"Worst ACW Movies?" Topic

Which films are just too terrible to recommend?

Field of Lost Shoes.
The Blue and the Grey miniseries. (there was a helicopter at First Bull Run)

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All….

Gods and Generals. I have destroyed 4 DVD copies to save mankind from this horrible movie.

Alvarez Kelly (1966) had some promise, but came up short in my estimation. Good cast, tolerable acting, but disappointing story line.

Gods and Generals… so many manly tears…

Gettysburg

According to their post-war histories and autobiographies, all the Union generals fought so spectacularly that there is no way that the north would have suffered as many casualties as shown in the film. (Just kidding, great film)

God and Generals. It is worst than bad.

All of them, except the Joshua Chamberlain sequences in Gettysburg and Glory. Oh, wicked spring is very good too

Gods and Generals. "The Virginia Monologues" nailed it.

I'm sure the sequel to North & South is awful, but I mercifully can't remember any of it.

Cold Mountain. I was suckered into this by an ex-GF who said it was a Civil War Movie. link

Worst. Civil War Movie. Ever.

The old movie shown at the Visitors Center at Shilo. It was made in the 60's and some of the soldiers were carrying M-1 IIRC.

No, they were either Springfields or Enfields (WWI rifles). Not Garands…

"Curse of the Cannibal Confederates", a remake of "Night of Horror", not just the worst Civil War movies but both contenders for worst movie ever bar none (except perhaps each other).

Another vote for Cold Mountain…

Abraham.Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

Second the Blue and the Gray miniseries. So awful

The first few minutes of Cold Mountain showed the Crater at Petersburg but after that is was bad. Gods and Generals showed Fredricksburg. Abraham Lincoln Zombie Hunter, a rip off Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter, has no parallels.

To be fair, a good, ruthless edit of Gods and Generals can make for an entertaining short movie.

Congress on C-Span

Gods and Generals. Ugh.

Really there is a serious shortage of good ACW movies. Glory is great, I loved Lincoln (period though not war movie), and large parts of Gettysburg are good.

I want to give Mercy Street a watch but haven't gotten a chance. I also still need to see Free State of Jones.

One of the silliest<though probably not the worst>,"Advance To The Rear",but I got some laughs from it.

I'd still watch Gods and Generals over Field of Lost Shoes any day you want!

Ghost Brigade, an insanely stupid ACW zombie movie.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. I only watched this one the first time because I'm in it; if you haven't seen it yet I have one word of advice: Don't.

LT

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

What was so bad about Cold Mountain? It's not really a war movie, it's a movie about people at war.
I rather enjoyed it.

I'm with Weasel. Cold Mountain is good for its intended purpose.

Me too, going to see Cold Mountain and expecting a war movie is like going to see Million Dollar Baby and expecting a boxing movie. Or so I have been told, never seen the latter film.

Many, many moons ago my mother conned me into sitting through the endless hours of Gone with the Wind by telling me it was a civil war movie……..

Cold Mountain was so poor even my wife called it a chick flick; still infinitely more watchable than Dogs & Genitals though ;)

John Wayne managed to ham up any movie connected to the civil war and made even North & South Book 2 look good, but the prize must go to Field of Shoes which was so painful to work on as an extra, I haven't the stomach to watch it all.

Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, and Cold Mountain are all outstanding movies. Cold Mountain takes place during the Civil War, but is not specifically about the Civil War. It's a love story. I challenge anyone to name a better Civil War movie than Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.

If I want realism and facts, I watch Ken Burns' excellent documentary.

Gettysburg and any other recent film that features modern-day re-enactors. They're mostly overweight and too old, and their uniforms show no pride at all. And this is all because (a) they don't want to pay actors, and (b) they mistakenly assume these re-enactors are 'experts.' Oh, how I wish Hollywood producers would just treat these films like any other they make. Hire extras who are the appropriate age and physical condition, and can just as easily learn enough drill in a few hours to suit the purpose.

Why bother when you have CGI?

Hire a few good ones and clone the rest on screen.

"God and Generals" badly acted, bad production values and it continues the deplorable "Lost Cause Myth."

"Field of Lost Shoes" makes "God and Generals" look like the work of Sergei Eisenstein in comparison.

Dishorourable nod to "Birth of a Nation" and the who KKK as heroes thing.

"God and Generals" badly acted, bad production values and it continues the deplorable "Lost Cause Myth."

"Field of Lost Shoes" makes "God and Generals" look like the work of Sergei Eisenstein in comparison.

Dishorourable nod to "Birth of a Nation" and the who KKK as heroes thing.

D Williams, that's because the people who take living history seriously generally avoid movie work like Ebola on the salad bar. that's is a fact……..after 'Craptriot' and "turds and entrails" it was pretty much understood, never again……

Cold Mountain by far.
I don't get all the hate towards Gods and Generals. The soundtrack was awesome and the battle scenes better than those in Gettysburg.

"The Undefeated"
Rock Hudsons Southern accent is Hilarious !!!
Also a thumbs up for Gods & Generals, i enjoyed it !!!

Is it just me or did Gods and Generals have some uncomfortably romantic dialog between some of the actors?
Maybe that was the way they talked back then, but I thought Armistead was going to kiss a couple of guys at one point.
BTW I don't think Cold Mountain is really a Civil War movie, I think they just promoted it that way instead of saying, hey come see this chick flick with 7 minutes of shooting.

The worst ACW movie I've ever seen was some horrible monstrosity about three brothers on their way to Shiloh called Journey to Shiloh.

I shudder to even think about it.

I enjoyed Gods and Generals, the battle scenes anyway. There a few scenes that could have been omitted, IMHO. Considering its only a movie, I thought it was better than most of Hollywood's efforts on ACW battles. Still think Gettysburg is pretty damn fine. I guess I would put those on the top of my list and all the rest mentioned above in a quickly descending order. Also, (not a re enactor myself, mind you), but when compared to Hollywood's earlier efforts at portraying ACW battles, uniforms, and the general look of things, I think the re enactors, fat ones, old ones, and all the rest, do a far superior job than Hollywood had ever done in its' previous productions. Just a thought. John Miller

Gods and Generals
Abraham.Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
Cold Mountain

I enjoy most of them for what they are ie entertainment.

For historical facts etc books are better placed and of course this forum.

Gods and Generals, yuck.

DW,"hiring extras of the appropriate age and physical condition" may not be as easy as you think. I remember reading they had a hell of a time finding enough extras that looked like skinny sixties kids (like I used to be) for "Taking Woodstock". That was in 2009,and things have just gotten fatter and flabbier.

Has to be Gods and Generals. I recall buying it in 2003 and sitting down with a buddy and a beer and a pizza to watch it, thinking it would be on a par with Gettysburg. Something of a dissappointment to say the least.

God's and Generals
Birth of a Nation
Gone with the Wind

Almost all of them.

The Blue and the Grey. A tour bus drives by right behind the target when Lincoln is test firing a rifle at the Capital.

Dances with Wolves -
likely Historically inaccurate – 1863 western theatre
Some CSA unit would have had someone that could have killed Costner -thereby saving everyone from this waste of time

Gods & Generals, I thought there were almost some kissing scenes coming between all the crying…

God & Generals by miles.

Destroyed my copy lest I might accidentally watch it again.