| [Domestic Reviews][Foreign Reviews]
Domestic Reviews
" Magnificent, awe-inspiring re-creation of the Civil War's most famous
battle. Ted Turner's answer to GONE WITH THE WIND serves up generous
portions of emotional human drama and roaring action. Based on Michael
Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels, this long but
engrossing slice of history was filmed on the battlefields of the
Gettysburg National Military Park using over 5,000 Civil War
"re-enactors" in the battle scenes. Look fast for filmmaker Ken Burns
as General Hancock's aide and Ted Turner as a Reb foot soldier during
Pickett's Charge. Elliott, and especially Daniels, stand out in a cast
full of great performances. Final film for Richard Jordan, who has the
most poignant role in the picture as General Armistead. Superb musical
score by Randy Edelman. Also released on video in a 271m director's
cut. [PG]"
Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A cinematic rarity -- an intelligent epic . . . the
four-hour epic speaks well for Writer/Director Ronald
Maxwell’s sober intentions and very creditable achievements
in this film." Richard Schickel, TIME MAGAZINE
"A dramatic victory . . . a massive epic . . . great acting.
There are simply no modern-day correlatives for movie making
on this scale." James Verniere, THE BOSTON HERALD
"****A towering achievement! Gettysburg explodes on the
screen in all its horror and heroism. Jeff Daniels is
Amazing, Martin Sheen’s General Lee is a tour de force."
Bill Diehl, ABC RADIO NETWORK
"A masterpiece . . . could be the film of the decade."
Bobbie Wygant, KXAS, DALLAS/FORT WORTH
"A handsome and involving epic. . . lavish and meticulously
detailed . . . Martin Sheen’s extraordinary Robert E. Lee
and Jeff Daniels’ remarkable Col. Chamberlain are Oscar
worth performances. . . Ronald Maxwell’s Gettysburg is the
film against which all subsequent films about the Civil
War’s decisive battle will now be measured." Jay Carr,
BOSTON GLOBE
"Awesome . . . Jaw-dropping . . . a major event!
Writer-Director Ronald F. Maxwell mounts an impressive
saga." Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY
"****Gettysburg is powerful stuff. . . Jeff Daniels merits
serious Oscar consideration." Jeff Craig, SIXTY SECOND
PREVIEW
"A 10+! One of the best war pictures ever made. A powerful
and touching study of the most costly battle ever fought on
American soil. At times, it left me in tears. A great
American work of film-art."
Gary Franklin, KCOP-TV, LOS ANGELES
"The Big Screen spectacular of the fall!"
Don Stotter,ENTERTAINMENT TIME-OUT
"Lavishly filmed...well-made...profound."
Drew Jubera, Atlanta Constitution
"The fifteen years it took to realize the film were worth it. The result
is a stunning, absorbing epic...With Gettysburg the filmmakers have
created a fascinating study of the will for war and the terrible price it
exacts...Both Jeff Daniels and the late Richard Jordan turn in Academy Award
performances in two terse, yet eloquent, scenes."
Luaine Lee, Scripps-Howard News Service
"(Gettysburg) admirably recreates the events of those fateful
days, even to the intimate moments between the men on both sides. The excellent
acting and directing makes history alive again... Gettysburg is a
magnificent movie which is destined to become a classic, stir hearts and
inspire its viewers...a film worth watching again and again on the big screen.
Ron Maxwell deserves America's thanks for this mighty contribution to the
best in American movies."
Bonnie C. Harvey & Ted Baehr, Movieguide
"The Civil War movie reaches a new crest with Ronald Maxwell's Gettysburg,
a film whose epic grandeur does much more than simply re-create the three
day battle that decided the fate of the Union. Through thundering artillery
and thousands of Civil War re-enactors, the awful killing field is brought
to vivid life, but the real achievement of Gettysburg goes beyond
historical faithfulness to psychological fidelity. Maxwell and his first-rate
cast conjure the beliefs, emotions, fiercely held ideals and loyalties in
the men on both sides. The sheer conviction of the playing refuses to allow
many moral subtleties at each pivotal juncture to be overwhelmed by the
majesty of the spectacle. As the battle proceeds words matter as much as
deeds, and we come to grasp fully the folly and futility that went hand
in hand with honor and valor...Gettysburg abounds in deft and moving
profiles in courage, and the project itself represents an act of artistic
bravery...The drama here is in the clash of great armies and the minds of
the men who led them... There are many heart breaking moments...The names
of the men who fought there are written in stone on monuments at a battlefield
that has been hallowed ground since President Abraham Lincoln dedicated
it with an address for and to the ages. In committing their story to film,
Maxwell has fashioned the compelling and wrenching screen memorial they
deserve."
Desmond Ryan, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Harrowing...Gettysburg avoids all of those war movie clichés...
sequences so desperate, bloody and protracted that for once we sense the
sheer physical exhaustion of combat, the combination of fear, fatigue and
determination...we experience the horrifying reality of battle itself...Maxwell
deserves credit for not hedging his bets...I began watching with comparative
indifference, and slowly got caught up in the majestic advance of the enterprise.
And I understood the civil war in a more immediate way than ever before."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Impressive filmmaking...solid, stirring...The film deftly sorts out
the mix of chance and planning, guts and luck, that shapes battlefield destiny...Prowling
the green Pennsylvania countryside the camera shuttles gravely and gracefully
between armies...A triumph...the film balances vast cannonades against hasty
skirmishes as the original, near accidental encounter swells toward Armageddon...flashes
of idiosyncratic acting keep the movie vibrant...a movie landmark."
Bob Campbell, The Star Ledger (NJ)
"...meticulous attention to historical detail...Its battle scenes are
impressively choreographed. In their sweep and grandeur these scenes convey
a strong visceral sense of what fighting a war used to be like...The film
offers a rich and detailed picture of how the Civil War was fought...Thefilm
does a wonderful job of conveying the physical dimensions of the conflict.(and)..Gettysburg
succeeds as human drama...Mr. Daniel's luminous performance."
Stephen Holden, The New York Times
"At its frequent literally awesome best, Gettysburg recalls
Woodrow Wilson's apt description of D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a
Nation" as 'History writ with lightning'...At once epic in its scale
and intimate in its detail, writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell has risen
to the massive logistical challenges of this enterprise with all the resolute
inventiveness of a military strategist. His battle scenes, actually filmed
on the hallowed ground of Gettysburg thunder with the savage tumult
of thousands pitched against thousands...(They) give us a horrifying sense
of the bloody chaos, the screaming panic and the adrenaline-pumped audacity
of desperate men in life-or-death moments...Gettysburg marks the
first time a film maker has dramatized this bloody battle of America's bloodiest
war. Maxwell, no doubt mindful of his responsibility to the thousands who
fought and died during those three terrible days in July 1863, has succeeded
to a remarkable degree in painting an all-encompassing panorama that is
worthy of its subject. While doing so, however, Maxwell has not neglected
the delicate brushstrokes of individual character shadings. He encourages
his fine actors to give us heart and soul to balance the sound and fury."
Joe Leydon, Houston Post
"That cinematic rarity, an intelligent epic...the four hour epic speaks
well for writer-director Ronald Maxwell's sober intentions and very creditable
achievements in this film - the acuity of the film's best characterizations,
the vaulting scale of its design and, above all, its belief that history,
besides being instructive in itself, can and should be a great movie subject."
Richard Schickel, Time Magazine
"Impassioned...You feel the exhaustion and the heat, as if you lived
through the engagement as a forward observer, as if the smoke from the thousands
of cannonades might billow in when you exit the theatre doors...Like the
best war pictures that seek authenticity in actual battles, Gettysburg
succeeds in convincing us that this is the way soldiers were and looked,
this is how they talked and reacted and fought and died...Certainly this
is the best performance that Jeff Daniels has ever given in movies...Maxwell
made Gettysburg for a reported twenty million, which is rather paltry
for the effects he achieved. Special mention should be made of the cinematography
by Kees Van Oostrum, which captures the epic scope of the affair in an unostentatious
manner."
Jerry Roberts, (LA) Daily Breeze
"Battle scenes of stunning spectacle and power...poetic camera work...Gettysburg
manages to make us reflect on concepts like duty, honor, loyalty and friendship
- even God - almost lost to memory in our cynical age. It manages to evoke
history itself, reminding a generation that once proclaimed the irrelevance
of the past how inescapable the past remains...Gettysburg, in the
end, is about the tragic cost of national division and the hope of reconciliation.
There are worse subjects these days to make us think about for four hours."
Ken Ringle, The Washington Post
"...notes of courage and sacrifice so piercing they make your heart
break...The movie reaches the pitch of great war poetry in its evocation
of the defense of Little Round Top...an American Iliad on a pile of Pennsylvania
granite...unbelievably intense and desperate."
Stephen Hunter, The Baltimore Sun
"Astounding, spellbinding... meticulous in its history, Gettysburg
captures the agony (of war) thanks to its fine script and excellent performances...Jeff
Daniels has the part and performance of his career...a microcosm is created
of all the suffering which gripped this nation 130 years ago...What they
did at Gettysburg is, of course, long remenmbered, and tragically
detailed in arguably the most important war film since Platoon. Just
as audiences sat numb, unable to speak at its conclusion, so too will be
a similar response to Gettysburg. This is film making of the highest
order and Gettysburg gets an A+ on my movie report card."
Sherman Kaplan, WBBM
"Solemn, eloquent...Gettysburg is overwhelming...truly moving."
James Vowell, LA Reader
"The grand-scale Gettysburg is a dramatic victory...massive,
epic... great acting...generous in its vision...There are simply no modern-
day correlatives for moviemaking on this scale."
James Vemiere, The Boston Herald
"A great epic...Unless you are utterly devoid of imagination and spirit
this movie's four hour running time will seem like less than half that."
The Santa Barbara Independent
"A stirring epic...The movie sustains a remarkable combination of character
intimacy and battlefield excitement...Gettysburg excels at creating
a sense of intimacy with men about to play fateful roles in history. Mr.Maxwell
has also appreciated the expressive potential in the period idiom evoked
by the late Mr. Shaara. This film incorporates the best speeches from "The
Killer Angels" as effectively as Kennth Branagh adapted Shakespeare's
martial idiom in Henry V. The recurrent triumph of the movie is that
it provides so many effective, rousing speeches and revealing, privileged
moments. The superior sequences evoke lasting admiration. The illusion of
sharing pivital moments of history is reinforced time and again. This is
the rare war epic that earns its martial pathos."
Gary Arnold, The Washington Times
"A stirring film with an impressive cast that poignantly presents both
sides...incredible performances by Berenger, Sheen and Daniels."
Holly McClure, Orange County Register
"Maxwell films it all with the respect and horror it deserves, and
with Jeff Daniels does a wonderful job of portraying not just grace, but
genius, under fire."
Bob Strauss, LA Daily News
"Transcendant moments...that most inwardly rupturing war in America
comes through powerfully. The hours whizz by. Writer-director Ronald F.
Maxwell, who adapted Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The
Killer Angels," runs things with assured competence and adroitly manipuilates
the emotions on both sides. You feel empathy for both sides, no matter what
their political agendas.
Desson Howe, (Virginia/Maryland)
This epic has few contemporary peers in its filmmaking and storytelling
accomplishments. It is haunting, monumental, breathtaking, and unforgettable
- nothing comparable is anywhere in sight. Few who brave this excellent
motion-picture experience will come away feeling unmoved or unclear about
the war."
D. H. , LA Village View
"By far the best account since The Red Badge of Courage of the
most bloody war ever fought on American soil...War scenes have never before
been so presented. Direction and screenplay by Ronald F. Maxwell are creative
triumphs...One of the most powerful films in the history of the cinema."
Larry Jonas, Entertainment Today
"...lavish re-creation of the battle...impressive in its quest for
detailed accuracy...a difficult military action full of terror and valor,
seen with dramatic clarity through the eyes of vividly sketched individuals."
Pat Dowell, Army Times
"Penetrating...moving...thrilling."
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
"Ronald Maxwell's Gettysburg is the film against which all subsequent
films about the civil war will now be measured. This handsome and involving
epic (is) complete, comprehensive and stirring. This is the first large-scale
film treatment of a collision so central to our history, and it's gratifying
to see it done so well. Lavish and meticulously detailed, the scope and
span of the film make it a natural for the big screen. If you wait for its
inevitable passage to TV, you'll lose something. Effortlessly mustering
the you-are-there quality it's after, it draws you into the thick of the
fighting and into both camps, admiring the bravery and nobility even as
it questions by implication the massive carnage. Gettysburg makes
you realize how ruled the combatants were by codes of honor and morality.
But the film is a lot more than historically accurate uniforms and firearms.
Battle scenes and logistics tend to overwhelm characterizations in large-scale
war movies, but the performances here, Martin Sheen's mesmerizing Robert
E. Lee and Jeff Daniel's extraordinary Union colonel Chamberlain are Oscar-worthy...This
is the kind of film where seriousness of purpose counts for a lot. You can
feel everybody really trying to get it right, and it matters. Gettysburg
is an obvious labor of love, and there's quality up there onscreen beyond
those definitive battle scenes. Civil War buffs and devotees of war movies
will find it indispensible, but Gettysburg has much to offer anybody."
Jay Carr, The Boston Globe
"You might be tempted to wait and catch this picture when it is broadcast
on television, or to give it a miss. This is to advise you to see it in
a theater as soon as possible...I was hooked...Ronald F. Maxwell is a master
storyteller...one is simply swept away by a narrative tidalwave...The glory
of the performances in Gettysburg is in the way they take us beyond
abstact platitudes into realms where duty, honor, justice and friendship
are plausible motives for action."
Gerald Carpenter, Santa Barbara
"Filmgoers should be captivated...The battle of Little Round Top as
depicted here could have made a movie all by itself. Credit has to go to
writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell for capturing the madness of the battle
scenes...Gettysburg succeeds as a motion picture event. After a summer
of flash and sizzle, audiences may be ready for a healthy dose of substance."
Daniel M. Kimmel, Variety
"Gettysburg deserves exposure on the high screen...a terrific
viewing experience...Gettysburg brilliantly recreates the horrific
battle...A stellar lineup of actors digs in for some of the best performances
of the year. The battle scenes are amazing...Equally awe-inspiring is Chamberlain's
defense of Little Round Top, a forest battle that is possibly the most riveting
movie sequence so far this year. Writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell achieves
authenticity in the fighting scenes and great emotion in the quieter moments."
David Hunter, Hollywood Reporter
"Stirring...Martin Sheen's performance is altogether inspired, highlighting
the vulnerable, deeply spiritual, almost mystical cast of mind behind the
great man's stoic mask. Tom Berenger as Lee's skeptical lieutenant James
Longstreet and Jeff Daniels, as college professor turned Union hero, Colonel
Camberlain, are also outstanding - utterly convincing and unfailingly passionate."
Michael Medved, NY
"If you aren't moved by the film Gettysburg get some CPR. Maxwell's
film could provide a greater understanding and appreciation for what happened
at this special place. There may be a profound effect on how locals see
the battle"
B.J. Small, Gettysburg Times
"They don't make movies like this anymore...frightful moments from
the past, brought painfully and powerfully to vivid life on screen."
Doug Brode, Syracuse Herald American
"Right up there with Das Boot and Platoon as one of the
best war pictures ever made...A powerful and touching study of the most
costly battle ever fought on American soil...At times it left me in tears...
If you have any interest in American History, in the raw emotion of combat,
in the human conflicts between military command, and courage and pants-wetting
fear, he finality of death and, ultimately, in the high art of film-making...well,
Gettysburg is a 10-plus...a great American work of film art."
Gary Franklin, KCOP-TV
"It's recreation of 19th Century combat on the battlefield of Gettysburg
is one of the most moving, even shocking reminders ever filmed to depict
the folly of war."
Harry Kloman, Pittsburg
Gettysburg's achievement goes far beyond the replication of the battle,
although that is managed on a momentous scale. The in-fighting behind the
real fighting, the muddled decisions, the personalities and army politics
and the sheer luck - good and bad- are dramatized effectively...Turner originally
intended Gettysburg as a mini-series for his cable network, but thought
so highly of Maxwell's work that he decided to release it theatrically.
There will be very few who do not share his esteem for Gettysburg,
a film that brings back to vivid, heartbreaking life those who died and
those who lived to tell the tale."
Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Breathtaking...astonishing...One of the most exciting, involving war
films ever made. In one spectacular scene after another, the battle that
raged for three history-making days comes to life... Writer-director Ronald
F. Maxwell has succeeded in balancing the personal stories with the spectacle
of the three day confrontation to create an epic on the grandscale that
never ignores the cost to the characters involved...there are extended sequences
that will capture your attention and your imagination, your mind and heart...also
performances you're not likely to forget...Gettysburg is an achievement
that should not be overlooked. You don't have to be a student of American
History to appreciate this movie. But you're likely to become one after
you've seen it."
Sharon Johnson, The Patriot (Harrisburg, Pa)
[Domestic Reviews][Foreign Reviews]
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