Let's break from battle oriented articles to something a little more 20th Century: movies. Hollywood has certainly been a large contributor to the Civil War's popularity over the last decade or so. There have been a variety of movies and mini-series that have attempted to capture the drama and horrid nature of the War. Which one's are better than others? Well, that's all in how you like your movies; whether you like them bloody or a bit more on the romantic side, or a little of both. I just want to point to some of the best Civil War movies that I have seen as far as historical accuracy and entertainment goes.
One of the first films on the Civil War that I saw was North and South, made in the mid 1980's. If you can handle 18 hours of romantic, soap-operish, but yet realistic and almost exciting drama, then this film is for you. Starring Patrick Swayze and James Read, with appearances by Liz Taylor, Jimmy Stewart, and Johnny Cash (just to name a few), North and South is definitely worth the $150.00 or so to buy, or if you can't afford that, many video stores do have the whole series to rent one tape at a time (a total of 12 tapes).
The two best films made this decade, in my opinion, were Gettysburg and Glory. Gettysburg is an accurate (for the most part) account of the three day affair in July of 1863. I was very impressed with the cast, especially with Sam Eliot as General Buford and Jeff Daniels as Col. Joshua Chamberlain. If you ever plan to visit Gettysburg for touring purposes, and it will be your first time there, I'd suggest you watch the movie as a prep for your tour to come.
I feel the best Civil War movie, by far, is Glory. Not only is it the most well-directed and casted movie of its kind, I found it to be the most historically accurate with only a few minor alterations for dramatic purposes. Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman were magnificent in their roles, and Matthew Broderick played the role of Col. Robert G. Shaw brilliantly. I know I'm sounding like Gene Siskel here, but if you haven't seen this movie about the 54th Mass. regiment, it is a must see.
There have been other movies such as The Blue and the Gray and Andersonville that also deserve a look if you have time. For the most part, however, my opinion of the three best were the first three mentioned (not in that order). If there is one I have neglected to mention that you feel I should, let me know and I'll go watch it. (I don't think Gone With the Wind counts though).
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