Glory

Glory (1989)

Runtime: 122 minutes

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, Cary Elwes

From: Tri-Star

It seemed appropriate to view this today when it played on Turner Classic Movies; today in the United States is Veterans Day and other places call it Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. This is a movie I have checked out before, albeit at least twenty years ago or so. To the movie's credit, I did remember more than one powerful scene through that long gap between viewings.

In essence it is a standard movie based on true events (although not entirely historically accurate) during the American Civil War where Robert Gould Shaw is a Colonel and he is tasked with leading the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, only the second-ever all black regiment in the Union Army. A ragtag group of people have to come together and while the training was harsh, it was still fair and as Shaw was the son of abolitionists, he does support his troops. Naturally there are conflicts-even among the soldiers-but through all the trials and tribulations, it is a compelling story and when there are combat scenes, it is a smoke-filled hellish landscape which can leave soldiers shell-shocked due to all the chaos & brutality.

I know some have criticized how the movie is framed around Shaw; well, it's based on letters written by Shaw at the time and plenty of time is spent with the troops. You get to know the main players and the most memorable performance was from Denzel Washington, as an antagonistic person mad at the world. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for such moments as when he was captured after going AWOL; later you see he did this not because he was deserting (his intentions were more noble) but his punishment was... being whipped. Yes, this was one of the scenes I recalled from long ago.

Matthew Broderick and Cary Elwes are fine as Shaw and his second in command, but what left the biggest impression was Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher; of course they were all distinctive as they played wildly different characters. Mix in the typical quality James Horner score and I was relieved this was a good as I recollected it being.