Do you want to know how old I am?  I am old enough to remember dollar movie theaters.  Given how much it costs these days to go to the cinema, this concept seems almost laughable.  When Gettysburg premiered in 1993, it was getting to border on the absurd.  As such, the one that was closest to me did not show what was referred to as “first-run movies.”  Instead, they screened those that had been out for a few weeks, or even a month.  I think of these relics of a bygone cinematic era whenever I am reminded of today’s film.  I have a distinct memory, too, since I was (and still am) a huge history buff, of being frustrated with the dollar theater.  Along with the declining economic feasibility of having such establishments came a commensurate level of service.  The shoddiness of the presentation made itself known during my showing when the movie cut out long before the end.  This is made all the more prominent when you know that it is a four-and-a-half-hour film.  I have seen the whole thing a few times since, if you can believe that, but imagine how much you can miss in such a time frame.  The last memory I have of that evening is walking out of the theater and the manager handing everyone a dollar.

Since Gettysburg is so long, I am not going to give a detailed synopsis.  That would be tedious.  Besides, the plot, if you can call it that, is presented episodically, with major characters playing different roles at different times.  There is one narrative, that being the battle, but it takes place over the course of three days and spans many miles around the title Pennsylvania city.  Finally, be prepared for lots of history.  I hope you know, at least, that the Confederate Army are the ones in gray, alternatively known as the Rebels or Southern Army.  Their Northern counterparts, or the Yankees, are often referred to as the Union.  Confused yet?  Good!  We are introduced to the Confederates first, led by Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen).  He is guiding his Army of Northern Virginia onto Northern soil for the first time, but there is a problem: his forces’ scouts, the cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart (Joseph Fuqua), are conspicuously absent.  Instead, one of Lee’s lieutenants, James A. Longstreet (Tom Berenger), brings intelligence on Union movements by way of an actor named Henry Thomas Harrison (Cooper Huckabee).  They had long names in the nineteenth century.  Anyway, Harrison brings words that the Army of the Potomac has a new commander, George Meade (Richard Anderson), and that they are on the move.  Lee knows about the importance of Gettysburg, and he assumes that Meade does, too.  Thus, the armies begin to converge on the small town.  The following day finds Union cavalry getting to the town first, under the command of John Buford (Sam Elliott).  Basically, I am mentioning these names to tell you who is in the movie, and who is doing what.  His troops are soon outnumbered by the arriving Rebels, and soon the Yankees are forced to retreat.  This sounds bad for the North, but it allows them to retreat to higher ground south of town.  This is going to be a major factor over the next two days.  It is something that Longstreet notes, and he recommends going around the Army of the Potomac rather than fighting.  Instead, Lee is determined to have the battle here.  The next morning, we meet Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), commander to the 20^th Maine Regiment.  I hope your knowledge of geography can tell you what side they are on.  His men are sent to a hill referred to as Little Round Top.  It is at the fair end of the Union line, and his regiment is meant to protect this area.  They face charge after Confederate charge.  When they run out of ammunition, they execute a bayonet charge that saves the day.  There are some other battle stuff that you see, but this is the main action shown for day two.  That night, Stuart finally returns, and Lee is not pleased.  Nonetheless, he continues to be set on a strike.  Since he had directed the majority of his attacks that day on the sides of the Army of the Potomac, he figures the center is week.  This sets up for the climactic moment of the movie, indeed of the entire Civil War.  Lee turns to three previously unused groups of soldiers, and the event is given the name of the person at the head of the lead one: George Pickett (Stephen Lang).  As prelude to the fateful Pickett’s Charge, there is a large cannon barrage.  At the appointed time, a mass of Rebel troops emerges from the woods and begins marching across a wide-open field.  You do not need to be Napoleon to understand the dangers of such a maneuver.  There is the expected amount of death and destruction as the Confederate ranks melt under withering cannon and rifle fire.  Barely any make it to the Union lines, and those that do are easily turned away.  As the survivors straggle back, Lee rides out to meet them and attempts to take the blame.  In hearing this, there is a chorus of objections from the Rebel troops despite their bruised and battered bodies.  Soon thereafter, Longstreet finally prevails on Lee to withdraw, and that is essentially where the film ends.

You might read that synopsis of Gettysburg and think that it does not sound that long.  Believe me, it is lengthy.  I concentrated on the more dramatic sequences of the battle on which the movie spends the most time.  There are moments in between that I suppose one could call character development, though it seems silly to do so.  The point of the film is to highlight the drama of the battle, and it does a decent job.  There are better versions of such things, but I have also seen worse.  The one bit of character development that is perhaps the most fleshed out is the relationship between Southern general Lewis Armistead (George Lazenby) and Northern general Winfield Scott Hancock (Brian Mallon).  Before the war, the two were friends, and they are each aware that the other is on the other side of the battlefield.  Both are at Pickett’s charge and are wounded, Armistead mortally so.  As the fighting dies down in the wake of this final phase, Hancock and Armistead have one last reunion.  I appreciate this aspect of the movie as a Catholic and a Christian because it shows that friendship is possible in spite of deadly combat.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies, which is hard, particularly in times of war.  Then again, if we actually followed this principle, there would be no need of this kind of fighting.  Unfortunately, when it does happen, it tends to tear apart bonds that had previously bound.  With these two you have a real-life example of how peace can be possible.  I pray, first, that all war cease, and when it does, that we can put aside what had driven up apart.

If you can make it through the entirety of Gettysburg, then more power to you.  It is one that is more for the true history buffs.  But, hey, one guy had a dream and that guy was Ted Turner.  He basically bank rolled the filming.  Take that for what you will.