and when our people get here Lee will have the high ground.” One of his subordinates listens as he says, “Devin, I've led a soldier's life, and I've never seen anything as brutally clear as this.”
Jeff Daniels was exceptionally well cast. As Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, he had what I consider the best dialogue of any character in the film - whether it’s talking to deserters and telling them he, “fears that if we lose this battle then we lose this war,” or his conversation with Kevin Conway, as Killrainey, when he waxed philosophically about, “the divine spark” in men. Chamberlain, along with Elliott’s brief appearance, was one of the few Union characters that we got to know. On the other hand, the South had two of the more sympathetic characters in the movie in Lee and Longstreet.
Tom Berenger (Lieutenant General Longstreet) and Martin Sheen (Robert E. Lee) had an excellent chemistry between them. Longstreet didn’t want to fight the coming battle once he knew that the Union Army held the high ground. He argued that, “It is almost perfect, now we've got them where we want them. Swing south and east, down the road, get between them and Lincoln, find some good high ground, then they'll have to hit us, they'll have to, we'll have them, sir.” Longstreet, knowing the Confederates lacked the manpower of the North (Population of 23 million vs. 9 million), wanted to back off and stay with, “our strategy to conduct a defensive campaign wherever possible in order to keep the army intact.” Lee, knowing that he had a chance to end the war told Longstreet that maybe this wasn’t ideal ground but, “we have prevailed. The men have prevailed.” Longstreet knowing that it was just as important that the South preserve its Army as it was to inflict losses on the enemy suggested that if they must fight that they, “move to the south to Washington, they have to pursue us, and then we can fight on ground of our choosing.” Lee, knowing about the letter to Lincoln wanted to end the war in one final battle. He knew that doing so would result in great losses to both sides. He also knew that they would be fewer than with a long, protracted war. He lamented that, “To be a good soldier you must love the army. To be a good commander you must be able to order the death of the thing you love.”
As is common in all period films, the characters had a great time during filming. Martin Sheen, who perfectly captured Lee's Southern gentility, was a last minute replacement for Robert Duvall. Duvall would later play Lee in the movie prequel, Gods and Generals.
Berenger is deeply interested in World History though he majored in Journalism at the University of Missouri. Tom was so fond of his role as General James Longstreet, he later opened up a restaurant/nightclub in downtown Wilmington NC called "Longstreet's Irish Pub" which is still in business today.
My mother, on a recent business trip, visited the site of the three-day battle. Maggie Abbott, of Gettysburg, told her a story about the 75th Anniversary of the battle. In 1938, the surviving soldiers of the battle, then almost 100 years old, met each other on the Gettysburg site. My mother told me the soldiers began their walk across the open field where Pickett made his charge 75 years earlier. She said, “that as the soldiers neared each other, they began to yell at one another just as they must have in battle. As they neared each other though, overcome with emotion, they reached out to shake the hands of those who had once been their enemy.” On the field that day, they realized that they were no longer two armies but now they were all Americans. Perhaps, it is true, as Thomas Jefferson said, “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” in order to keep all Americans free. Let us not forget that these men shown in this clip were the real heroes.
It could be argued that each side fought for the “right side”. The South fought to keep their way of life and a vision of an agricultural economy alive. They fought for State’s rights—a cause that our forefathers held dear as they wrote our constitution. The North fought not only to preserve the Union and keep the country unified as our forefathers intended. But they also fought as Chamberlain points out in the movie, “to set other men free.” Watching this clip, I am reminded that Brokaw was wrong about the “greatest generation”. Every generation has its heroes.
