Review of Gettysburg (1993) by David G — 29 Sep 2012

The definitive American civil war movie as far as I'm concerned - a terrific look at the most famous, and bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil: The Battle of Gettysburg. Great acting from everone involved including Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott and Jeff Daniels.

Elliott in particular, despite having a rather limited role will leave you speechless by his growling, intense presence. The battle scenes may be of the vintage bloodless variety where a soldier suddenly clutching his chest and falling over means that he's been shot but they do the job superbly and the scope is enormous with thousands of extras often on screen at once.

The defense of Little Round Top by Col. Chamberlain (Daniels) is nothing short of epic and is by far the best part of the movie. Despite the brutality of the fighting the film goes to great lengths to show the respect and chivalry between the two sides as well as the relationships between the officers and the old story of the two best friends facing each other in battle is explored.

A lot is packed into the 4 hour running time and surprisingly for the most part it flys by but there are some parts that drag on for an uncomfortably long period such as the formation and opening march of "Pickett's Charge" which has to go on for at least 20 minutes! Apart from a few of these moments though, no complaints.