"The worst ACW movie ever?" Topic

Ok,
My wife got to love her she got lost going up to Fall In and called me to ask if she was heading up the right way on route 15 to Gettysburg. So I ask her what side the mountains were on. Once she told me the right side I told her to turn around as she was heading South! Got to love her. I mean what wargamer has a wife that does not know where Gettysburg is!

So to make it up to me she made a very nice dinner tonight, We opened a nice bottle of wine and she said she had rented a Civil War movie for me. She said Martin Sheen, and Billy Bob Thornton, David Arquette and Corbin Bernsen were in it. I figured Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Sheen, I was thinking the Alamo meets Apocalypse Now!

But NOOOOOOOO! What starts as a scenario where they are marching South through Mo. (With Southern Ca Hill!) quickly turns into something on the tune of "C" Pulp movie game I would see in some out of the way rooms in the Host.

I should have suspected something when Martin Sheen is a union general and his acting is twice as bad as Gettysburg!

So what is the name of this Vampire, meets Politically Correct ACW theme movie:

"Grey Knight"

So now we are off to bed to watch whatever is on on the Food Channel, maybe she can make it up in some "other" way ;-)

VR
James Mattes

…aka "The Killing Box", "Ghost Brigade", et al.:

imdb.com/title/tt0107319

This is a winner. It should have the OFM busily painting up undead for Historicon next year.

Allen

maybe she can make it up in some "other" way ;-)

VR
James Mattes

yowsa!!

You mean it's worse than "Gods and Generals."

"Gunfight in Abilene" 1967, Bobby Darin in the lead role.

The best thing about the whole movie was the title song.

Agree with ratof. No possible way it could underperform Gods and Generals. What a complete waste of ergs.

I'm glad to know there are others out there who also think "Gods and Generals" was crap. I was so geared up for that movie, but left the theatre feeling like… well, I still don't know what I felt like. "Duped" would be a good start, perhaps.

"North and South" comes to mind. Some of those scenarios were pretty ludicrous! Union cavalry disounting to attack a handful of southern farmers, and getting driven-back….. General Ewell portayed as a sadistic murderer of wounded Yanks….

What a joke! LOL! I think the uniforms were also way off in many instances, to boot.

Never heard of the film before – thanks for the warning.

The Postman.

Infantryhorn, I think you're talking about "The Blue & the Gray", which made "North & South" look like Tolstoy by comparison. "B&G" had Stacy Keech as a psychic Union intelligence officer who has a vision of Lincoln's assassination. Top stuff!

So are there any good ones? I've seen one called "Gettysburg", not sure what it's like.

Other than that it's parts of films that have good ACW bits in, like the start of Dances with Wolves.

I like a lot of G&G. It did need to have a lot of editing and some better actors.

The worst Civil War "movie" was part of some horror movie I saw years ago. (The horror movie had three or four separate stories.) The Civil War segemnt was absolutely miserable: it concerned some three supposedly cruel Union soldiers. They were captured by a band of militant Confederate children orphans and then tortured to death. It was . . . it was a real piece of you-know-what.

I'm not trying to be snide with you, infantryhorn. But I must say I would rather have been duped by "Gods and Generals" (I haven't seen it) rather than have been violated by the piece of trash I just mentioned!

rmcaras 16 Nov 2006 8:46 p.m. PST

maybe she can make it up in some "other" way ;-)

VR
James Mattes

Like give me the remote so I can watch AMC or the History channel vs Lifetime, the O network or the food channel would be one GOOD example…
VR
James Mattes

As to Gods and Generals I have not seen it all yet just clips. BUT I am assure you Gray Knight is lower on the "B" list. At one point the guy refers to his regiment and next you see 10 TEN I kid you not guys! The acting is terrible, the plot something out of SNL, and the black slave girl is white!
VR
James Mattes

Ah that should be TEN soldiers, Teach me to get the kids ready for school at the same time reading TMP.
VR
James Mattes

James, my wife rented the Grey Knight for me when it 1st came out. She also thought I would like it since it was a Civil War flik. How did it end?

Found the plot on IMDb:

"Slave traders bring back evil voodoo entity that is accidently freed by the Confederate army during the Civil War. The entity possesses the bodies of the dead soldiers to create an army of its own bent on conquest, using the corpses of both the North and South."

VR
James Mattes

Now the director in the extra footage says it is a vampire movie! I really think from watching the extra footage (E did an entire hour on making of the movie) that they had no idea what the plot was, if any and they just kind of slapped it together and wrote it on the fly. I have seen Adult Movies with better acting and plots! Of course I was looking at those just for the articles!
VR
James Mattes

I dunno. Gods and Generals was offensive at parts. Offensive to my intelligence that is (and that's saying a lot! ).

Cold Steel 17 Nov 2006 4:31 a.m. PST wrote:

How did it end?

The ending was a battle between the mixed blue and gray regiment of "living" soldiers under Corbin Bernsen as a sort of burned out Southern Colonel who acts like a super hero AKA "Arnold" and was freed from Prison to track his former regiment the 51st Alabama. He becomes bitten by one of the undead, and falls for the mulato slave girl who just happens to be with the command.

Anyway the "living" regiment discovers that the "Zombie/Vampire living dead" do not like silver. So they melt down a wagon load and dip their bayonets in it, and forge some silver bullets. OH now I get it they must be Werewolves!

The girl dies, the confederate Col returns to the south, and get this,

wait for it…

Servers at Gettysburg even though the plot has the story taking place in the West in Nov 1863! He is shun by the South because he rants against the evils of Slavery and after the war returns to the cave where his 12 year old nephew is trapped as part of the living dead, and is never heard from again…

Did I say Martin Bradley (the historical photographer) was with the command the whole movie and battled the Zombies, living dead whatevers, in the final battle?

It was all down hill from there…
VR
James Mattes

That historic photographer should be Matthew Brady???
How did this film get those actors to even come on the set much less act in it?

Gods and Generals for sure. I fell asleep more than once. Yawn….

Glad I never finished watching it.

James, I feel your pain. It was Alt-ACW gaming, just on film! I recommend you buy two TVs, and shun your wife's channels entirely…

LOL yeap I could always sleep in any other room in the house. My wife is a TV Junkie she has nine sets in the house right now. Funny thing is I have not purchased a TV in over 25 years. They are all given to us or ones she had before we got married 11 LONG WONDERFUL YEARS ago….
VR
James Mattes

Oh I would not mind seeing a game at a convention based on this… I am kind-a enjoying watching those Pulp, ALT games…

While watching Gods and Generals, I spent most of my time thinking about work.

It says something that while I've purchased "Gettysburg" three times (twice on VHS, once on DVD), I wasn't tempted to buy Gods and Generals even when I found it on DVD at less than fifteen dollars.

Been a ACW 'nut' since 6th grade. Have watched every ACW movie that ever came out….some great, some good, some bad.

But only two have I ever wished were never made.
. Journey to Shiloh
. Gods and Generals

Watching Gods and General it occired to me that if Stonewall Jackson ACTUALLY spoke that way, no wonder somebody shot him!

SNOWMAN returns 17 Nov 2006 7:02 a.m. PST

But only two have I ever wished were never made.
. Journey to Shiloh

*NJH: Just a vehicle for the actors, it wasn't meant to be serious art nor even particularly good.

. Gods and Generals

*NJH: Sadly, something that bad at the box office will cause producers to shy away from ACW scripts for a long time.

"Journey to Shiloh"

Was that the 1970s made-for-TV movie about the 7 young Texans who ride east and end up at Shiloh (at least six of them do – one is killed in a card-related gunfight earlier) on? The one that starred Noah Beery (Rockford's father) as an old NCO?

A very, very cheaply made sub-B horror movie titled, "The Confederate Cannibals". The movie does not feature ONE Confederate uniform!

I always thought of Journey to Shiloh as more of a western than a true ACW movie. It actually featured several young actors who went on to become bigger stars…Harrison Ford, James Caan, etc.
For me, the movie was forgettable except for the small scene where Tisha Sterling (as the ultimate southern belle) sent the boys off to war.
Here's link to the movie's theme song rendition of Yellow Rose of Texas.

link

"Mutiny At Fort Sharp" would be a likely one for this topic. Broderick"10-4"Crawford as a Reb commander out west. Made in the mid-late 1960's.

I agree about "North & South"(pts 1,2,and 3),and "The Blue & The Gray" being real cheesefests. I would add,"Mutiny At Fort Sharp" to that list.

Sorry about the double mention there.

I agree with the outcry; "Gods and Generals" was pure tripe--actually I apologize to tripe!

The scene with Stonewall and his manservant Jim praying to the Almighty to help them together with the South's unique issue was shameful; and I think at the end of the movie I saw Jackson's arm asend into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the father!

Pure and total revisionist BS!

GnG really made me mad!

Gods and Generals by a landslide. I had to pour bleach in my eyes and scrub them with a toothbrush after only 20 minutes.

If you look near the door in Jackson's death scene, you can see where the wallpaper covers the light switch. The movie gave you a lot of time to look for little details like that. If you can stay awake that long.

I liked Gods and Generals……….Waiting for the backlash……….

No backlash. I didn't.

Richard Thomas (John Boy on The Waltons) was in a particularly dreadful version of the Red Badge of Courage.

Gods and Generals I don't belive is that bad, it's just expectations were quite high. The movie is in fact TOO faithful to the book and as a result moves too slowly.

I thought Martin Sheen was okay as Lee, though I preferred the guy who played him in North and South.

I don't know about the worst, but the one I hate the most is probably "The Hunley".

Come on! It's got to be "Gone with the wind" – right period – all romance – no action – what a waste of the extras in the Atlanta goods yard!

darthfozzywig… I stand corrected! It was "The Blue and The Gray" I was referring to. "B&G" and "N&S" kind'a blend together in a haze of Civil War cheese.

Yes, Stacey Keach was a psychic Union officer who foresaw the assassination of Lincoln. He also tracked-down the evil General Richard Ewell character, and ended said General's post-battle reign of terror.

Getting a little off topic… I remember seeing the movie, "Shenadoah", on TV when I was a kid. Although there were not too many battle scenes that I can remember, I thought it was a really good film.

Also, I remember seeing a Hallmark presentation of "The Red Badge of Courage", starring Richard Thomas (of "The Walton's" fame) as Henry Flemming, a looooong time ago. I liked it, but that was the last I ever saw or heard of it. It's in some studio's vault.

I quite like Shenendoah. I also didn't mind the Richard Thomas version of Red Badge of Courage. There is a bloke on eBay flogging it off occaisionally. Thats where I got my eventually found my copy.

Anyone out there ever see a movie called "Drums in the Deep South"? About a CSA Btry being assigned to set up on a mountain and fire at Union supply trains circa late 1864 or so. Odd concept but had some really good effects like guns that recoiled big time when fired. Set in West and even refered to Gen Joe Johnston. Not a bad job for Hollywood Fifties stuff!!

"Ironclads",nearly forgot about that one.