| | | "An Unforgettable Story of the Civil War, from the Director of Gettysburg."
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.40:1, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled
Based on Jeffrey M. Shaara's bestseller, Gods and Generals recounts the fierce allegiances and combat of the early Civil War. Ronald F. Maxwell directs this epic prequel to his Gettysburg, framing the story with three bold men and three fateful battles. The men: Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang), Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall). The battles: Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville. Through these combatants and conflicts we witness the bravery and strife of a nation at war with itself.
"...an awesome sense of authenticity and scope..." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"...a thinking person's film, one which requires the muse to be activated, and grand themes to be pondered." Mark W. Weaver, The Phantom Tollbooth
Editor's Note
This epic film from writer-director Ron Maxwell chronicles the early events of the American Civil War. It's a prequel to his earlier GETTYSBURG, with some of the same cast, and is part of a planned trilogy. Stephen Lang plays Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, the famous (and deeply religious) Confederate general who, along with fellow General Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall), must weigh the mighty consequences of his actions, as each battle costs the lives of thousands of men. Over on the Union side there's Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who, like Jackson and Lee, is fond of making long, poetic speeches to his troops. Beginning with the start of the war and ending with Jackson's death, the film chronicles the three main battles leading up to Gettysburg, using their actual locations and thousands of actual Civil War re-enactors as extras. Maxwell pays careful attention to authentic period detail as he chronicles the minutiae of the generals' domestic lives in the intervals between the harrowing battle scenes. While a little on the long side, the end result should serve as an invaluable document for history buffs. Mogul Ted Turner was an executive producer and appears in a small role.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | This Is An HD-DVD Made For HD-DVD Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 9/25/2007 |
| Running Time: 219 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2003 | | Catalog ID: 114265 | | UPC: 00085391142652 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Jeff Daniels | | Mira Sorvino | | Robert Duvall | | Stephen Lang | | Corky Ehlers - Editor | | Gregory Bolton - Art Director | | Jeff Shaara - Based On Book By | | Jeff Shaara - Producer | | John Frizzell - Original Music By | | Kees Van Oostrum - Cinematographer | | Michael Z. Hanan - Production Designer | | Randy Edelman - Original Music By | | Ronald F. Maxwell - Screenplay | | Ronald F. Maxwell - Director | | Ted Turner - Executive Producer |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...[The film] should delight Civil War buffs....Beautifully photographed in various locations around Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia..." 02/21/2003 p.E13Variety
"...[With] rich and full-bodied widescreen cinematography..." 02/17/2003 p.39-40 Box Office
"...The film is beautifully shot by Kees Van Oostrum and the sounds of battle by Stephen Halbert measure up to the greatness of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. There is much to relish in this epic..." 05/01/2003 p.62 Los Angeles Times
"...GODS AND GENERALS is well-structured....Maxwell gives us a clear sense of the issues that divided America, a vivid sense of the cumbersome logistics involved, the complexity of battles and, in the instance of Fredericksburg, what it was like for a town to be overrun by warfare..." 02/21/2003 p.C6 Uncut
"Solid, stirring stuff..." 07/01/2004 p.144 DVD Verdict 8 of 10
"Gods and Generals is the kind of movie that mistakes emblematic pontification for emotion, the recitation of entire poetic passages as powerful, and the overblown ability for unending oration as epic. It wants to stand as a sweeping spectacle of one of the darkest chapters in our young nation's history, but it only wants to accomplish it with words, not deeds, bombastic brays from bearded windy windbags, not gripping historical drama...Gods and Generals wants to remove the stigma from the ""war of Northern aggression"" and, instead, give unsung heroes and misunderstood historical figures their proper factual re-do...There is no denying the bravery, the sacrifice, and the sincerity under which many of the Southerners fought. And the North was not filled with pristine boy scouts. But nothing and no one is served when selective recollection is used as truth. Without balance, without some addressing of underlying, essential issues, Gods and Generals becomes a meticulous recreation, authentic in every detail, of only half the story." - Bill Gibron
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