Glory | |
---|---|
Directed by | Edward Zwick |
Screenplay by | Kevin Jarre |
Based on |
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Produced by | Freddie Fields |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Freddie Francis |
Edited by | Steven Rosenblum |
Music by | James Horner |
Production company | Freddie Fields Productions |
Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 122 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $18 million [1] |
Box office | $27 million [2] |
Glory is a 1989 American historical war drama film directed by Edward Zwick about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the Union Army's earliest African-American regiments in the American Civil War. It stars Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's commanding officer, and Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman as fictional members of the 54th. The screenplay by Kevin Jarre was based on the books Lay This Laurel (1973) by Lincoln Kirstein and One Gallant Rush (1965) by Peter Burchard and the personal letters of Shaw. The film depicts the soldiers of the 54th from the formation of their regiment to their heroic actions at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner.
Glory was co-produced by TriStar Pictures and Freddie Fields Productions, and distributed by Tri-Star Pictures in the United States. It premiered in limited release in the United States on December 15, 1989, and in wide release on February 16, 1990, grossing $27 million worldwide on an $18 million budget. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and won three, including Best Supporting Actor for Washington. It also won awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Golden Globe Awards, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, the Political Film Society, and the NAACP Image Awards.
After being wounded at Antietam, Captain Robert Gould Shaw is sent home to Boston on medical leave. His well-connected father obtains for him a promotion to colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army. Shaw appoints his friend and fellow soldier Cabot Forbes as his second-in-command. Their first volunteer is Thomas Searles, a bookish, free African-American who works as the Shaw family's secretary. Other recruits include John Rawlins, Jupiter Sharts, Silas Trip, and a mute teenage drummer boy whom Rawlins refers to as "Honey".
The men learn that in response to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy has issued an order that captured black men are to be returned to slavery. Black soldiers found wearing uniforms will be executed as well as their white officers. Shaw offers honorable discharges to any man who does not want to fight, but no one takes his offer. The men undergo rigorous training from Sergeant-Major Mulcahy, who is particularly hard on Searles. Despite Mulcahy's treatment of his friend and the abuse he inflicts on the other recruits, Shaw reluctantly accepts that tough discipline is needed to prepare them for the coming challenges the regiment must face.
Trip deserts and is caught, and Shaw orders him flogged in front of the regiment. He then learns that Trip left to find proper shoes because his men are being denied these supplies. Shaw confronts the base's racist quartermaster on their behalf and gets the supplies. He also supports his men in a pay dispute; the federal government decrees that black soldiers will only be paid $10, not the $13 per month all white soldiers receive. When the men, led by Trip, begin tearing up their pay vouchers in protest of this unequal treatment, Shaw tears up his own voucher and declares that none of the white officers will accept pay. In recognition of the leadership he has displayed, Rawlins is promoted to the rank of sergeant major.
Once the 54th completes its training, the unit is transferred to serve under the command of Brigadier General Charles Harker. On their first mission, the 54th is ordered by Colonel James Montgomery to sack and burn Darien, Georgia with Montgomery's own poorly disciplined black soldiers. Shaw initially refuses to obey an unlawful order but reluctantly agrees under threat of facing a court-martial and being relieved of his command. He continues to lobby his superiors to allow his regiment to fight after weeks of having nothing to do but backbreaking manual labor.
Shaw finally gets the 54th a combat assignment after he blackmails Harker and Montgomery by threatening to inform the War Department of their involvement in illegal profiteering. In its first battle at James Island, South Carolina, the 54th successfully repels a Confederate attack that had routed other units. During the battle, Searles is wounded but saves Trip from being stabbed in the back. Shaw offers Trip the honor of bearing the regimental flag in battle. He declines, unsure if winning the war would result in a better life for ex-slaves like himself.
General George Strong informs Shaw along with his fellow commanders of a major campaign to secure a foothold at Charleston Harbor. This involves assaulting Morris Island and capturing Fort Wagner, whose only landward approach is a strip of open beach; a charge is certain to result in heavy casualties. Shaw volunteers the 54th to lead the attack. The night before the battle, the black soldiers conduct a religious service. Several make emotional speeches, including Trip, who finally embraces his fellow soldiers. On its way to the battlefield, the 54th is cheered by the same Union troops who had scorned them earlier.
The 54th leads the charge on the fort at dusk, suffering serious losses. As night falls, the regiment is pinned down against the fort's walls. Attempting to encourage his men forward, Shaw is struck by several bullets and killed. Trip, despite his previous assertion that he would not do it, lifts the flag and tries to rally the men before himself being shot dead. Forbes and Rawlins take charge, and the soldiers break through the fort's outer defenses. Seemingly on the brink of victory, Forbes, Rawlins, Searles, Sharts, and the two color sergeants realize that the enemy has cannons pointed right at them. The morning after the battle, the beach is littered with the bodies of black and white Union soldiers; the Confederate flag is raised over the fort. The dead Union soldiers are buried in a mass grave, with Shaw's and Trip's bodies next to each other.
A textual epilogue reveals that the regiment lost over half its number during the assault and that Fort Wagner never fell to the Union Army. However, the courage demonstrated by the 54th spurred Congress to authorize the raising of black soldiers throughout the Union. Over 180,000 volunteered and President Abraham Lincoln credited them with helping to turn the tide of the war.
The title of the film recalls the "glory" for which the July 28, 1863, edition of the weekly Columbus Enquirer reported that First-Sergeant Robert John Simmons, mortally wounded at Battery Wagner, came to fight (Simmons himself wrote, in an account of the Battle of Grimball's Landing that was published in the New York Tribune on December 23, 1863: "God has protected me through this, my first fiery, leaden trial, and I do give Him the glory"). [3] [4]
Lincoln Kirstein had first approached Lloyd Fonvielle to write the script. Fonvielle was too in awe of Kirstein to collaborate effectively with him and introduced Kirstein to his friend, Kevin Jarre, who had worked on Rambo: First Blood Part II, they were originally going to write the script together, but Fonvielle got tied up in another project, leaving Jarre to write the script on his own. [5]
A Civil War buff since he was a child, Jarre met with Kirstein and talked about the 54th. As Jarre stated: "Lincoln’s interest was deeper. It related to his whole philosophy about surrendering yourself to something bigger, some larger cause. He’d always wanted to make a movie about the 54th". [6]
Jarre's inspiration for writing the film came from viewing the monument to Colonel Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in Boston Common. His screenplay was based on several sources, including the books Brave Black Regiment - History of the fifty-forth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (1891) by the 54th's Captain Luis F. Emilio, Lincoln Kirstein's Lay This Laurel (1973), and Peter Burchard's One Gallant Rush (1965), as well as the personal letters of Robert Gould Shaw. [7] [8] [9]
Jarre moved into Room 421 at the Gramercy Park Hotel and worked around the clock, writing the script in a few weeks on spec. [6] [5]
Kirstein showed the script to producer James Ivory of Merchant Ivory Productions. [6] Ivory liked the script but wanted Ruth Prawer Jhabvala to give it a rewrite. According to Fonvielle, Kirstein then got up, shook Ivory’s hand warmly, pulled him to his feet, said, “Jim, thanks so much for coming down,” and ushered him out the front door. [5]
The script was then sent to director Bruce Beresford, who committed to do it and brought in producer Freddie Fields, who then set up a deal at Columbia Pictures. [6]
When David Puttnam left Columbia, pre-production had stopped. Beresford left the project, and Fields then took the script to Tri-Star”. The studio agreed to do the film and hired Edward Zwick as director. [6]
Exterior filming took place primarily in Massachusetts and Georgia. Opening scenes meant to portray the Battle of Antietam show volunteer military reenactors filmed at a major engagement at the Gettysburg battlefield. Zwick did not want to turn Glory "into a black story with a more commercially convenient white hero". [10] Actor Morgan Freeman noted: "We didn't want this film to fall under that shadow. This is a picture about the 54th Regiment, not Colonel Shaw, but at the same time the two are inseparable". [10] Zwick hired the writer Shelby Foote as a technical adviser. Foote later became widely known for his contributions to Ken Burns' PBS nine-episode documentary, The Civil War (1990). [10]
Glory was the first major motion picture to tell the story of black U.S. soldiers fighting for their freedom from slavery during the Civil War. The 1965 James Stewart film Shenandoah also depicted black soldiers fighting for the Union, but the script suggested the Union army at that time was integrated.
On February 16, 1989, the body of a middle-aged man was discovered on the film's set in Savannah, about a day after his death. Described as having a Middle Eastern appearance, with no apparent signs of suffering a violent death, he was never positively identified. [11]
Glory's original motion picture soundtrack was released by Virgin Records on January 11, 1990. The score for the film was composed and orchestrated by James Horner in association with the Boys Choir of Harlem. [12] [13] Jim Henrikson edited the film's music, while Shawn Murphy mixed the score. [14]
A nonfiction study of the regiment first appeared in 1965 and was republished in paperback in January 1990 by St. Martin's Press under the title One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment. The book, by Peter Burchard, expands on how the 54th Massachusetts developed as battle-ready soldiers. [15] Summarizing the historical events, the book provides events surrounding the aftermath of the first Black Union regiment and how it influenced the outcome of the war. [15]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95%, based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's consensus states: "Bolstered by exceptional cinematography, powerful storytelling, and an Oscar-winning performance by Denzel Washington, Glory remains one of the finest Civil War movies ever made." [16]
Film critic Vincent Canby's review in The New York Times stated, "[Broderick] gives his most mature and controlled performance to date ... [Washington is] an actor clearly on his way to a major screen career ... The movie unfolds in a succession of often brilliantly realized vignettes tracing the 54th's organization, training and first experiences below the Mason-Dixon line. The characters' idiosyncrasies emerge". [7] Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a strong and valuable film no matter whose eyes it is seen through". [8] He believed the production design credited to Norman Garwood and the cinematography of Freddie Francis paid "enormous attention to period detail". [8]
Watching "Glory," I had one recurring problem. I didn't understand why it had to be told so often from the point of view of the 54th's white commanding officer. Why did we see the black troops through his eyes — instead of seeing him through theirs? To put it another way, why does the top billing in this movie go to a white actor?
— Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times [8]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was not impressed at all with the overall acting, calling Broderick "catastrophically miscast as Shaw". [17] Alternatively, Richard Schickel of Time described the picture by saying, "the movie's often awesome imagery and a bravely soaring choral score by James Horner that transfigure the reality, granting it the status of necessary myth". [18] Desson Howe of The Washington Post , pointed out some flaws that included mentioning Broderick as "an amiable non-presence, creating unintentionally the notion that the 54th earned their stripes despite wimpy leadership". [19]
James Berardinelli writing for ReelViews , called the film "without question, one of the best movies ever made about the American Civil War", noting that it "has important things to say, yet it does so without becoming pedantic". [20] Rating the film four stars, critic Leonard Maltin wrote that it was "grand, moving, breathtakingly filmed (by veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis) and faultlessly performed", calling it "one of the finest historical dramas ever made". [21]
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film a thumbs up review, saying, "like Driving Miss Daisy , this is another admirable film that turns out to be surprisingly entertaining". He thought the film took on "some true social significance" and felt the actors portrayed the characters as "more than simply black men". He explained: "They're so different, that they become not merely standard Hollywood blacks, but true individuals". [22]
American Civil War historian James M. McPherson stated the film "accomplished a remarkable feat in sensitizing a lot of today's black students to the role that their ancestors played in the Civil War in winning their own freedom". [23]
The film was nominated and won several awards in 1989–90. [24] [25] A complete list of awards the film won or was nominated for are listed below.
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
62nd Academy Awards [26] | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Denzel Washington | Won |
Best Art Direction | Norman Garwood, Garrett Lewis | Nominated | |
Best Cinematography | Freddie Francis | Won | |
Best Film Editing | Steven Rosenblum | Nominated | |
Best Sound | Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg Rudloff, Elliot Tyson, Russell Williams II | Won | |
41st ACE Eddie Awards [27] | Best Edited Feature Film | ———— | Won |
44th British Academy Film Awards [28] | Best Cinematography | Freddie Francis | Nominated |
British Society of Cinematographers Awards 1990 [29] | Best Cinematography | Won | |
Casting Society of America Artios Awards 1990 [30] | Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama | Mary Colquhoun | Nominated |
47th Golden Globe Awards [31] | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Freddie Fields | Nominated |
Best Director | Edward Zwick | Nominated | |
Best Screenplay | Kevin Jarre | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture | Denzel Washington | Won | |
Best Original Score | James Horner | Nominated | |
33rd Grammy Awards [32] | Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television | Won | |
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1989 [33] | Best Film | ———— | Won |
Best Director | Edward Zwick | Won | |
Best Supporting Actor | Denzel Washington | Won | |
NAACP Image Awards 1992 [34] [35] | Outstanding Motion Picture | ———— | Won |
Outstanding Supporting Actor | Denzel Washington | Won | |
1989 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards [36] | Best Picture | ———— | Nominated |
1989 New York Film Critics Circle Awards [37] | Best Supporting Actor | Denzel Washington | Nominated |
1990 Political Film Society Awards [38] | Human Rights | ———— | Nominated |
Writers Guild of America Awards 1989 [39] | Best Adapted Screenplay | Kevin Jarre | Nominated |
American Film Institute Lists
The film premiered in cinemas on December 14, 1989, in limited release within the US. During its limited opening weekend, the film grossed $63,661 in business showing at three locations. Its official wide release began in theaters on February 16, 1990. [2] Opening in a distant eighth place, the film earned $2,683,350 (~$5.34 million in 2022) showing at 801 cinemas. The film Driving Miss Daisy soundly beat its competition during that weekend opening in first place with $9,834,744. [40] The film's revenue dropped by 37% in its second week of release, earning $1,682,720. For that particular weekend, the film remained in 8th place screening in 809 theaters not challenging a top five position. The film Driving Miss Daisy, remained in first place grossing $6,107,836 in box office revenue. [41] Glory went on to top out domestically at $26,828,365 (~$55.4 million in 2022) in total ticket sales through a 17-week theatrical run. [2] For 1989 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 45. [42]
Following its release in theaters, the film was released on VHS video format on June 22, 1990. [43] The Region 1 DVD widescreen edition of the film was released in the United States on January 20, 1998. Special DVD features include: interactive menus, scene selections, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with subtitles in English, Italian, Spanish and French. [44] A Special Edition DVD of the Film was released on January 30, 2001.
A special repackaged version of Glory was also officially released on DVD on January 2, 2007. It includes two discs featuring: widescreen and full screen versions of the film; Picture-in-Picture video commentary by director Ed Zwick and actors Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick; a director's audio commentary; and a documentary entitled, The True Story of Glory Continues narrated by Morgan Freeman. Also included are: an exclusive featurette entitled, Voices of Glory, an original featurette, deleted scenes, production notes, theatrical trailers, talent files, and scene selections. [45]
The Blu-ray disc version of the film was released on June 2, 2009. Special features include: a virtual civil war battlefield, interactive map, The Voice of Glory feature, The True Story Continues documentary, the making of Glory, director's commentary, and deleted scenes. [46] The film is displayed in widescreen 1.85:1 color format in 1080p screen resolution. The audio is enhanced with Dolby TrueHD sound and is available with subtitles in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. [46] A UMD version of the film for the Sony PlayStation Portable was also released on July 1, 2008. It features dubbed, subtitled, and color widescreen format viewing options. [47]
William Harvey Carney was an American soldier during the American Civil War. Born enslaved, he was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1900 for his gallantry in saving the regimental colors during the Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863. The action for which he received the Medal of Honor preceded that of any other African American Medal of Honor recipient; however, his medal was actually one of the last to be awarded for Civil War service. Some African Americans received the Medal of Honor as early as April 1865.
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the Northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.
Fort Wagner or Battery Wagner was a beachhead fortification on Morris Island, South Carolina, that covered the southern approach to Charleston Harbor. It was the site of two American Civil War battles in the campaign known as Operations Against the Defenses of Charleston in 1863, in which United States forces took heavy casualties while trying to seize the fort.
United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand for more units from Union Army commanders, by the end of the war in 1865 USCT regiments, which numbered 175 in total, constituted about one-tenth of the manpower of the army. Approximately 20 percent of USCT soldiers were killed in action or died of disease and other causes, a rate about 35 percent higher than that of white Union troops. Numerous USCT soldiers fought with distinction, with 16 receiving the Medal of Honor. The USCT regiments were precursors to the Buffalo Soldier units which fought in the American Indian Wars.
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a Boston upper class abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment in the Northeast. Supporting the promised equal treatment for his troops, he encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equal to that of white troops' wage.
Edward "Ned" Needles Hallowell was an officer in the Union Army in the duration of the American Civil War, commanding the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry following the death of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863.
The Second Battle of Fort Wagner, also known as the Second Assault on Morris Island or the Battle of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, was fought on July 18, 1863, during the American Civil War. Union Army troops commanded by Brig. Gen. Quincy Gillmore launched an unsuccessful assault on the Confederate fortress of Fort Wagner, which protected Morris Island, south of Charleston Harbor. The battle came one week after the First Battle of Fort Wagner. Although a Confederate victory, the valor of the Black Union soldiers in the battle was hailed, which had long-term strategic benefits in encouraging more African-Americans to enlist allowing the Union to employ a manpower resource that the Confederacy could not emulate for the remainder of the war.
The Boston African American National Historic Site, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts's Beacon Hill neighborhood, interprets 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th-century African-American community, connected by the Black Heritage Trail. These include the 1806 African Meeting House, the oldest standing black church in the United States.
Kevin Noel Jarre was an American screenwriter, actor, and film producer. He adopted the last name of his adoptive father, Maurice Jarre.
Peter Burchard was an author, free-lance designer, and illustrator. He wrote the book One Gallant Rush (1965), about Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first African-American unit in the Union Army. It was adapted for the 1989 film Glory, which won numerous awards.
One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment (1965) is a book by Peter Burchard, based on letters written by Robert Gould Shaw, white colonel of the first black regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. They were the first of what became the United States Colored Troops. Nearly 200,000 African Americans fought in the war.
Beaufort National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in Beaufort County, in the city of Beaufort, South Carolina. Managed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 44.1 acres (17.8 ha), and as of 2024, had over 28,725 interments.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a significant role in national events prior to and during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Massachusetts dominated the early antislavery movement during the 1830s, motivating activists across the nation. This, in turn, increased sectionalism in the North and South, one of the factors that led to the war. Politicians from Massachusetts, echoing the views of social activists, further increased national tensions. The state was dominated by the Republican Party and was also home to many Radical Republican leaders who promoted harsh treatment of slave owners and, later, the former civilian leaders of the Confederate States of America and the military officers in the Confederate States Army.
Johnson Hagood was a planter, soldier and military officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, reaching the rank of brigadier general in the state militia and regular Confederate Army in 1862.
The 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was an African-American infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was among the scores of units raised starting in the middle of the war to augment Federal troop strength by tapping into the large Southern population of former slaves. The regiment, accompanied by Harriet Tubman, participated in the Raid at Combahee Ferry in which roughly 800 slaves were freed. It gained notoriety among certain quarters for its actions during the controversial looting and burning of the pro-Confederate town of Darien, Georgia. This operation was part of the Union strategy to damage the Confederate states' ability to supply food and materials towards their war effort.
The Battle of Grimball's Landing took place in James Island, South Carolina, on July 16, 1863, during the American Civil War. It was a part of the campaign known as Operations Against the Defenses of Charleston.
The Church of the Holy Apostles is an historic Carpenter Gothic Former-Episcopal church located at 1706 Hagood Avenue in Barnwell, South Carolina. On April 13, 1972, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Church of the Holy Apostles, Episcopal.
First Sergeant Robert John Simmons was a Bermudian who served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. He died in August 1863, as a result of wounds received in an attack on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina.
Charles Fessenden Morse was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War and, afterward, an influential businessman and civic leader in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens opposite 24 Beacon Street, Boston. It depicts Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading members of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as it marched down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863 to depart the city to fight in the South. The sculpture was unveiled on May 31, 1897. This is the first civic monument to pay homage to the heroism of African American soldiers.
Glory accomplished a remarkable feat in sensitizing a lot of today's black students to the role that their ancestors played in the Civil War in winning their own freedom.