17 reviews
Sales Rank: 2414

Format: Dolby, Pal, Surround Sound
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 243
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1

EAN: 5014780360174
ASIN: B00004CQNT

Theatrical Release Date: October 8, 1993
Release Date: May 6, 1996
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: New and Sealed Dispatched within 2 working days Thanks for your custom.

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
Thanks to generous funding from media mogul Ted Turner, first-time director Ronald F Maxwell was able to make an almost word-for-word adaptation of Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Killer Angels. Running over four hours, Gettysburg (1993) splits into two convenient parts for TV viewing (although a 70mm print was given limited theatrical release). This story of three bloody days of conflict in July, 1863 (an unimaginable 50,000 casualties), is divided equally between Union and Confederate forces. On the Union side, Jeff Daniels is the quietly heroic Colonel Joshua Chamberlain; Sam Elliott is utterly convincing as General Buford, the Union cavalryman who holds the Confederate army at bay on the first day. Martin Sheen plays an oddly subdued and vacillating General Lee--a controversial portrait of the legendary Confederate chief--while Tom Berenger, despite being almost hidden underneath an enormous authentically period-style beard, is strong and authoritative as General Longstreet (whose opposition to Lee's plans gave many in the Confederacy a reason to blame him for the disaster at Gettysburg). Chamberlain's last-ditch defence of Little Round Top, which prevented the Union forces from being flanked on the second day of battle, forms the climax to the first half; the heartbreaking Pickett's Charge--the Confederates' disastrous frontal assault on the entrenched Union lines on the third day--is the movie's greatest set piece and one of the most compelling reasons to endure a little too much stodgy dialogue (lifted directly from the novel) and an apparently over-reverential attitude to the subject-matter. But much of this movie was made in and around the actual battle site, so it's only to be expected that the cast and crew tread carefully, as if literally under the watchful eyes of the men whose lives they are re-enacting. And re-enactment is the key: with a cast of thousands in splendidly detailed period costumes, cannonades galore and massed ranks of musketry, the sheer scale of the military spectacle is endlessly impressive. If as a piece of filmmaking it has many faults, as an historical re-enactment Gettysburg is unsurpassed--even by the epic Waterloo (1970), which drafted in a large chunk of the Russian army as Napoleonic extras. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Why Fast Forward Was Invented May 25, 2008
This is an epic film concerning the three days of Gettysburg but like Wagner while it has some marvellous moments it has some dreadful quarter-hours. The entire cast seem to miss no chances to prose interminably. Doubtless seeking not to annoy audiences of either a Union or a Confederate persuasion both sides come over as very nice chaps (a very civil war indeed, as it was described to me). This certainly makes the point that friends and familes were divided by the war but makes it a little bland.

The services of re-enactors permit the film to have a grandeur of sheer numbers but as a result one might think that ACW armies were composed of old and very rotund men. Whereas something more like the cast of THE GRAPES OF WRATH is required.

However, all that aside the combat sequences are simply breathtaking. The feel of combat (standing up and slugging away) is admirably dealt with as Buford defeats Heth. The battle on the Second Day involving the 20th Maine is amongst the most exciting and realistic war films I have seen, and finally the grandstand finish of Pickett's Charge knocks one's socks off. Although GETTYSBURG can come in for some ribbing (Gettysbeard, anyone?) its central core is impressive enough to merit a 5.

5 out of 5 stars

The Killer Angels November 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Gettysburg is actually the second part in an intended trilogy that will now probably never be completed in the wake of the dismal box-office for the bloated Gods and Generals. Thankfully it gains more by having a smaller canvas, focussing on one single battle and largely on three actions - Buford's inspired initial defense on the first day, Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge - and by seeing the action from the viewpoint of both sides throughout. The characters are better drawn, the dialogue feels more natural and you get much more of a sense of what a human tragedy the war was. As a British observer on the Confederate side points out, it all boils down to "same people, different dreams."

The problem with most epics devoted to single battles or campaigns (Waterloo, Zulu Dawn, The Battle of Neretva etc) is that without a single dominating personality they often get so bogged down with history or strategy that the human element gets lost, with a succession of stars acting almost like anonymous interchangeable sports commentators only there to explain what's going on for the layman. Gettysburg has its share of characters primarily there for exposition, but by narrowing its focus to a few of them and drawing on their own letters and memoirs it's able to give them a little more depth and personality. Martin Sheen's Lee's increasingly wrong-headed strategy as he consigns more and more men to pointless deaths with a homespun rationale that leads to horrifying casualties contrasts well with Tom Berenger's more cautious Longstreet gradually realising that the tide has turned against them while Jeff Daniels' awkward but sincere Lawrence Chamberlain gives a humane and decent voice to the Union's case. Richard Jordan is genuinely affecting in his last role - his final scene is even more moving with the knowledge that he really was dying at the time - and even George Lazenby even turns up briefly. As a result, there's more involvement in what's happening and more understanding of what's at stake on a personal level to both sides during the battle. Although shot as a TV miniseries before being released theatrically, it actually looks like a feature film, and one that manages to hold the interest over its four hour running time. It's such an impressive piece of work that you can't help but wonder why so many of the same people got it so wrong so often on Gods and Generals.

Excellent extras on the double-sided DVD, but sadly none of the deleted scenes from the 270-minute laserdisc director's cut.

5 out of 5 stars

Gettysburg..Well done Ted Turner! August 19, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I was interested in finding out more about the US Civil War.
This was I feel a very educational DVD.
The various add-on's did in their turn lift the worth of the DVD, giving the bigger picture of events.
Hats off to Ted Turner for putting up the money.
A DVD I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone interested in the subject and will probably view it again myself.

3 out of 5 stars

I think we could fit another speech in here............ March 8, 2007
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

All the 'historical reenactment' parts of this film are really well done (apart from the dodgy beards), unfortunately these bits are mixed in with an annoyingly large number of stunningly boring speeches - perhaps the makers hoped to sell the film to schools teaching ACW 101 ?

Fortunately, as a buyer of the VHS version, I was able to chop all these speeches out when I copied it to DVD, happily all of them are pretty self contained ! If/when you buy the DVD version I'd keep the remote close to hand to fast forward through the trash but the battle scenes are good enough to earn 3 stars.

2 out of 5 stars

Severely flawed grand scale American Civil War movie May 22, 2006
19 out of 30 found this review helpful

Terrific performances by Jeff Daniels, Richard Jordan and two huge armies of Civil War re-enactors cannot save this over-long film from its low production values and mawkishly sentimental tone. In common with Lincoln's speech, this film appears to be an attempt to lend poignancy to one of history's most appalling massacres. The few strong performances serve to highlight the lacklustre turns by some of the senior cast. Much of the dialogue is rotten, the acting wooden, and too many scenes are badly conceived and heavy-handedly spliced together. The stirring orchestral motif is repeated ad infinitum and quickly grates. Realism is sacrificed for sentiment at every juncture: considering the subject matter, ie, three days of hand-to-hand fighting by thousands of armed men supported by artillery, there is a curious lack of blood and visible injuries. In one preposterous scene, a senior Union officer is killed in the frontline of battle and a dozen or so of his underlings respond by arranging themselves in a staged side-profile pose around him; they would have been shot to pieces. The make-up artists were surely playing for laughs by dressing up some of these Big League actors in the most hilarious artificial facial hair I have seen. Tom Berrenger, in common with Martin Sheen, gives a passionless performance but has the excuse of appearing to have a dead badger strapped to his chin. I've no idea what the actor playing Jeb Stewart has attached to his face but one thing's for sure - it isn't a beard. The final climactic battle scenes make a genuinely impressive and moving spectacle, but even then poor Jordan has to deliver a corny eve of battle monologue (by no means the only one in this film.) And, apparently, every time a cannonball explodes amid massed ranks of men, all that happens is that a handful of them jump up in the air a couple of feet or so. Rather than present this sanitized version, the writers should have taken their courage in their hands and sought to depict more accurately the grotesque consequences of artillery fire as per the harrowing accounts of Gettysburg survivors. This film seems more concerned with healing through distortion the wounds still felt in America by her Civil War than depicting a momentous historic event with dignity and reverence. Two sets of people will enjoy this film: Civil War enthusiasts who can get past the TV movie styling and political subtext, and those of us who have a keen sense of humour for watching A-list actors taking themselves seriously while sporting outrageous bogus whiskers.

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