"But For the Duration of the War, God took no sides..." The "Gods and Generals" Thread

So I was shocked to learn a few months ago that Gods and Generals was being made into a movie. I know, perhaps I was a little slow on the uptake but it seemed to me the Civil War movie genre was pretty much dead now, what with the only war movies being primarily about Vietnam and WW2.

It's predescessor Gettysburg is one of my absolute favorite movies ever, and while it may have a few historical flaws (so I've heard, personally I was never interested in the battle of Gettysburg enough to do extensive research), and after viewing it I immediately went out and bought Shaara's son's two books dealing with the Civil War. These were Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure.

Personally, I thought The Last Full measure was the best of the three (the middle book being what Gettysburg was based off of: The Killer Angels.

Anyways, I'm not sure how many people here are fans of Gettysburg, but I figured I'd start a thread for those few who are interested.

Here is some information on the movie Gods and Generals:

It stars: Robert Duvall as Robert. E. Lee, Stephen Lang as "Stonewall" Jackson, and Jeff Daniels as Joshua Chamberlain.

It's about 3.5 hours in length, I hear.

It is released February 21st, 2003, in the States.
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So, in an attemt to get some conversation sparked, let me pose a few questions for debate:

1) What do you think of Duvall replacing Martin Sheen as Lee? (For the uninitiated, Sheen played Lee in Gettysburg, the sequel to Gods and Generals.

2) What do you think of the book, and how well do you think it'll be adapted to the big screen?

3) What do you think of Lang switching roles, going from Pickett to now playing Jackson?

 

i'm into the civil war....and i can't wait to see the movie

 

1) What do you think of Duvall replacing Martin Sheen as Lee? (For the uninitiated, Sheen played Lee in Gettysburg, the sequel to Gods and Generals.

An interesting replacement, in my opinion. Sheen played a very excellent Lee, pinning him down perfectly. From the trailers, it seems as Duvall does a rather good job, but only time will tell if he is "better" than Sheen, and closer to the real Lee.

2) What do you think of the book, and how well do you think it'll be adapted to the big screen?

I was surprised when I saw the trailer during the rerun of Saturday Night Live with Al Gore. I didn't know they were making this movie, and I was elated. I enjoyed all three books, my favorite being The Killer Angels, as Gettysburg is one of my favorite movies of all time, ever since I was about nine or so. I'm hoping it's adapted at least as well as Gettysburg was, if not better, and I think today's special effects should increase the realism (battle scenes, amount of soldiers, etc). During the actualy battle of Gettysburg, they used Civil War reinactors as the soldiers, which is one of the reasons it was so real.

3) What do you think of Lang switching roles, going from Pickett to now playing Jackson?

I hadn't heard of this, but if I get you correctly, the actor who played Pickett is now playing Jackson? That's interesting, and odd. Why have him change rolls like that? Like I said (typed), this is the first I'm hearing of that, so it should be interesting.

 

Yep, that's what I mean. I believe the reason stated someplace was that they thought Lang was too much talent to waste on the extremely small role of Pickett in the movie.

For continuity, I would've had him play Pickett anyways, but from what I've seen they disguise him pretty well as Jackson in this one.

 

For continuity, I would've had him play Pickett anyways, but from what I've seen they disguise him pretty well as Jackson in this one.

Well they threw continuity right out the window when they replaced Sheen with Duvall.

I've been looking for Gettysburg on DVD, but I can't find it. We don't have any of those Suncoast-y type stores around here, and I was hoping Best Buy might have it. My VHS tapes are teh suq. Any thoughts?

 

My Uncle had a pass to a sneak preview of God's And Generals. When asked about the length of the film, we were shocked to hear that it was 3 hrs and 40mins!! So we snuck into Darkness Falls instead, 'cuz it was getting late and we couldn't see a film that long. Anyway, I kinda thought Darkness Falls was cool, not perfect, but still very fun.

 

I've been looking for Gettysburg on DVD, but I can't find it. We don't have any of those Suncoast-y type stores around here, and I was hoping Best Buy might have it. My VHS tapes are teh suq. Any thoughts?

I bought the Gettysburg DVD at Wal-Mart last week for $15.

I'm stoked about Gods and Generals. I hope it lives up to my expectations.

 

I can't wait for this one. YES! Anything that takes place in the Civil War/Old West times is a must-see for me

 

Gettysburg was an incredible film. I am glad Jeff Daniels is back. I am very dubious about replacing Sheen, but I want to be open minded. I am assuming Tom Berenger is not coming back as Longstreet so I regret that as well. I think Hancock is the same as Gettysburg.

Despite casting changes, I can't wait for this movie.