Gettysburg on DVD (1993)

An epic, in every sense of the word...

A customer from Hartlepool, England , 25/07/2004

This film was originally intended as a 6 part mini series, but it was then turned into a feature length movie running over 4 hours in lenth. Don't let that put you off though, it's an epic, sweeping account of the events surrounding the great battle towards the end of the American civil war, told from both sides of the battlefield. It forms part of a trilogy along with the also excellent 'Gods & Generals' and the as yet produced third installment. It has everything, realism, tension, drama, excitement, even education! The cast, including Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels and C Thomas Howell are all terrific (especially Daniels), and the 4 or so hours seem to fly by. Anyone with a passing interest in the civil war or even just a great war movie will love it. Recommended!

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Flat

A customer from Farnborough , 01/10/2007

I am generous with films. I mean I will persevere and films that are weak in one respect or another, and try to draw out the good.

But this film has got to be one of the 'flattest' films I have every seen.

It just has no point to it.

It has no documentary interest (none that you couldn't gain from a good 30 min proper documentary), it has no realism interest... the battle scenes are not realistic, you get little opportunity to relate to the poor soles who did the fighting, nor do you get an idea of what life was like for these people and why they were fighting, not beyond the usual corney stuff.

Its like one big cheesy battle re-enactment with 'puff puff' guns and cannons, people falling to the ground with no evidence of ever being shot, the music just doesn't shut up, the comanders and captains are wooden and unconvincing, the script cheesy and detatched.

Yeh you get a little of the strategies and history, but 4 hours is a high price to pay for something you can get from a documentary or book in a matter of minutes.

What a waste of 4 hours.

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Brian#191 from STOURBRIDGE , 09/09/2004

An ambitious, sprawling attempt to re-create one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. This film, lasting four hours, is worth watching if you have any interest whatsoever in this phase of history. Sometimes the sheer size of the production tells in continuity errors and the poor direction involving some of the thousands of extras (no computer generated scenes here!). Although a fictionalised account, it is nevertheless rewarding for its accuracy in portraying the event in its original setting and the authentic feel of costumes, armour and tactics. Well worth a try.

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Ian#51 from EDINBURGH , 11/07/2004

This long film with it attention to detail was fascinating. As a history anorak it was right up my street

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An epic, in every sense of the word...

A customer from Hartlepool, England , 25/07/2004

This film was originally intended as a 6 part mini series, but it was then turned into a feature length movie running over 4 hours in lenth. Don't let that put you off though, it's an epic, sweeping account of the events surrounding the great battle towards the end of the American civil war, told from both sides of the battlefield. It forms part of a trilogy along with the also excellent 'Gods & Generals' and the as yet produced third installment. It has everything, realism, tension, drama, excitement, even education! The cast, including Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels and C Thomas Howell are all terrific (especially Daniels), and the 4 or so hours seem to fly by. Anyone with a passing interest in the civil war or even just a great war movie will love it. Recommended!

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Fantastic action

John Dermody from Scarborough, England , 26/05/2007

Ignoring the religeous fervour of the times, this is one of the greats, the sweeping shots of Pickets charge, the chaos of the battle for Little Round Top bring this civil war docudrama to vivid life, it wrings your heart out for the men of both sides. Both the blue and the grey are convinced as to the righteousness of the cause final result 53,000 combined dead out of a total of 200,000 a vision of things to come 50 years later at the Somme

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