History Film / Gettysburg

A 1993 BattleEpic film about the pivotal battle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, financed by UsefulNotes/TedTurner, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, and closely adapted from the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning 1974 novel ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' by Michael Shaara.

* DisappointedInYou: Lee's mild rebuke of General Stuart puts the cocky general in his place better than any shouting or bluster.
* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech: Chamberlain, who "didn't mean to preach".

** Fremantle goes on about how the Southerners are so like the English and descended from them, citing their names as proof, and bringing up Longstreet as an example. Longstreet points out that he's actually of Dutch descent and reminds Freemantle that the U.S. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution beat the British]], [[UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 twice]].[[note]]To be fair, the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 was really a draw since the British were far more worried about [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte a certain Frenchman]] and the Americans lost most of their impetus after invading Canada proved more difficult than the "[[HomeByChristmas mere matter of marching]]" they'd assumed.[[/note]]

* HeartbrokenBadass: When Freemantle notes how dour Longstreet often is, it's explained to him that scarlet fever [[OutlivingOnesOffspring devastated Longstreet's family]] the previous year. Later, Longstreet is further distressed by knowingly ordering Pickett's division to make an attack he knew was suicidal.

** Freemantle sees great similarity between England and the honor-bound, aristocratic South.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Armistead gives one to Freemantle before Pickett's charge.
--> '''Armistead''': Colonel Freemantle... it does not begin or end with my uncle... or myself. We're all sons of Virginia here. That major out there, commanding the cannon... that's James Dearing. First in his class at West Point, before Virgina seceded. And the boy over there with the color guard, that's Private Robert Tyler Jones. His grandfather was President of the United States. The colonel behind me... that's Colonel William Aylett. Now, his great-grandfather was the Virginian, Patrick Henry. It was Patrick Henry who said to your King George III, "Give me liberty, or give me death." There are boys here from Norfolk... Portsmouth... small hamlets along the James River. From Charlottesville and Fredericksburg... and the Shenandoah Valley. Mostly, they're all veteran soldiers now; the cowards and shirkers are long gone. Every man here knows his duty. They would make this charge, even without an officer to lead them. They know the gravity of the situation, and the mettle of their foe. They know that this day's work will be desperate and deadly. They know, that for many of them, this will be their last charge. But not one of them needs to be told what is expected of him. They're all willing to make the supreme sacrifice... to achieve victory, here... the crowning victory... and the end of this war. We are all here, Colonel. You may tell them, when you return to your country... that all Virginia was here on this day.''

* HomeByChristmas: General Hancock laments when the fighting started - two years previously - everyone thought that the war be over within a month.

** John Bell Hood is last seen in the hospital in danger of losing his arm and bemoaning the terrible cost of his attack on Day 2. While the doctors would managed to save his crippled arm, he would go on to lose an entire leg at Chickamauga before rising to command the Army of Tennessee, which he would lead to the slaughter in massive frontal assaults at Franklin, sometimes called the "Pickett's Charge of the West."

* HonorBeforeReason:
* The South in general. Discussed more thoroughly in the book when Longstreet privately thinks that "honor without intelligence" could lose the war for the Confederacy, but the movie contains some of it, such as the line, "We should have freed the slaves, ''then'' fired on Fort Sumter." (Difficult when slavery ''was'' their casus belli, as a scan of S.C.'s StronglyWordedLetter demonstrates.) Fremantle views it in a more positive light and sees it as something the South and Britain have in common.

** Creator/SamElliot was almost 50 when portraying 37-year-old John Buford.

* AgeLift: John Bell Hood was barely 32 during the battle, but actor Patrick Gorman looks considerably older.

* TheAce: General Hancock is viewed as this by both the Union side and the Confederates. Armistead may be a little biased when he says that "God don't make 'em any better," but Hancock's brigade being on top of Cemetery Ridge is another blow to Longstreet when he considers the cost of the forthcoming charge.

** The real Col. Fremantle was more of a tourist than an official representative of the British government and did ''not'' wear his scarlet tunic, though he did write a book about his travels in which he predicted the Confederacy was sure to win - which was published about three months before they lost.

* BloodlessCarnage: Most people who get shot on camera just clutch a part of their body and fall over (if from a gun), or get tossed in the air (if from a cannon - even at ranges that should've reduced them to [[LudicrousGibs chunky salsa]] on the spot). This is probably because the film was originally intended to be a mainstream TV miniseries and thus couldn't show the more gory aspects of war. However, the wounded often do sport bloody bandages afterward, most notably Buster Kilrain and John Bell Hood.

* CantCountBullets: Happens a few times when dealing with revolvers (riles at this time were still single-shot, by and large). Tom Chamberlain runs out at a crucial moment, having no time to reload and about to be shot when the 2nd Maine deserters save him. Shortly after this, there's a brief stalemate between Colonel Chamberlain and a Confederate officer. Arrested in his charge, Chamberlain stands and waits for the Confederate to fire; when the revolver simply clicks, the officer surrenders.

** Buford almost becomes this, realizing on the first day that if the rebels get the high ground, it'll become another Fredericksburg. He subverts it by fighting and holding that high ground for the Union.

* ColonelBadass: (Lt.) Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. The badass comes out when he thinks he's been shot (the shot really [[PocketProtector bounced off his sword]], but it clearly left him in shock and he has a limp for the rest of the movie). As they're dragging him back he sits up and shoots a charging man with his revolver. The historical Chamberlain was also a badass in that he was wounded six times during the war and survived in an era when just one was usually enough to kill you[[note]]While those wounds did eventually kill him, it took until '''1914''' for them to do so, possibly making him the last Civil War veteran to die of battle wounds[[/note]]. In fact, his penchant for not only surviving wounds that would kill or cripple other men but continuing to fight led to his earning the nickname(on both sides) of 'Bloody Chamberlain'--literally, as he was often covered in his own blood. He later became Governor of Maine and Ambassador to France.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Longstreet, who became somber after scarlet fever swept through his family in 1862, killing several of his children[[note]]The novel says it killed his wife and children, but in fact at least one of his children survived and his wife lived until 1889.[[/note]]

-->'''Chamberlain:''' ''(after three of the last deserters decide to fight)'' Give these men some muskets.

-->'''Chamberlain:''' ''(to the deserters)'' Wait here. There'll be guns available [[RedShirtArmy in a little while]].

--> '''Fremantle:''' ''(In the morning, as the Confederates prepare to attack.)'' I slept like the dead, sir - a baby. Slept like a newborn baby, sir.

-->'''Kilrain''': "Colonel, I've never served under a finer man. The Army was blessed. Blessed! I wanted to tell you ''(pauses and nods at his wounded arm)'', you know, in case."

** Longstreet is so certain that Pickett's Charge will fail that he is too choked up to order the assault. When Pickett asks him if he should begin the attack, the best the heartbroken Longstreet can manage is a nod. Made worse by how eager and elated Pickett is to carry out the order.[[note]]This is actually how Longstreet issued the order in reality, according to his memoirs (which the novel The Killer Angels drew heavily from).[[/note]]

---> '''Longstreet:''' You know what's gonna happen? I'll tell you what's gonna happen. [Our] troops are now forming behind the line of trees. When they come out, they'll be under enemy long-range artillery fire. Solid shot. Percussion. Every gun they have. Troops will come out under fire with more than a mile to walk. And still, within the open field, among the range of aimed muskets. They'll be slowed by that fence out there, and the formation - what's left of it - will begin to come apart. When they cross that road, they'll be under short-range artillery. Canister fire. Thousands of little bits of shrapnel wiping holes in the lines. If they get to the wall without breaking up, there won't be many left. A mathematical equation. Maybe, just maybe, our own artillery will break up their defenses. There's always that hope. But that's Hancock out there, and he ain't gonna run. If they get to that road, or beyond it, we'll suffer over fifty percent casualties. But, Harrison, I don't believe my boys will reach that wall.

--> '''Col. Chamberlain''': ''(DeathGlare)'' ''Colonel'' Chamberlain to you.

--> '''Col. Chamberlain''': "We can't run away. If we stay here we can't shoot. So let's fix bayonets. ''(Everyone stares at him)'' We'll have the advantage of moving down the hill."

--> '''Armistead''': Colonel Freemantle... it does not begin or end with my uncle... or myself. We're all sons of Virginia here. That major out there, commanding the cannon... that's James Dearing. First in his class at West Point, before Virgina seceded. And the boy over there with the color guard, that's Private Robert Tyler Jones. His grandfather was President of the United States. The colonel behind me... that's Colonel William Aylett. Now, his great-grandfather was the Virginian, Patrick Henry. It was Patrick Henry who said to your King George III, "Give me liberty, or give me death." There are boys here from Norfolk... Portsmouth... small hamlets along the James River. From Charlottesville and Fredericksburg... and the Shenondoah Valley. Mostly, they're all veteran soldiers now; the cowards and shirkers are long gone. Every man here knows his duty. They would make this charge, even without an officer to lead them. They know the gravity of the situation, and the mettle of their foe. They know that this day's work will be desperate and deadly. They know, that for many of them, this will be their last charge. But not one of them needs to be told what is expected of him. They're all willing to make the supreme sacrifice... to achieve victory, here... the crowning victory... and the end of this war. We are all here, Colonel. You may tell them, when you return to your country... that all Virginia was here on this day.''

--> Armistead (about Hancock): "The Lord don't make 'em any better, and that's a fact!"[[note]]And by many historical metrics, Hancock genuinely ''was'' the finest Union general never to receive an independent command - something he was denied due to a combination of politics and his wounding (there were plenty of Democratic generals, but Hancock's wound from Gettysburg nicked his urethra and kept his wounds infected for the rest of his life.[[/note]]

** Pickett compares the secession of the South to gentlemen resigning from a private club.

*** Subverted in that Fremantle, who was halfheartedly listening to Kemper's diatribe on states' rights, responds much more agreeably to Pickett's simple gentleman's club analogy.

* AllThereInTheManual: Many details about the personality and backstory of the characters aren't carried over from the original novel.
** In particular, the reason for General Garnett's determination to participate in Pickett's Charge on horseback is hinted at but never actually revealed, while the novel explains that Stonewall Jackson accused Garnett of cowardice shortly before his own death.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Lee's "teaches my fingers to fight" narration is from Literature/TheBible, Psalm 144.
* BadassBeard: ''Every'' male (which is to say, [[ChromosomeCasting every cast member]]) has extremely luxuriant facial hair, which is TruthInTelevision for the era, albeit not always a credit to the make-up department.

* BayonetYa: Chamberlain's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

** While the Armistead/Hancock relationship was the most famous of these sorts of conflict, it was actually fairly common occurrence among professional officers (though it was much less common among citizen volunteers like Chamberlain). The movie itself notes the fact that Longstreet was good friends with UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant. And enlistment records of the units that fought at Gettysburg reveal that four brothers fought at Gettysburg. Three for the Confederacy, one for the Union.

* ColonelBadass: (Lt.) Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. The badass comes out when he thinks he's been shot (the shot really [[PocketProtector bounced off his sword]], but it clearly left him in shock and he has a limp for the rest of the movie). As they're dragging him back he sits up and shoots a charging man with his revolver. Just... wow. The historical Chamberlain was also a badass in that he was wounded six times during the war and survived in an era when just one was usually enough to kill you[[note]]While those wounds did eventually kill him, it took until '''1914''' for them to do so, possibly making him the last Civil War veteran to die of battle wounds[[/note]]. In fact, his penchant for not only surviving wounds that would kill or cripple other men but continuing to fight led to his earning the nickname(on both sides) of 'Bloody Chamberlain'--literally, as he was often covered in his own blood. He started the war as a college professor, not an army officer. Which also qualifies him for BadassBookworm. He later became Governor of Maine and Ambassador to France.

* CoolGuns: Many examples, but most notably are the Sharps carbines wielded by John Burford's cavalry. The Sharps was a breech loading rifle that gave user a significant firepower advantage over troops armed with the standard muzzle loaders of the day. It had a much faster rate of fire, it was much easier to clear jams, and was much easier to reload from a prone or kneeling position. Though not mentioned in the film, the superior weapons of Burford's cavalry troops contributed greatly to their effectiveness in holding their position against repeated attacks by Confederate infantry.

* CourtlyLove: Armistead has an interesting relationship with his best friend Hancock's wife Almira ("Mira", in the novel). Armistead never pursued her romantically and it never got in the way of their friendship, but he does give her his family Bible (an intensely personal possession) before joining the Virginia forces. Also, part of Armistead's HeroicBSOD breakdown in the novel ''during his own death'' is that he fears Mira receiving the terrible news of her husband's (Hancock had been wounded in the battle, but survived) condition.
** Years earlier, then-Captain Lewis Armistead's wife and children had died of scarlet fever. The broken-hearted and nearly-suicidal Armistead was taken in by his best friend, then-Captain Winfield Hancock, and his wife and kids. The Hancocks became the surrogate family of Armistead, and he loved them all as his own. When Armistead and Hancock referred to each other as brothers, they were not exaggerating.

** TheCameo: Also, Creator/KenBurns as the soldier urging General Hancock to get off his horse.

** Union III Corps commander Dan Sickles, one of the most influential ([[LeeroyJenkins and]] [[RightForTheWrongReasons controversial]]) Union commanders on the field gets demoted right out of the film entirely even though it was primarily his men who resisted Longstreet's attack on Day 2 and his actions that resulted in Chamberlain's position on Little Round Top.

* FriendlyEnemy: Several of the opposing generals are well acquainted, having served together before the war. The friendship of Armistead and Hancock is given the most weight.

* HeroicBSOD: Pickett after his eponymous charge. See EverybodysDeadDave, above.

** Buford, Chamberlain, and Hancock in the sense that, though their actions aren't really upgraded in any significant way, they ''are'' brought to the forefront of the audience's attention in a manner that plays up their importance to the detriment of dozens of equally heroic and important actions elsewhere on the field.[[note]]Col. David Ireland and the 137th New York deserve special mention for doing on Culp's Hill ''precisely'' what Chamberlain and the 20th Maine did on Little Round Top.[[/note]]
** This film and it's source material played a major role in rehabilitating James Longstreet's reputation in both professional and popular history, which before had mostly followed the ex-Confederate narrative that badmouthed Longstreet as a scapegoat for the defeat at Gettysburg (and therefore the entire ''war'') because he became a Republican and publicly criticized Lee after the war. However, Shaara's narrative takes the opposite extreme of portraying him as the blameless OnlySaneMan, effectively arguing that Lee lost the battle (and therefore the war) because he ''didn't'' listen to Longstreet, downplaying Longstreet's own command flaws, particularly his somewhat desultory performance on 2 July (which might've affected the overall result[[note]]On one hand, had Longstreet attacked sooner Sickles' Corps would've been better integrated with the rest of the Union line, which could've made things worse for the Confederates; on the other hand, had Sickle been where he was supposed to be, Union reinforcements might not have been so prompt and Longstreet's units wouldn't have had to fight for Devil's Den, the Peach Orchard, the Wheat Field, and Little Round Top.[[/note]]), and especially by painting him as fundamentally against bloody frontal assaults (which his brilliant successes at Gaines's Mill, Second Bull Run, Chickamauga, and his self-determined EpicFail at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sanders Fort Sanders]] all contradict).

* HollywoodTactics: While ''today'' we would call frontal assaults like Pickett's Charge ludicrous, and the film goes out of it's way to put this sentiment into several characters' mouths, the fact is that in this era massive frontal assaults were an entirely acceptable tactical doctrine used by even the most cautious commanders on ''both'' sides, and remained so really until the invention of reliable wireless communication. Pickett's Charge was far from the first or the last such assault of the war, and not even the largest or bloodiest, just the most famous (ironically because it ''almost'' worked). Moreover, Lee and his men had seen such attacks work at Gaines's Mill, Second Bull Run, and Chancellorsville, and Pickett's Charge actually had fairly good odds of success had the Confederate artillery not overshot the bulk of the Union forces hunkered down tight to the line on the ridge, making it far more of a ForWantOfANail than a ForegoneConclusion.
* HonorBeforeReason: The South in general. Discussed more thoroughly in the book when Longstreet privately thinks that "honor without intelligence" could lose the war for the Confederacy, but the movie contains some of it, such as the line, "We should have freed the slaves, ''then'' fired on Fort Sumter." Fremantle views it in a more positive light and sees it as something the South and Britain have in common.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: It rates a 6, mainly because of the bloody Confederate field hospital scene, which features a wagon full of sawed-off limbs in the background. The actual battle scenes are less bloody, but still frequently feature the red stuff.

* HypocriticalHumor: Part of Chamberlain's speech to the 2nd Maine was "Here we judge you by who you are, not by who your father was." Only a few minutes before, one of the 20th Maine men had introduced a 2nd Maine soldier to him, saying he knew the other soldier's father - a preacher with a very impressive vocabulary of profanities.

** The real Col. Fremantle was more of a tourist than an official representative of the British government and did ''not'' wear his scarlet tunic, though he did write a book about his travels in which he predicted the Confederacy was sure to win.

Particularly known for its extremely long Pickett's Charge sequence, and for just being extremely long ''period'', clocking in at ''four hours''! (Four ''and a half'' in the Blu-Ray release, which restored all the deleted scenes including some that had been in the trailer but [[NeverTrustATrailer didn't make the theatrical cut]]).

A 1993 BattleEpic film about the pivotal battle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, financed by UsefulNotes/TedTurner, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, and closely adapted from the PulitzerPrize-winning 1974 novel ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' by Michael Shaara.

* AntiVillain: The Confederates may be fighting to defend a government and society based on the mass-enslavement of people viewed as racially inferior, but the vast majority of the men in the Confederate Army don't own any slaves at all and plenty of them like Lee and Longstreet really just seem to be fighting because they can't bare the thought of invading their own homes.

** John Buford's cavalry troops are shown wearing infantry uniforms rather then the proper cavalry uniforms of the day. Since the costume department relied primarily on civil war re-enactors who brought their own uniforms and gear to play the extras, it could simply be that there were not enough cavalry uniforms available.

* ShownTheirWork: The visual details are incredibly accurate, helped in part by the loads of re-enactors they cast as extras. Their own costumes were incredibly accurate, and they actually corrected mistakes by the production team. Plus, filming on-location at the historically-preserved Gettysburg National Military Park guaranteed full geographic accuracy.

A 1993 film about the pivotal battle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, financed by UsefulNotes/TedTurner, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, and based on the PulitzerPrize-winning novel ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' by Michael Shaara.

The movie focuses on four main actors in the battle: Generals Robert E. Lee (Creator/MartinSheen) and James Longstreet (Creator/TomBerenger) on the Confederate side and Gen. John Buford (Creator/SamElliot) and Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Creator/JeffDaniels) on the Union side, though Buford's part ended about a third of the way through the movie. All of the characters in the movie are (based on) real-life people with the exception of Sgt. Buster Kilrain.

The Blu-Ray release restored all the deleted scenes, including some that had been in the trailer but had not made the cut for the theatrical release.

Particularly known for its extremely long Pickett's Charge Sequence. And just being extremely long ''period (FOUR HOURS! Four '''and a half''' in the Blu-Ray release)''

''Gettysburg'' was followed up in 2003 with a prequel film, ''Film/GodsAndGenerals'', which detailed the {{Backstory}} of many of the characters.

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Plenty on both sides of the conflict since the armies naturally take breathers from fighting one another.
* AgonyOfTheFeet: Some of the Confederate troops made the march from Virginia to Gettysburg on bare feet. The opening engagement of the battle was started when General Heth tried to raid the city's shoe factories to resolve this issue.
* AnalogyBackfire:

*** Subverted in that Fremantle, who was half-heartedly listening to Kemper's diatribe on states' rights, responds much more agreeably to Pickett's simple gentleman's club analogy.
** Both the book and the film have Fremantle going on about how the Southerners are so like the English and being descended from them due to their names, and bringing up Longstreet as an example. Turns out Longstreet is actually of Dutch descent, and Longstreet then reminds him that the U.S. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution beat the British]], [[UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 twice]].[[note]]Let's be fair, the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 was really a draw, mostly due to lack of enthusiasm on both sides[[/note]]
* AllThereInTheManual: A number of details about the personality and history of the officers is left in the original novel.
* AndThisIsFor: The Union soldiers chant "Fredericksburg" as the Confederates retreat after Pickett's Charge.
** Made doubly meaningful by the fact that the men chanting are from Hancock's corps. During the battle, the flag of the Irish Brigade can be seen behind the stone wall. Hancock's corps and the Irish Brigade in particular are famous for their part in charging the stone wall at Fredericksburg, a battle that plays out almost exactly the same as this one, just with positions reversed.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Tom, for Col. Chamberlain (even though they're adults).
* AntiVillain: The Confederates may be fighting to defend a government based on the mass-enslavement of people viewed as racially inferior, but the vast majority of the men in the Confederate Army don't own any slaves at all and plenty of them like Lee and Longstreet really just seem to be fighting because they can't bare the thought of invading their own homes.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** The film skips over a key part of the Battle of Little Round Top. Specifically, Company B of the 20th Maine went missing and was thought lost at the start of the battle. They had actually been cut off and remained unengaged for most of the fight, until the bayonet charge gave them an opportunity to hook back up with their unit without getting slaughtered. The sudden appearance of fresh troops with plenty of ammunition charging the Confederate flank tricked the Rebels into thinking that the Federal troops were bringing up new units, contributing to their decision to surrender. This detail was in the original book.
** In real life, Joshua Chamberlain's 20th Maine Regiment was not deployed on Cemetery Ridge on the 3rd day of battle, and did not take part in the defense against Pickett's Charge as the movie depicted. As such, in real life it was not Thomas Chamberlain who found the wounded Confederate General Lewis Armistead after the battle and informed him of General Hancock's injury, but a different officer, Captain Henry H. Bingham.

* BadassBeard: ''Every'' male (which is to say, every cast member) has luxuriant facial hair, as it was the style at the time.
* BadassBookworm: Three words: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

* BloodBrothers: Armistead and Hancock, although both sides would have officers in the same predicament. They both reflect on the tragedy of having raised their hands in anger against each other.
--> '''Hancock''' (to Chamberlain): Tell me, Professor. In your studies have you come across a story from antiquity of two men who are like brothers facing each other on the field of battle? ...Lewis Armistead was my closest friend before the war. I'd like to see him again: but not here, not like this. What do you say, Colonel, what do the books tell you?
** One Confederate scene has Armistead tearfully revealing to Longstreet that the last time he'd met Hancock, he'd swore that if he should raise a hand against his friend, "''may God strike me dead!''". [[spoiler:He's mortally wounded in Pickett's Charge, only to break down in shock and tears when after requesting that his apology be conveyed to Hancock, he's told that Hancock was also struck: "''Not the both of us!''"]] The Picket's Charge scene underlines how alike they are by having each of them calm their men during the artillery exchange using [[MeaningfulEcho the exact same words]].
** While the Armistead/Hancock relationship was the most notable of these sorts of conflict, it was actually quite the common occurrence. The movie itself notes the fact that Lee's second in command, Longstreet, was good friends with UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant. And enlistment records of the units that fought at Gettysburg reveal that four brothers fought at Gettysburg. Three for the Confederacy, one for the Union.

* BloodlessCarnage: Most people who get shot on camera just clutch a part of their body and fall over (if from a gun), or get tossed in the air (if from a cannon - even if it's from a range that should have reduced them to chunky salsa on the spot). This is probably because the film was originally intended to be a tv movie and thus could not show the more gory aspects of war on mainstream television. People who are injured offscreen often sport bloody bandages when they next appear, however.
* BookDumb: Pickett, who considers "All this book-learnin' unbecoming of a soldier." and graduated in last place - dead last - from West Point.
** While not in the film, George Armstrong Custer is mentioned briefly in several deleted scenes; he likewise graduated last from West Point.
* CaliforniaDoubling: In microcosm: None of the Little Round Top sequences are actually filmed on Little Round Top, because the hill was just too small to fit the production crew ''and'' the actors. Big Round Top stood in for the smaller hill instead.
* TheCassandra: General Hood when told to attack the Union left flank head-on, pointing out that the terrain is so lopsided for the defenders that he'd lose half of his division. Longstreet believes him but declares that Lee already disregarded Longstreet's own arguments against such an advance, so Lee won't allow Hood to swing to the right; Hood's division is ''mauled'' at Devil's Den.[[note]]Ironically, circumstances meant that they ended up veering to the right anyway, and at least in part due to Maj. Gen. Sickles moving the Union III Corps a few hundred yards west, the remainder of Hood's division ''does'' nearly catch the Union right flank ''just as Hood had sought'', forcing Chamberlain to lead the [=20th=] Maine all on its own to check the Confederate flanking attempt.[[/note]]

* TheCavalry: On the first day, Reynold's I Corps shows up to save Buford's division (ironically, Buford's unit was the actual cavalry, while the relieving units were ''infantry'')
* ChangedMyMindKid: Three of the six holdouts from the 2nd Maine. They later join the fight and save Tom Chamberlain.
* ChromosomeCasting: It's a war film. The only female cast members are essentially part of the scenery as the army marches towards Gettysburg, and none of them get more than two lines.
* ColonelBadass: (Lieutenant) Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. The badass comes out when he thinks he's been shot (the shot really bounced off his sword, but it clearly left him in shock and he has a limp for the rest of the movie). As they're dragging him back he sits up and shoots a charging man with his revolver. Just... wow. The historical Chamberlain was also a badass in that he was wounded six times during the war and survived in an era when just one was usually enough to kill you[[note]]While those wounds did eventually kill him, it took until '''1914''' for them to do so, possibly making him the last Civil War veteran to die of battle wounds[[/note]]. In fact, his penchant for not only surviving wounds that would kill or cripple other men but continuing to fight led to his earning the nickname(on both sides) of 'Bloody Chamberlain'--literally, as he was often covered in his own blood. He started the war as a college professor, not an army officer. Which also qualifies him for BadassBookworm. He later became Governor of Maine and Ambassador to France.
* ContemplateOurNavels: There are quite a few scenes with characters sitting around, discussing the war, slavery, and what could or should have been.

* CourtlyLove: Armistead has an interesting relationship with Hancock's - his best friend's - wife Almira ("Mira", in the novel). Armistead never pursued her romantically and it never got in the way of their friendship, but he does give her his family Bible (an intensely personal possession) before joining the Virginia forces. Also, part of Armistead's HeroicBSOD breakdown in the novel ''during his own death'' is that he fears Mira receiving the terrible news of her husband's (Hancock had been wounded in the battle, but survived) condition.

* CreatorCameo: UsefulNotes/TedTurner appears as a Confederate colonel named Patton (distant relative of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII THAT Patton]]).
** DeathByCameo: ... who died during Pickett's Charge.

* CulturedWarrior: Several of the officers are portrayed as learned men, probably Col. Chamberlain most prominently (a professor of rhetoric). Others include Pettigrew (scholar of the University of North Carolina) and Col. Vincent (from Harvard).

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Longstreet, who became somber after scarlet fever swept through his family in 1862, killing several of his children[[note]]the novel says it killed his wife and children, but in fact at least one of his children survived and his wife lived until 1889.[[/note]]
* DemotedToExtra: While Robert Lee gets plenty of dialog and screen time, General George Meade, the overall commander of Union forces in the battle, is limited to just one short scene in the whole film.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the wake of Pickett's charge, General Lee comes across a wounded General Kemper, who reports that the doctors have just informed him that his wound is mortal. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue makes no mention of Kemper, leaving the viewer to assume that he died at Gettysburg; in fact, Kemper survived the battle and the war (though the wound would continue to affect him until he died thirty years later).[[note]]According to the historical record, the exchange between Lee and Kemper is TruthInTelevision; Kemper did believe (with good reason) that he'd been mortally wounded in the battle.[[/note]]
* DeathSeeker: Longstreet temporarily becomes one after watching Pickett's Charge fail. He recklessly races to the front, determined to meet the expected Union counterattack in person while artillery falls all around him. He snaps out of it when one of his aides is thrown off his horse by Union guns and tells him, "There's no use trying to get yourself killed, General. The Lord will come for you in his own good time."
** General Garnet is this, as he feels obliged to clean the stain on his honor [[AllThereInTheManual caused by condemnation he received by Stonewall Jackson before the latter's death]] by taking part in Pickett's Charge on horseback.
* DemotedToExtra: General George Meade, the Union commander, puts in only a brief appearance in both book and film.
** Of course this is essentially TruthInTelevision because Meade didn't arrive at the battle until the night of the first day.
** While the movie does seem to make it the case that Meade simply isn't there, in reality, he was present on the field for the entire second day of battle and actually far more active in moving around near the front-lines of battle than Lee, who spent the day sitting outside A.P. Hill's headquarters.
* {{Determinator}}: Shortly before the battle, Chamberlin is told he cannot give up his position on Little Round top under any circumstances. Chamberlin follows these orders to the letter, even when his officers suggest their situation is looking insurmountable.
* DramaticIrony: The 20th Maine is being moved to the center of the Union line after its beating on Little Round Top because the Union thinks that it's the safest place on the line. In the last scene, Lee and Longstreet were planning an all out assault on that very spot. This actually represents the biggest difference from the real battle, as the 20th Maine was stationed on Big Round Top at the time and did not participate in repelling Picket at all. This may have been an unintentional error on the part of the writers, as Colonel Chamberlain and his brother ''were'' at that spot during Pickets Charge, doing exactly what they are seen doing in the film, requesting more ammunition for the 20th Maine.

--->'''Sgt. Owens:''' Colonel Vincent is badly wounded, (nods) yes sir, got hit a few minutes after the fight started. We've been reinforced at the top of the hill by Weed's brigade up front, this is what they tell me, but Weed is dead. And so they moved Hazlet's battery of artillery up there, but Hazlet's dead....

* EpicMovie: Four hours long, plenty of familiar faces, lots of action, epic score by Randy Edelman, it's got the components.

* AFatherToHisMen: General Robert E. Lee.
** Colonel Chamberlain.
** Though not as obvious, Longstreet and Hancock also qualify, both in-movie and historically.
* ForegoneConclusion: It does not end well for the Confederates, as Gen. Longstreet predicted beforehand as he describes the withering firepower the soldiers of Pickett's Charge would face.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: It's passed off as a joke, but Chamblerlain tries to reassure his men while they march into position on Little Round Top that the rebel artillery coming their way won't hit them because they "always overshoot." The next day, the massive artillery barrage Lee orders to weaken the Union line prior to Pickett's Charge is shown to have nearly zero effect because most of the cannons are overshooting.

* FreezeFrameBonus: ''So many'' little details, but one in particular: At the beginning of the film, Chamberlain's shoulder boards show the rank of lt. colonel (oak leaves). By the events on Little Round Top he's wearing the rank of a full colonel (eagles). It's a bit of ShownTheirWork, as well, as Chamberlain received his promotion to colonel in June of 1863.

** Though it never comes up in the movie, Confederate Major General George Pickett would not tolerate any insults to President Abraham Lincoln in his presence. Pickett was admitted to West Point was thanks to Congressional Appointment by then-Congressman Lincoln, and Pickett never forgot his personal debt to Lincoln, even as he fought for the South.
* FrontlineGeneral:
** Lee warns General Longstreet against his habit of going too far forward, as he's already lost a number of his generals (particularly Stonewall) to this trope and he feels he cannot spare Longstreet.
** Both sides had several generals who were killed or wounded in action during this battle, most notably general John Reynolds of the Union and Lewis Armistead of the Confederacy.
* FunnyForeigner: Col. Fremantle. He's possibly not meant to be funny, but the filmmakers accentuated his Englishness by having him wear a bright red dress uniform (which the historical character certainly did not do) and, in one scene, walk around the Confederate camp drinking tea from a china cup and saucer. The real Fremantle was so impressed by Pickett's Charge he wrote a book predicting that the South would win the war. It was published a few months before the South surrendered.
** In the book it is even more pronounced with the description of the Austrian and Prussian officers accompanying Lee's headquarters on the morning of the second day of the battle. Captain Ross, "the fat Austrian with the Scottish name" (the real Fitzgerald Ross was born in Surrey and probably would have spoken to Fremantle in English, not French) is dressed in [[TruthInTelevision his hussar (light cavalry) uniform]], but also wears an incongruous [[BlingOfWar helmet (only heavy cavalry wore helmets),]] [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch which is described as a "shiny silver chamber-pot", i. e. is of a type not used in Austria]]. The Prussian officer, Scheibert, is dressed all in white (presumably a civilian get-up; Justus Scheibert was an engineer, his uniform would have been dark blue and black) and wears an "[[HighClassGlass inevitable glittering monocle]]" (monocles did not really come into fashion with Prussian officers until later that century).

* HeartbrokenBadass: Longstreet. Freemantle takes note of how dour he always seems and has it explained to him that scarlet fever devastated Longstreet's family a year earlier. He latter knowingly ordered Pickett's division to make an attack he knew was suicidal.

** Chamberlain, Buford and Hancock in the sense that they are brought to the forefront of the audience's attention. Though their actions were not really upgraded in any significant way.
** This movie and the book it was based on played a major role in rehabilitating General Longstreet's reputation among historians who frequently badmouthed him and used him as a scapegoat for the defeat, as he openly criticized Lee's tactics and became a Republican after the war. Robert E. Lee deeply trusted and relied upon Longstreet and the Confederates lost the battle (and subsequently the War) in large part because Lee ''didn't'' listen to him. It's true that his corps ''was'' slow to attack Little Round Top on the second day but if he had attacked earlier Sickles' Corps would have been in a stronger position (i.e. not at Devil's Den) and things could have been worse.
** Pickett, in general, receives the TragicHero treatment. He's certainly not a villain or incompetent (historically), but the fact that he was a mediocre commander is notably absent, and he's not really Tragic in any sense, other than the mere fact he led the charge.
* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The film's tunnel focus on the battle neglects the fact that before and after the battle, the Confederate soldiers captured African-Americans (runaway slaves, ex-slaves and freedmen) [[http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-should-know-about-the-battle-of-gettysburg and send them back to Virginia into slavery]].
* HistoricalInJoke: There's a brief shot of a general and his officers surveying the ground with binoculars on Little Round Top. Though given no lines, the actor is playing Gouverneur Warren, who is credited with spotting Hood's division and is memorialized with a statue in that exact pose, directly behind the actor.
** There's also a shot of a dead Confederate soldier at General Webbs feet being dragged off. While it's unknown if Webb actually stood there, the position of the dead rebel is well known to anyone who visits the park... the Confederate High Water Mark.
* HollywoodHistory: Both the film and the novel portray Stuart's joyride as a major impediment for Lee. In actuality, Southern cavalry was used mainly for raiding, not scouting. Individual horsemen, spies like Harrison, and overly-informative Northern newspapers were the primary sources of intelligence; while Lee did rebuke Stuart, it was not for leaving him blind in enemy country. An understandable mistake, however, as historians and Lost Cause advocates made Stuart's supposed culpability a part of popular history.
** Another obvious one has the 20th Maine relocate from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge in time for Pickett's Charge. Which never happened, though dramatically understandable as it gives the main Union protagonist (Chamberlain) a front-row seat to the movie's climax.
* HollywoodTactics: Pickett's Charge, in an unfortunate case of TruthInTelevision. In fairness, it was preceded by a Confederate artillery bombardment intended to break up the Union artillery units on the ridge... problem was, the Confederate artillery was of inferior quality, short on ammunition[[note]]Pickett's advance begins after he's told by Longstreet's artillery chief to "Hurry up, for God's sake, or the artillery can't help you!"[[/note]]. They also overshot the bulk of the Union forces, aiming for an area behind the ridge where they thought the union was staging, when in fact most their men were tight to the line on along the ridge.
** While ''today'' we would call this HollywoodTactics, the fact is that for this time period, this was the standard accepted tactical doctrine of ''both'' sides. Pickett's Charge was hardly the first, and not the last major mass frontal assault of the Civil War. It's not even the worst in terms of casualties. It's just the most famous.
** Meade was also ''expecting'' Lee to assault the middle of his line, and had ordered his forces there to hunker down and ride out the artillery barrage to await Pickett's men.
* HonorBeforeReason: The South in general. Discussed more thoroughly in the book when Longstreet privately thinks that "honor without intelligence" could lose the war for the Confederacy, but the movie contains some of it, such as the line "We should have freed the slaves, ''then'' fired on Fort Sumpter." Fremantle views it in a more positive light and sees it as something the South and Britain have in common.
** General Stuart shows this trait when he gets so upset by Lee's rebuke that he lays down his hat and sword and says "Since my services are no longer-", clearly implying his resignation, but gets cut off by General Lee telling him they need him to make up for his mistake and fight rather than quit.

** Lee insists on fighting the three-day battle despite the fact that the only reason they needed to take Gettysburg at all was for the shoe factories, which they took the first day, because military convention of the day was that the army that commanded the battlefield when the fighting was over was the winner. Thus to avoid the appearance of defeat by surrendering control of a town he had no use for so he could fight and win another battle on terms of his choosing later on, he stayed and ended up suffering a real defeat.

* {{Intermission}}: At least when it was shown in a theater. But then, it was planned as a four hour, two day TV Mini Series before they decided to show it in theaters.

** Early in the movie Buford rages quietly to his subordinate that Meade will move too slow to take the hills, requiring a desperate charge across open ground in an attempt to dislodge the rebels. He goes on that he [[TheCassandra can see it]] "clear as day" that it would surely fail and with high casualties and there would be nothing he could do about it except "help it fail". This happens exactly as he predicts. Except it happens to the ''Confederates'' as a direct result of Buford acting quickly to change the starting conditions and prevent it. Also, General Meade moved his troops faster than anyone expected, which was why Lee was surprised to find the Army of the Potomac so close.
** Actor Richard Jordan plays Confederate General Lewis Armistead, who is mortally wounded during Pickett's charge and dies shortly after the battle. Jordan was suffering the from cancer at the time, and he died shortly after filming for the movie was completed.
*** Even more poignantly, the producers learned of Jordan's death ''while editing that very scene''.
* ItsAllMyFault: Lee says this repeatedly after the failure of Pickett's Charge.

-->'''Kilrain''': "Colonel, I've never served under a finer man. The Army was blessed. Blessed! I wanted to tell you (pauses and nods at his wounded arm), you know, in case."

* LargeHam: Pickett. Rightly so, as he was well-known for being a flamboyant and having an eccentric personality.
* LastNameBasis: Lawrence tells his brother to address him formally. Generals, on the other hand, tend to do whatever they want.
* LosingTheTeamSpirit: SubvertedTrope - despite being historically known as the battle the Confederacy couldn't recover from, and Lee profusely blames himself and apologizes to his troops around him for the failure of Pickett's Charge immediately after it, his men deny his words and one even ask for them to regroup and attack again. Of course, the war would last at nearly two years after the battle.

** Armistead while telling Longstreet about his last meeting with Hancock before riding to war.

** Armistead's fate.

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Longstreet shows some of this when Hood asks to outflank the Round Top positions. Lee had already turned down Longstreet's request to perform a strategic movement of the army in that direction and told Longstreet to send Hood right into the right side of the Union line. So Longstreet feels he must order Hood to follow Lee's orders exactly, rather than giving Hood some leeway to interpret them creatively with a tactical outflanking of the position.

* NonUniformUniform: Reflecting TruthInTelevision, the Confederates' troops largely lack consistent uniforms unlike their blue-dressed Union adversaries and instead wear a great variety of simple clothes and hats - its pretty much only the officers who are probably wearing a grey uniform among them. [[hottip:*:The reason for this was a lack of centralized logistics for all units, so clothes were being supplied by individual states that were frequently incapable of the textile industries to produce uniforms for troops in addition to Union blockades preventing them by buying them elsewhere quickly.]]
* NotSoDifferent: Armistead and Hancock, most prominently, but this is a major theme of the entire movie.

-->"[[SuddenlyShouting I HAVE TOLD YOU THERE IS NO TIME FOR THAT; THERE IS NO TIME!]]"

* PoorCommunicationKills: Quite literally. J.E.B Stuart's adventure deprives Lee of vital information and cavalry support. Though this is a subversion of real life, where Stuart's absence was of lesser importance than the film makes it seem.
* PowerTrio: Pickett's brigade commanders; Armistead is the ego, Kemper is id, and Garnett superego. Could also be said for the leaders the divisions in Picket's Charge as a whole (Pickett, Trimble, and Pettigrew).

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Pretty much everyone, but especially most of the Southerners, as their supplies/equipment were much more haphazard than the North (i.e. much more "Ragtag" than the North, but both with a whole bunch of Misfits).

** The start of Pickett's Charge across an open field: all those troops marching in order, banners unfurled. In RealLife, a Union general declared it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw.

* SedgwickSpeech: Reynolds has an abridged form. Ironically, the actual General Sedgwick was sort of involved in the battle, though he is not portrayed in the film. Sedgwick's VI Corps was held in reserve.
-->'''Reynolds:''' "Forward Iron Brigade!.... Clear those guns out of that wood!.... Forward! For God's sake, FORWARD!" -bang-
** Hancock suffers a non-fatal (he is seriously wounded, but survives) version of this during Pickett's Charge.

* SelfDestructiveCharge: AKA Pickett's Charge, and Longstreet ''completely called it'' well in advance.

* SingleIssueWonk: Some of the Rebels view the common Northern focus on slavery as a reason for the war this way. Many of them say they honestly don't care about it either way, and see themselves as fighting for their "rahts". Longstreet muses that they would have won their independence already if they had freed the slaves before firing on Fort Sumter, taking it away as a motivation for the other side and keeping in Britain and France's good graces. This in any case was never a realistic option because as far as the leaders were concerned, [[https://www.bluffton.edu/~bergerd/essays/trclark.htm slavery really was the essential cause]] for the South. [[note]]As one legislator who opposed freeing slaves to fight for the Confederates in 1864 noted, "If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong", prompting Jefferson Davis to say that the Confederacy's tombstone should read: "Died of a theory."[[/note]]

* TakeAThirdOption: "We can't run away. If we stay here, we can't shoot." Given the choice between holding and retreating, Chamberlain decides to charge (with bayonets).
* TemptingFate: At the beginning of Pickett's Charge one of Hancock's aides asks him to get off his horse (so he'll be a less obvious target), to which he replies "There are times when a Corps commander's life does not count." Later during the battle, still riding his horse, he is shot and badly wounded (though he survives).
* TearJerker: In-universe example. Longstreet is so certain that Pickett's Charge will fail that he is too choked up to order the assault. When Pickett asks him if he should begin the attack, the best the heartbroken Longstreet can manage is a nod. Made worse by how eager and elated Pickett is to carry out the order.[[note]]This is actually how Longstreet issued the order in reality, according to his memoirs(which the novel The Killer Angels took heavily from).[[/note]]
** Armistead's reaction to learning that Hancock has also been wounded.
*** ''Everything about'' Armistead and Hancock. Throughout the whole movie, most of their conversations are about each other, and both are brought to tears more than once reflecting on it.
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is annoyed with his brother for calling him "Lawrence" in front of the troops, as he thinks it will lead to accusations of favoritism. There's also this exchange when a {{Jerkass}} lower-ranking officer from another regiment fails to properly address him:

--> '''Col. Chamberlain''': (DeathGlare) ''Colonel'' Chamberlain to you.

* TragicHero: Armistead above all others: driven by his own honor to fight against his best friend, haunted by the memories of Hancock and his beautiful wife Almyra, he still musters the courage to lead his Virginian troops into the Union lines, bravely holding his sword aloft with his hat on it as a standard... and is mortally wounded doing so. Making it ''worse'' for him is being told that his good friend Hancock was wounded during that charge...
* TruthInTelevision: Since it's mostly historically accurate, some lines are actual quotes.
* WarIsHell: Depicting a battle in which over 50,000 men were killed or wounded over three days. The 20th Maine started with 1,000 men and has been cut down to 250 (That was on day 1. Adding the men from the 2nd brings them back up to 360 for their fight on day 2, but casualties on Little Round Top drop the unit down to 120 by day 3) because the Union is just using them until there's no one left. Bodies carpet the battlefield and medical treatment is almost as dangerous as going into battle in the first place. Old friends who are like brothers are forced to fight each other, and Pickett's Charge is a hideous mistake that leaves six thousand men dead or wounded on the field.

--> '''Col. Chamberlain''': "We can't run away. If we stay here we can't shoot. So let's fix bayonets. (Everyone stares at him.) We'll have the advantage of moving down the hill."

--> '''Gen. Pickett''': General Lee.... I ''have'' no ''Division!''
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Confederate General James Kemper is wounded at Pickett's charge, but his ultimate fate is not mentioned in the ending. Furthermore, Kemper says the doctors have told him his wound is fatal, implying that he died at Gettysburg. In real life, Kemper survived his wounds and the war, going on to become governor of Virginia in 1874.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: A particularly nice example of the trope with the actors faces morphing into the actual historic figures.
** Which is a nice reverse of the opening credits, where photos of the historical figures morphed into the actors.
* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Armistead, to Freemantle before Pickett's charge.

--> Armistead (about Hancock): "The Lord don't make 'em any better, and that's a fact!"[[note]]And by many historical metrics, Hancock genuinely ''was'' the finest General on the Union side to never receive an independent command - something he was denied because of politics[[/note]]

A 1993 film about the pivotal battle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, financed by Ted Turner, directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, and based on the PulitzerPrize-winning novel ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' by Michael Shaara.

* CreatorCameo: Ted Turner appears as a Confederate colonel named Patton (distant relative of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII THAT Patton]]).

** Both the book and the film have Fremantle going on about how the Southerners are so like the English and being descended from them due to their names, and bringing up Longstreet as an example. Turns out Longstreet is actually of Dutch descent, and Longstreet then reminds him that the U.S. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution beat the British]], [[WarOf1812 twice]].[[note]]Let's be fair, the WarOf1812 was really a draw, mostly due to lack of enthusiasm on both sides[[/note]]