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| A picturesque, dramatic, beautifully colored dramatization of a US Civil War scene makes up this fine poster for Edward Zwick's Glory |
In 1862 during the American Civil War, Colonel Shaw of the Northern Union army is tasked with forming its first unit made up of African-American soldiers; the men's engagement is finally honored in battle.
Glory is written by Kevin Jarre (Rambo - First Blood Part 2 (1985, story)), based on the letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and novels Lay This Laurel (1973) by Lincoln Kirstein (Paul Cadmus (1984)) and One Gallant Rush (1965) by Peter Burchard (Jed (1960, short story)), and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker Edward Zwick (About Last Night (1986)).
The film is an enormously handsome production, and James Horner's (Vibes (1988)) score is deeply affecting. Zwick gets masterful performances from especially Denzel Washington (A Soldier's Story (1984)), who shines up against Morgan Freeman (Nurse Betty (2000)), Matthew Broderick (Marie and Bruce (2004)) and Cary Elwes (Walk the Talk (2007)).
Glory also has a truly captivating story with real presence of history to it. It therefore disappoints some to note that the film apparently has several factual errors in it.
Still this is arguably Zwick's finest film, a nearly masterful work.
Related posts:
Edward Zwick: The Great Wall/长城/Cháng Chéng (2016) - Damon appears foolish in unexciting, major US-Chinese monster turkey (co-writer)
Pawn Sacrifice (2014) - Zwick, Knight and Maguire's mediocre chess genius movie
Blood Diamond (2006) - Fundamentally flawed, unsuccessful Africa-venture with important issues at its core
Watch a short 30th anniversary teaser for the film from TCM here
Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 26.9 mil. $ - North America only
= Uncertain
[Glory was released 15 December (USA) and runs 122 minutes. Shooting took place from February - April 1989 in Georgia and Massachusetts, including Boston. The film contains several factual errors/fictional inventions: No soldiers marched in cold mud without boots at the time; flogging had been abolished; and the majority of the unit's soldiers were not former slaves, - among other things. The film opened #17 to a 63k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #8 and in 811 theaters, grossing 26.8 mil. $. It is impossible to ascertain the film's box office status without international gross numbers. The North-American gross alone only gives the film status as 'big flop', but the world gross could be high enough to alter this - or perhaps it wasn't. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning 3: It won for Best Supporting Actor (Washington), Cinematography (Freddie Francis (Our Virgin Island (1958))) and Sound. It lost Best Art/Set Decoration to Batman and Editing to Born on the Fourth of July. It also won 1/5 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA, won a Grammy and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Zwick returned with Thirtysomething (1987-90) and theatrically with Leaving Normal (1992). Broderick returned in The Freshman (1990); Washington in Heart Condition (1990); Elwes in Days of Thunder (1990); and Freeman in The Earth Day Special (1990, TV special), The Civil War (1990, TV documentary miniseries) and theatrically in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). Glory is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Glory?
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