Gods and Generals (2003)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Ronald F. Maxwell

Writers (WGA):

Jeff Shaara (book)
Ronald F. Maxwell (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 February 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The nations heart was touched by....

Plot:

Gods and Generals follows the rise and fall of legendary war hero "Stonewall Jackson". The prequel to the 1993 hit Gettysburg. |

Plot Keywords:

Stonewall Jackson | General | Confederacy | Amputation | Slavery

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Jeff Daniels	...	Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Mark Aldrich	...	Adjutant
Stephen Lang	...	Lt. Gen. Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson
George Allen	...	Confederate Officer
Robert Duvall	...	Gen. Robert E. Lee
Keith Allison	...	Capt. James J. White
Mira Sorvino	...	Fanny Chamberlain
Royce D. Applegate	...	Brig. Gen. James Kemper (as Royce Applegate)
Kevin Conway	...	Sgt. Buster Kilrain
C. Thomas Howell	...	Sgt. Thomas Chamberlain
Matt Letscher	...	Col. Adelbert Ames
Mac Butler	...	Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker
Frankie Faison	...	Jim Lewis
Robert Byrd	...	Confederate General (as Robert C. Byrd)
Jeremy London	...	Capt. Alexander 'Sandie' Pendleton

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sustained battle sequences.

Runtime:

231 min | Sweden:209 min (TV version) | Canada:218 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #39490) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Denmark:11 | Germany:12 | UK:12A | Canada:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland, USA

Company:

Turner Pictures (I)

Trivia:

Kevin Conway often refers to reprising his character of Sgt. Buster Kilrain in this film as being part of the reason he turned down a supporting role in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which would have prevented him from shooting this film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the battle of Chancellorsville, A.P. Hill is introduced as Brigadier General, but he was a Major General for over a year by then.

Quotes:

Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson: Tell me general, do you expect to live till the end of this war?
General John Bell Hood: Oh... I do not know, but... I'm inclined to think I will. I expect I will be wounded. And you general?
Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson: I do not expect to live to see the end of this war. Nor can I say that without victory I would desire to do so.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Upon the Heights of Alma

This was the Last Hoorah for Turner Pictures

Ted Turner retired to his ranch in Montana in 2002 and his last act as a business man was to merged his media empire (which included 5 networks CNN, TNT, TBS, CNNheadline, Turner South, and 2 major league sports teams Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks, 1 professional wrestling sanction called WCW, and 1 independent movie studio called Turner Pictures in together with AOL, TIME, WARNER BROTHERS. – And then he donated over 1 billion dollars that he made from this merger to the United Nations.

Gods and Generals was the Last Hoorah for Turner Pictures, which is a sad thing. Turner Pictures was the studio responsible for making almost every Civil War movie during the 1990's and 2000's (the only notable exceptions being 1989's Glory and 2004's Cold Mountain.) Turner Pictures was based out of Atlanta Georgia not Hollywood, and Ted Turner only hired the best screen writers (including novelist Gore Vidal) and best historian and consultants. This gave Turner Pictures a dirtier, gritty, and much more realistic edge over their Hollywood counterparts. Turner Pictures also did not rely on all of the computer animation that now dominates the motion picture business. Ted's company wanted real cannons, real extras, real fireworks and real stories.

Turner Pictures was dissolved following the release of "Gods and Generals" in 2002. Gods and Generals was a box office failure and the merger with AOL, TIME, WARNER meant that there would never be another movie from Turner Pictures.

Turner Pictures made some really great and historically important movies that no other studio would've ever made. And then most of them were shown on TV for free.

Titles like ....

The Courtmarshall of Jackie Robinson

IronClads

Billy the Kid(which starred Val Kilmer was far better and much more realistic than Young Guns

The Rose and the Jackial (wriiten for Tuner by novelist Gore Vidal)

Crossfire Trail - An Amazingly good western starring Tom Seleck, good enough to be shown in any movie theater

Gettysburg - the best Civil War movie ever made

Andersonville- another gripping Civil War drama