"Glory is now out in Blu-Ray" Topic

And what a release it is.
For those of you that have only seen it on bad american NTSC tv, it's night and day.

They had a special feature that showed an old tv documentaty naretedd by Freeman with scenes from the movie and there you got to see how the movie looked on ninties amercan tv and I'll tell you it was not a nice thing to see.
The BD version got fantastic sound and picture the movie is 20 years old but on BD it looks like it was made last week.
A must for any ACW wargamer og enthusiests.
Still wayting for Gettysburg comes to BD, hopefully with the directors cut, that never came to dvd

That would be great news --- if I had something that could play it.

BTW, I saw it on the big screen. Has it really been 20 years?

Did they put back the part during their first fight where Broderick tells them to fix bayonets?
It was in the movie when I saw it in the theater, it somehow didn't make it to the vhs/dvd and all of a sudden bayonets magically appear where they weren't a moment before. I never understood why they would remove those three seconds or so.

Hope they didn't digitally remove the little kid's wrist watch while he's waving at the newly arrived Yanks outside New Orleans. Better tech is fine, fixing our favorite gaffes is something else.

I watched Glory last night for the first time as part of my preperation for my new ACW project (thats my excuse anyway).

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Great film – now that I have a Blue Ray player I must buy it

We watched it 3 weeks ago for the first time in a decade. We have it on VHS and just bought the cheap DVD from Wal-Mart. It was amazing how much i had forgotten about the plot.

There are some glaring errors (such as the ocean being on the wrong side), but it's a great storyline and the acting is first rate by Washington, Freeman, and several others.

A fellow wargamer/author/reenactor whom I know only by corresponce, Gregory J. W. Urwin, was a technical adviser and Union 1st Lt. in Glory.

Best Civil War movie I've seen.

The Irish drill sergeant was good too.

A friend and associate, Matt Murdzak, will be coming to Fall-In this year with his sons/my godsons. We're trying to get him to pre-register for "Give 'Em Hell 54!" at Fall-In on Saturday. Matt was technical advisor to Matthew Broderick for the film. He appears in several scenes--he has a close-cropped beard, wearing a kepi in the enlistment scene, and with a low, flat "porkpie" hat in the background in 54th's first battle --he's the fellow Matthew Broderick tells to "Deploy skirmishers, Captain"-- and in the assault on Battery Wagner about 4 files to the left of Matthew Broderick.
Matt has many insightful anecdotes about the making of the film and the actors involved, some more complimentary than others. Matt also helped the unit organize as the 54th Mass. in reenacting.
He's worked with Morgan Freeman in several other productions, one of which was "Whispers of Angels" for Delaware Public TV. If you ever get to see it, look closely at the courtroom scene, and also at the slave auction scene, where you'll see Matt, his wife, his sons (with fishing poles), my wife (dressed as a Sister of Mercy) and a rather distinguished fellow portraying the auctioneer.

It is my favorite Civil War movie. I love Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, but I think it was Matthew Broderick's finest performance!

Yes Broderick isn't know as a great actor, but the fact that he could hold his own against Wshington and Freeman says alot.

To bad he hasn't done any more stuff like this

If I can get my act together and get everything painted (painting right now), I'm doing the assault on Ft Wagner at Fall-in in 10mm. The game will feature the fort in true 10mm scale, of course the 54th in 2 battalions, the Keystone zouaves (if you watch the scene from the movie where gen Strong is talking to Shaw, a few of them are in the background), the conscript zouaves (they were in the reserves) and my favorite toy, the USS New Ironsides, skipping balls over the walls.

Some Glory trivia:

Shaw didn't ask who would take this flag if the color bearer should fall. Strong said it and it was Shaw who answered to the cheers of his men.

When Shaw goes up alone to the top of the wall, he actually fell forward into the rebel trenches. That is why the men charged forward.

Carney, the man Denzel played, planted that flag on the wall and received 4 bullets just like in the movie. However, in real life he dragged the flag back to the Union lines after the disaster and rallied the remaining men. He then asked to lead a 2nd assault (mind you with 4 bullets in him). He survived his wounds and was awarded the medal of honor.

If you are interested in the topic, you should read the book, "Gate of Hell", by Stephen Wise.

Other trivia about the film:

The assault on Wagner came from the south, with the ocean on the Union troops' RIGHT side.

A beautiful 10mm model of the fort is sitting on my desk, but I have the flu :-(

Oh well, I guess I will need to wait for Barrage.

Sadly, the 'fix bayonets' clip from the theatrical version is still cut. Great fun to watch on Blu-Ray, though, I forgot how much I enjoyed this movie. Thanks for the heads-up Gunfreak!

Bob

I didn't get to see it in the theater. Where is this clip in the film? While they were on the beach? Anything else missing?

I had the privilege of training most of the black extras for that film. My job was to teach them the manual of arms, basic maneuvers, and how to load and fire the Enfield rifle-musket without injuring themselves or anyone else.

A late friend, Stan Kahrl, who taught at Ohio State, was instrumental in raising a unit of reenactors who still exist today portraying various black units. Those guys were bundled into the reenactor company that Murdzak, Pohanka, Jurgella and others raised and led in the film.

The reason that the water was on the wrong side in the film is because of the location. The Fort Wagner replica was built of Jeckyll Island, off of Savannah Georgia, and the only place where the fort could be built was on the western side. Thus, the water was out of kilter. There simply wasn't any other place where funds, access, and time would allow the scenes to be filmed, so the decision was made to film there.

Interestingly enough, the direct descendant of Sgt Carney, the 54ths Color Sergeant, who has a remarkable resemblance to him, was offered the part in the film, but turned it down. In fact, his family had very little interest at all in the project.

Because of that, the character portrayed by Denzel Washington was rewritten as a composite of several soldiers, as were some of the other officers.

There are some great stories about working on the film, and sometime I ought to put them all onto paper.

Is the fort replica still there?

I believe that the fort is long gone, but the replica guns were donated to Fort Polaski, and Fort Jackson, IIRC.