Roy
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Registered: 07/19/10
Posts: 553
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| Posted 05/26/11 at 06:43 PM | #1 |
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A new version of the movie, "Gods and Generals", has been released as a 150th Commemoration of the “Civil War” (sic). Don’t buy it unless you want to get very angry. The movie, from a Southerners' point of view, has been destroyed in this new, longer version.
The original release was one of the more accurate renditions of the “Civil War” (sic) and essentially was the story of Stonewall Jackson, a favorite of Southerners everywhere. In the “new” Director's cut, Stonewall Jackson’s role has been much diminished and the role of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has been greatly increased. Also, an entirely new sub-plot which was completely missing in the original, has been introduced; that of the development of John Wilkes Booth, portrayed in an extremely negative light.
I should have expected this when I read the included 48 page booklet which is opened with the most disgusting, really nauseating, mea culpa by the director of the film, Ronald F. Maxwell, for the first version of the movie, stating that he has re-edited the entire movie from start to finish including much new material, never before seen. He blathers on with indirect negative references to the South. But absolutely the most nauseating is his statement that this is the story he had always wanted to tell, implying that editorial control of the first version had been stripped from him.
The new version was released under the Turner Films label, further confirming that Ted Turner has completed his conversion to a no good Scalawag, a liar, and a traitor to the South.
The movie now gives top billing to Robert Duvall as General Lee, and second billing to Jeff Daniels as Col Joshua Chamberlain, and third billing to Stephen Lang as Stonewall Jackson, We learn a great deal more about Joshua Chamberlain in the new version, beginning with his role as a teacher, and as a latter day civil rights worker, complete with long scenes of his intellectual discussions with his wife demonstrating that he is the paragon of Northern “manhood” and decency. This continues with frequent material added to support his basic “heroic” character setting up the sequel in “Gettsyburg” where Chamberlain once again proves that men who hold the very high ground and fight from behind boulders, hold a decided advantage.
Not to be out done, we get an entirely new subplot with scene time stolen from the original version's scene times for Stonewall Jackson. The added subplot consists of a number of lengthy scenes demonstrating Booth as a squirmy little self centered boy, full of himself, and constantly trying to emulate men of greater character. This nauseating series of scenes is so clearly an attempt to paint Booth as a man of no character and in the most negative light possible. He is played as the Director's image of a typical Southerner.
The battle scenes have been re-cut to better display the “valor ” of the North.
We get a long speech by Jeff Daniels (Col Joshua Chamberlain) about how the war began as a war to preserve the Union, but halfway through became a war to end slavery.
I felt the entire re-cut version was simply a rape of history and a prostitution of the original film.
Watching it made me so angry, I could not sleep so I watched the entire original film just to refresh my memory. The new version is a politically correct version designed to correct the errors in judgement made in the original cut, according to its director. Instead, it prolongs and further deepens the myth and the lie, accepted now as history, of a "noble" and "courageous" North, whose only goal was to abolish slavery and “preserve the Union”. Here is Turner Films' offer to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (sic).
Next time you want to vomit, watch about fifteen minutes of this film.
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Hillbilly_Bill
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Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 106
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| Posted 05/26/11 at 07:00 PM | #2 |
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I knew the moment Turner married "Hanoi Jane" Fonda he was a lost cause. I would never watch a movie infected by Turner. |
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LadyVal
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Registered: 06/07/07
Posts: 7,448
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| Posted 05/26/11 at 09:11 PM | #3 |
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The devil was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Notice that the liar is the first condemnation because lies murder the truth.
We should flood the director with our condemnation. Never mind nice words. I wouldn't swear, but I would call him a gutless coward or a stupid wretch (or both).
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the29thtn
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Registered: 11/17/08
Posts: 3,013
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| Posted 05/26/11 at 09:48 PM | #4 |
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I am very sorry to hear this. I had been looking forward to the extended version since they promised to release it within a few months of the original dvd release. I was even proud to have been in the original release. Making it PC will kill their sales. The morons who were critical of the original release certainly are not going to buy this no matter how PC they make it.
Sadly, this will probably also put a final nail in the coffin for Last Full Measure ever being filmed. On the other hand, they would probably make it such a PC waste we would not want to watch, it or be part of making it, anyway.
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Roy
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Registered: 07/19/10
Posts: 553
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| Posted 05/26/11 at 10:32 PM | #5 |
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By the way, Blu-Ray editions of the first version (the good one) are going like hotcakes on Amazon, probably due to the repugnant nature of the latest release. If you want a copy of this excellent film in unadulterated form, you might want to buy one now as I imagine they will become collectable to Southerners.
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Generals-Blu-ray-Robert-Duvall/dp/B000U1ZV3K/ref=sr_1_8?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1306463494&sr=1-8
Roy
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Southronman
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Registered: 02/10/08
Posts: 1,804
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 12:25 AM | #6 |
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I'm very disappointed to hear about the "directors cut" of Gods and Generals. The original is probably my all time favorite movie. I had considered buying a Blu-Ray just to see this new version, but not now.
I wonder if they changed the directors cut of Gettysburg also?
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LadyVal
Editor Moderator
Registered: 06/07/07
Posts: 7,448
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 02:48 AM | #7 |
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Why would they do that? The Yankees won Gettysburg.
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Roy
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Registered: 07/19/10
Posts: 553
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 08:47 AM | #8 |
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I also bought the new Director's Cut of "Gettysberg". I have the original as well. I'll let y'all know what I think as soon as I've watched them both again.
Roy
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Southronman
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Registered: 02/10/08
Posts: 1,804
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 09:47 AM | #9 |
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Why would they do that? To make it more PC! |
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goodoldrebel8
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Registered: 04/02/11
Posts: 167
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 10:16 PM | #10 |
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Actually the only piece of celluloid that still to this date accurately depicts the yankees as truly the original nazis that they were is the POW scene in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' where Confederate soldiers are beaten, tortured, systematically robbed and murdered by the blue blooded captures.
I know this must sound somewhat lame to refer to that movie as a resource but Sergio Leone I think really hit the nail on the head with that scene.
I've gone a couple of times to Ft. Delaware (Pea Patch) when there were some re-inactments and actually it was one of the few reinactments in yankee land to accurately portray the horrors that southern POW's had to endure. The yankees had resources and had no justification for the horrors of Ft. Delaware, Pt. Lookout, Camp Douglass, "Hellmira" (Elmira) etc. Let's always remember those that suffered unspeakable acts while interned at those horror chambers.
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the29thtn
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Registered: 11/17/08
Posts: 3,013
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| Posted 05/27/11 at 10:26 PM | #11 |
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Quote: I've gone a couple of times to Ft. Delaware (Pea Patch) when there were some re-inactments and actually it was one of the few reinactments in yankee land to accurately portray the horrors that southern POW's had to endure.
One of my ancestors was a prisoner at Ft. Delaware for quite a while. He refused to give the oath. He got out in those rare late war POW exchanges. I don't know his exact condition, but I know he was in the hospital for quite a while after he got back to Confederate lines, but he was back in his regiment before the AOT surrendered.
I want to see Ft. Delaware sometime.
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Hamp
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Registered: 06/11/07
Posts: 12,865
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| Posted 05/28/11 at 10:52 AM | #12 |
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ordered original in Blue Ray
will NOT see new takes
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goodoldrebel8
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Registered: 04/02/11
Posts: 167
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| Posted 05/28/11 at 12:52 PM | #13 |
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29th- so great to hear that your relative survived the yankee torture chamber. So many are buried across the river in Salem County NJ.
Ft. Delaware was a real surprise in that the actors were truly depicting the cruelty of the prison. I guess it might depend on what day you go but the times I was there (6 years ago) it was a ray of light in this yankeedome propaganda tale of the struggle. You take a ferry to the island (pea patch) so its kind of like a pre-Alcatraz idea.
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DevilHorse
Old Timer
Registered: 12/13/06
Posts: 344
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| Posted 05/29/11 at 05:27 PM | #14 |
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Ron Maxwell: On the Occasion of President Obama’s Wreath for the Confederate Memorial
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/92074.html |
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Hamp
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Registered: 06/11/07
Posts: 12,865
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| Posted 05/29/11 at 05:43 PM | #15 |
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I may not share the author's views on slavery, but calling out the phony professors more than makes up for any disputes otherwise.
I think there’s a solution to this quandary. The American people should subscribe to a national monument to the professors who signed this letter. Their names should be prominent, engraved in stone for eternity. Can you just see it now, in letters four feet tall, William C. Ayers, James M. McPherson. All forty eight heroes. Then, the inscription below:
Behold, the learned scribes. They showed us the way to our true humanity. Before this, the one and only true monument was erected, there were vile statues in every town, in every park, in every corner of America. Thanks to these saviors from academe, the false idols were struck from their pedestals and erased from memory. Now there is only this, the monument to
theHolier Than Thou. |
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docgary
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Registered: 03/13/11
Posts: 15
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| Posted 05/30/11 at 01:28 AM | #16 |
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Of course even modern day Yankees and media talking heads want it all wrapped nicely so it suits them. The thing about this Jeff Daniels role, who couldn't be taken seriously after his role in "Dumb and Dumber" is all about the Union being preserved so anyone could be what they wanted to be-the American Dream. How is the dream now with the looting by Wall St and the Bankers? I don't know why Yankees think they are so perfect and everyone else is so flawed.
Thanks for telling me- I won't buy it. As they never released Last full measure,
I have to faith in men like Ted Turner or any of these Hollywood dream junkies who live in a world of fantasy.
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docgary
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Registered: 03/13/11
Posts: 15
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| Posted 05/30/11 at 01:29 AM | #17 |
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I meant "no-faith" in Ted Turner, et al. ad nauseum.
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Southronman
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Registered: 02/10/08
Posts: 1,804
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| Posted 05/30/11 at 09:18 AM | #18 |
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I was just wondering how long this new version is, besides too long? It was my understanding that the "directors cut" was suppose to be approx. 6 hours long?
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iakobos
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Registered: 05/29/11
Posts: 26
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| Posted 05/30/11 at 08:38 PM | #19 |
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Roy,
Thanks for the review and the heads up on the 2003 Blu-Ray avialable on Amazon. I ordered my copy yesterday.
James
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Roy
Member
Registered: 07/19/10
Posts: 553
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| Posted 05/31/11 at 06:40 PM | #20 |
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I didn't time the new version and I was so hopping mad my sense of time was no where to found for each agonizing minute. To me it seemed a hundred hours long.
Glad y'all got your copies of the older version. I checked today and Amazon has three left. I imagine they will let the older version go out of print and just maintain the new, "politically correct" version. There are still plenty left in DVD format.
Roy
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