Stephen Lang

Coming Up on TV: The two best Civil War films

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Jeff Daniels (center) in Gettysburg

The Civil War began 150 years ago this month, and TCM is broadcasting the two best Civil War movies on April 25.

Ron Maxwell’s 1994 Gettysburg is the gold standard of Civil War films.  It follows Michael Shaara’s superb historical novel The Killer Angels and depicts the decisive three day battle.  It was filmed on the actual battlefield with re-enactors.  Maxwell took great care in maintaining historical accuracy.  Civil War buffs will recognize many lines of dialogue as historical, as well as shots that recall famous photographs.  In addition, Gettysburg is especially well-acted, especially by Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger, Stephen Lang, Sam Elliott and Brian Mallon.

The other very best Civil War movie is the 1989 Glory, which tells the real-life story of an all-black unit in the Union Army.  Glory has tremendous performances by Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher, Morgan Freeman and Jihmi Kennedy.

Why hasn't there been a good Babe Ruth movie?

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Babe Ruth as Babe Ruth in The Pride of the Yankees

 

Why hasn’t there been a good biopic of Babe Ruth?  The three extant have ranged from unmemorable (1992’s The Babe with John Goodman and 1991’s Babe Ruth with Stephen Lang) to execrable (1948’s The Babe Ruth Story with the remarkably unathletic William Bendix).

Here is the greatest baseball player who ever lived.  (Only Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were in his league as a hitter, and Ruth was also a star pitcher in his early years – so there’s no argument that he was the greatest.)  Ruth transformed the game itself from station-to-station to the power game.

On top of that, The Babe was a great character:   a boisterous man of unrestrained appetites, a great athlete who did not look athletic, nevertheless charismatic and very funny.  He was made for the movies.  Unfortunately, the great Babe Ruth movie hasn’t been written.

Incidentally, Babe Ruth has been portrayed in 30 movies, the first seven times by Babe Ruth himself.

poor William Bendix