Top 15 Civil War movies

The Washington Times ^ | September 29, 2012 | John Haydon

[iowamark]

15. “Cold Mountain” (2003) — Jude Law plays a Confederate soldier...

14. “The Horse Soldiers” (1959) — Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and William Holden, this film is based on the true story of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson and the Battle of Newton Station...

13. “Gods and Generals” (2003)

12. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976)

11. “Shenandoah” (1965) — Jimmy Stewart plays a Lincolnesque widower from Virginia who is adamant about keeping his sons out of the Civil War...

10. “The Beguiled” (made in 1970, released in 1971) — Clint Eastwood portrays a wounded Union soldier

9. “Andersonville” (1996) — Director John Frankenheimer’s excellent piece of television focuses on the most notorious Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in the American Civil War.

8. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

7. “Gettysburg” (1993)

6. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” or “La Riviere du Hibou” (1962) — This French film is an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s short Civil War story...

5. “The Red Badge of Courage” (1951) — Audie Murphy, a hero from World War II, plays Pvt. Henry Fleming in this film...

4. “Birth of a Nation” (1915) — A provocative and opportunistic film by D.W. Griffith, sometimes known as the “father of film.” This silent film ran nearly three hours, portraying the saga of the Civil War and Reconstruction with remarkable scenes of the war. The film negatively portrayed blacks in the South and made heroes of the Ku Klux Klansmen.

3. “Gone With the Wind” (1939)

2. “Glory” (1989)

1. “The General” (1926) — An epic re-enactment of the Civil War is the backdrop to Buster Keaton’s immortal silent comedy and one of the great comedy chase films ever made...

[central_va]

"The Lincoln Administration required us to raise three infantry regiments. Tell him we have done so"

"Stonewall" Jackson

Gods and Generals link

[mware]

The best part of Glory: When the Irish Sargent major was training the recruits (I believe he was going up for a Oscar for his performance.

The worst part of Glory: Matthew Broderick's continuous accent change throughout the movie.

[Rebelbase]

It’s a shame that Hollywood is too PC to make a movie of Turtledove’s “Guns for the South”.

[drjimmy]

Ride with the Devil and Major Dundee should be on the list.

[grumpygresh]

CW 1 is more politicized than ever and tilted heavily in favor of the big government Leftist respective.
I would like to see a new film from the Southern perspective depicting the confederates and leadership in a more positive light; but I doubt that will ever happen in this country.

[ETL]

>>CW 1 is more politicized than ever and tilted heavily
>>in favor of the big government Leftist respective.

Are you referring to “The General” (1926)

[major_gaff]

Agree on all of your points, but all of these movies listed
rely on historical fiction to one extent or another, 'Glory'
included, which is probably my favorite civil war movie.
I loved reading 'Killer Angels' as an undergrad in Dr. Gary
Gallagher's civil war course at Penn State, which is why I
enjoyed 'Gettysburg' so much.

As to Chamberlain's embellishments, the bottom line is that
the 20th Maine held the end of the Union line against a
numerically superior force on Little Round Top.

[bt-99]

There are lots of good lines in that movie. I just particularly like the scene on Little Roundtop. I was there twice in 2013 and always marvel at the men who had the balls to come up that hill.

[fatboy]

We are of the same mindset. I made it out there once in 2013, which is a shame as I live only about 2.5 hours away. My favorite part of the battlefield is the union left on Little Round Top, second favorite spot is McPheason Ridge, position of Buford’s troopers first day. Those were fighting men.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Incident at Owl Creek Bridge was also an Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1959. ***

There were two versions of this. One was on Alfred Hitchcock, the other on (I believe) THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

One was a straight forward telling of the story, the other was an artsy French version with lots of slow motion scenes and draggy sound.

Both ended the same.

[karnage]

Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg, Gods & Generals) has a new Civil War movie that is also pretty darn good: Copperhead.

[windcliff]

ping

[PhiloBedo]

I thought it was a Twilight Zone episode.

[nothingnew]

Rod Serling

FMCDH(BITS)

[wfu_deacons]

Certainly a great scene. His second speech to his troops, “the First Brigade” is historically accurate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HFaG9aOqo

[catnipman]

“Cold Mountain” is a POS movie, just like the book.

[gusty]

“Ride With The Devil” should be high on the list. It was more realistic in that the characters were young, late teens early twenties, like most of the actual participants in the conflict were. In other movies, the soldiers look like they were recruited from the local Golden Corral. In the movie “Gettysburg”, Lee would have lost half his forces from heart attack from the looks of them in the movie. I suggest in the future, movie makers should use re-enactors as consultants not extras. The beer guts and gray heads just ruin the realism.

[kalee]

Placemarker

[crusher]

Ride With The Devil is the best IMHO. Outlaw Josie Wales was great, but the Second War of Secession was merely the backdrop.

[ETL]

>>Outlaw Josie Wales was great, but the Second
>>War of Secession was merely the backdrop.

Similarly with Clint’s other one above: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, where the CW played even less a part of the story.