Gettysburg | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Ronald F. Maxwell |
Produced by |
Moctesuma Esparza Robert Katz |
Screenplay by | Ronald F. Maxwell |
Based on |
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara |
Starring | |
Narrated by | W. Morgan Sheppard |
Music by | Randy Edelman |
Cinematography | Kees Van Oostrum |
Edited by | Corky Ehlers |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date
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Running time
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254 minutes 271 minutes (director's cut) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15 million or $25 million |
Box office | $10.8 million |
254 minutes
Gettysburg is a 1993 American epic war film written and directed by Ronald F. Maxwell,adapted from the historical novel The Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara, about the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. The film stars Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, and Martin Sheen; its score was composed by Randy Edelman.
The film begins with an account of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee, crossing the Potomac River to invade the North in June 1863, marching across Maryland and into Pennsylvania. On June 30, Confederate spy Henry Thomas Harrison reports to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, commander of the First Corps, that the Union Army of the Potomac is moving in their direction, and that Union commander Joseph Hooker has been replaced by George Meade. Longstreet reports the information to General Lee, who is concerned that the army is moving "on the word of an actor", as opposed to that of his cavalry chief, J. E. B. Stuart. Nonetheless, Lee orders the army to concentrate near the town of Gettysburg. At the Union encampments near Union Mills, Maryland, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine is ordered to take in 120 men from the disbanded 2nd Maine who had resigned in protest, with orders to shoot any man who refuses to fight. Chamberlain speaks to the men, and is able to persuade all but six to take up arms.