"Favorite actor or character from the movie "Gettysburg"" Topic

Mine is Sam Elliott as Gen. Buford, for me he makes the movie! Who is yours.

The fat reenactor who captures the spy.

Tom "oh that beard is FAKE" Berenger and Sam Elliot

Oh, the fat reenactor. I've seen far too many of those. (What's the reenacting parlance for those fellows? TBGs? "Tubby Bearded Guys?")

May I vote for an event or phenomenon in the movie, instead? I vote for the agonizingly long speeches – Chamberlain to the recalcitrant Mainers, that silly Irish sergeant to Chamberlain, Chamberlain to Chamberlain (about the late, silly Irish sergeant), Longstreet's to Fremantle, Armistead to Fremantle, Kemper's to Fremantle, etc.

Poor Fremantle. The actor should have received stunt pay.

Reynolds: "Can you hold!?!"

Buford: "I reckon I can."

Buford

Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington. Opp.. sorry, wrong movie.

"Take the high ground" Buford.

Then Ken Burns and Ted Turner spotting.

What the OFM said.

The beards were the highlight of that movie.

Sam Elliot

Enormous re-enactor limping in the background at pickets charge using wrong leg and musket/crutch co-ordination thingy

Buford, Chamberlain, Armistead.

Though I do like the "There is no time" bit from Lee as well.

Keep a clear eye!

Sam as Buford with Beringer's Longstreet as a close second.

Ted Turner in his 2 second shot in which he got shot. Pickett was great especially when bickering with Kemper at the campfire. Can't leave out the fat old guy that the OFM mentioned.

Sam Elliot, without a doubt

I think "Who has the funniest fake facial hair?" would be a better poll.

I had a shock the other day when watching this again for the first time in many years when I realised that the fellow playing Strong Vincent (though he wasn't playing his sideburns, they were clearly being played by a pair of furry carpet slippers) was Maxwell Caulfield out of the British soap Emmerdale.

How did he end up in Gettysburg? Or maybe the question should be how did Strong Vincent end up in Emmerdale?

I think I would go for the Confederate Artillery commander man (sorry, I don't know the character's name).

I just like his stylish red hat.

Chamberlin: "Bayonet!"

Elliot gets the nod. Second place goes to an unamed soldier running up the hill attacking the 20th Maine. The footage is used twice, so he gets shot twice. Poor fellow!

Character – Armistead.

Actor – the actor portraying Armistead (Richard ??) who
has since passed away. He earlier in his career
portrayed a slim, handsome Billy the Kid (a *very*
fictionalized Billy, to be sure…)

Second choice is Eliot/Buford

His name was Richard Jordan. He was in Logan's Run and was also Duncan Idaho in Dune. Saw him in Rooster Cogburn on telly recently, too.

I believe he also had the dubious honour of playing Dirk Pitt in a picture. (Ha! Ha! Dirk Pitt…)

I think Gettysburg was the last thing he was in before he died. One of the last, certainly.

No doubt, Sam Elliot as Buford.

Now if you were to ask about "Gods and Generals", I would answer a friend of mine who was in seven different scenes/sets with as many uniform changes. But he is too thin to be a "real" reenactor.
Hard to choose between Richard Jordan and Sam Elliot. I did like the speach to the Mainers even if it took up movie time.

Richard Jordan, he also played in Red October.

Sam Elliot.

Longstreet's Beard is my favorite.

Oh you mean real actor… Sam Elliot.

Gene Wilder.

Stephen Lang as George Pickett, oh yes!

Lang is an exceptional actor, my fav would be him and Chamberlin.

This is the film that inspired my interest in the ACW.

I liked Sam Elliott as Buford, Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain, and James Lancaster as Fremantle.

I thought Tom Berenger brought a suitable gravity to the role of Longstreet.

Yes, there may be inaccuracies and distortions in the history, and the soundtrack can become cloying after so much, so much repetition, but I can't think of a better film to interest others in the ACW.

Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.

"I can't see whats happining to my boys." Stephen Lang as Pickett of course.

Were there any?

Were there any? What? Pie?

My top three:
1. Chamberlain / Daniels
2. Buford / Elliot
3. Longstreet / Berenger

If the movie included the cavalry action who should have played Custer?

If the movie included the cavalry action who should have played Custer?

Richard Kiel

Or maybe Bob Barker

Sam Elliot for sure for the Big roles

The guy who did Porter Alexander was spot on, as the one for Ewell, and Hancock for the secondary roles!

I agree with most of the above, plus I would nominate the actor who played Trimble and did the voice-over narration. I also liked the fellow who played Gamble -- "Now then, what would you like to do this morning?"

OK, since nobody else has voted for him, I nominate Martin Sheen as Bobby Lee. I didn't like him in that role the very first time I watched the movie, but the more times I watched the film, the more Sheen's performance really struck me as being superior. He really had Lee's mannerisms and speech down (at least as I would imagine them to be) even to the point of not using contractions in his speech (ex. "we cannot" instead of "we can't").

One of my favorite scenes is early on the first day when all of the CSA officers are riding up to Lee, giving their reports, and Harry Heth seems to be in a panic. Lee makes some comment about how " we must not lose our heads". It was a beautiful and subtle put down of Heth.

Sam Elliot was very good as Buford, as others have said. I like the scene where he orders Devin to bring up his brigade. "Harry Heth thinks there is one brigade of cavalry here. Next time he attacks there will be two." or words to that effect. It made me chuckle a little bit.

The Confederate POW when being interviewed by the younger Chamberlain:

Chamberlain: "Why are you fighting?"

POW: "For our rats."

Chamberlain: "Your what?"

POW: "Our rats!"

Another vote for Stephen Lang as Pickett with Richard Jordan a close second.

Robert Duvall as General Lee.

Amicalement
Armand

Hey DAF, I agree with you about Martin Sheen. Some people thought he didn't depict him macho enough but that wasn't the real Lee's style. Duvall did a good job as well…but different movie!

I've always had a soft spot for KEvein Conway as Sgt. "Buster" Kilrain. He did a beautiful job and its a perfomace that really hasn't been mentioned here. I can agree with all the other choices, even Martin Sheen as Lee. Very well done.

For all he muffed an autherntic Down East accent, Jeff Daniets captured the spirit of Joshua Chamberlain quite well.

No "Sergeant Kilrain" would have made any headway in a Maine regiment. For all we had no truck with Massachusetts' de facto state religion, we were still Protestants. And Irish were not much tolerated at this time. The influx of Catholic, foreign workers would lead to the horrible popularity of the Klan in Maine a couple of generations later.

Allen

I too thought Daniels did a great job as Chamberlain.

And the Irish sergeant "human interest story" should have been left on the cutting room floor. Wooden dialogue & worse acting. As I watched it I was embarrased for the production team.

Hoser

I also thought MS made a good Lee.

Seems to be quite a few Irishmen in just this one company of the 20th Maine. Maybe someone could learn to use Goggle. Just type 20th Maine Roster on Goggle and up pops Company G which has a Kennedy and a Murphy.

Just type 20th Maine Roster on Goggle and up pops Company G which has a Kennedy and a Murphy.

!!!!!