Gods and Generals

Plot

The rise and fall of legendary war hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as he leads the Confederacy to great success against the Union from 1861 to 1863. Prequel to the 1993 classic "Gettysburg".

Release Year: 2003

Rating: 6.0/10 (8,822 voted)

Critic's Score: 30/100

Director:
Ronald F. Maxwell

Stars: Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels

Storyline
The rise and fall of legendary war hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as he leads the Confederacy to great success against the Union from 1861 to 1863. Prequel to the 1993 classic "Gettysburg".

Writers: Jeff Shaara, Ronald F. Maxwell

Cast:

Donzaleigh Abernathy
–

Martha

Mark Aldrich
–

Adjutant

George Allen
–

Confederate Officer

Keith Allison
–

Capt. James J. White

Royce D. Applegate
–

Brig. Gen. James Kemper

(as Royce Applegate)

Bruce Boxleitner
–

Lt. Gen. James Longstreet

Bo Brinkman
–

Maj. Walter Taylor

Mac Butler
–

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker

Robert Byrd
–

Confederate General

(as Robert C. Byrd)

Shane Callahan
–

Bowdoin Student

Billy Campbell
–

Maj. Gen. George Pickett

David Carpenter
–

Rev. Beverly Tucker Lacy

John Castle
–

Old Penn

Jim Choate
–

Brig. Gen. Bernard Bee

Martin Clark
–

Dr. George Junkin

Taglines:
The nations heart was touched by….

Details

Official Website:
Sonnet Digital Media Corporation |
Warner Bros. [United States] |

Release Date: 21 February 2003

Filming Locations: Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $56,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $4,675,246
(USA)
(23 February 2003)
(1533 Screens)

Gross: $12,870,569
(USA)
(27 April 2003)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

219 min
 |
Sweden: 209 min
 |
USA: 280 min
(director's cut)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

The exterior scenes of Burnside's winter headquarters had to be re-shot several months after filming wrapped, during the early summer; some of the fake snow was digitally added in post-production.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes:
The style of the stone wall at the sunken road in Fredericksburg is that of the 1930s reconstruction, not that of the original wall. (The stones are larger in cross-section in the reconstruction rather than the original flatter stones.)

Quotes:

Irish soldier:
Is that to be General Meagher's position then?

Irish soldier:
He's takin' the privilege of an officer; defendin' the rear.

3rd Irish soldier:
He's got a lame knee for pity's sake.

Irish soldier:
Fair enough. Somebody's got to keep General Burnside company.

User Review

The critics are wrong

Rating: 9/10

I've seen Gods and Generals twice, and I've enjoyed it both times. The
critics I've read seem to object to the piety, the length, and lack of
political correctness. It seems to have escaped them that the Civil War
was
fought in Victorian times, and that the Victorians were extremely pious
and
sentimental, not to mention hypocritical. However, this did not stop them
from efficiently making war on their enemies. The movie caught this
perfectly, with Jackson's assumption that God's will is his will — the
scene before the battle on Sunday, the contrast between his sentimental
love
of children and his 'Kill them all' about his enemies, the constant
references to Bible verses ripped out of context.
Regarding the length of the movie, all I can say is that I wasn't bored at
all, or restless, just fascinated with what was happening on screen. I'm
sure for MTV critics any movie over 90 minutes is epic.

Regarding the lack of political correctness, which in my opinion is our
modern version of hypocrisy (we can do anything we want as long as we call
it by another name) I would like to point out that this is an attempt at a
historical movie and that the Civil War was NOT fought to free the slaves,
nor were many people in the North comfortable with the concept of a
franchised Negro. And some slaves in the South were relatively well
treated
by their owners, not that they probably didn't want freedom, but they
didn't
particularly wish their masters ill. The system was set up so that
everyone
involved, slaves and masters, had something to lose by destroying the
status
quo, and that's a very difficult thing for people to do. It's easy for us
now to say 'they should have freed the slaves' but if you knew that to
free
your slaves would beggar your children, would you be able to do it?

As with Gettysburg, the battle scenes were impressive and awe-inspiring.
And they made the strategy and tactics clear to the viewer which is a
monumental achievement, not to mention showing the pure courage on both
sides, going to probably death or dismemberment without flinching. I
would
have liked more about the Northern command struggles to balance the
picture
but I can see how tempting it was to show the Southern victories to
balance
the horrible defeat at Gettysburg — and this picture is meant to be one
of
a trilogy. I can only hope that word of mouth defeats the critics and
gets
this movie the audience it deserves.