Shenandoah (1965)

Thanks for the memories!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Admirable film.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

My husband asked me if this was a Disney movie, and I wasn't sure. It was a little too lite for a serious drama and then had some moments that were definitely to dark for Disney. Jimmy Stewart is good at chewing up the corn rows but most of the supporting younger actors were working with undeveloped characters and said little and woodenly when they did talk. A few complaints: Why did the Father take seven of his kids, including a daughter, to find the lost son, and leave the homestead protected by only one son, with a wife and baby. It would have been wildly dangerous to be traveling back and forth across battle lines at the end of the war. Better to have a few riders, and certainly not a young woman along. More dangerous was to leave such a wealthy home insufficiently protected. A fine home like that would have been ransacked and burned by both sides. Speaking of the house. That was one very fine home for that era and location. A single farmer who had to clear his own land with a growing family would have had a more modest farmhouse with more common interiors. That was mansion for a man who was a politician or lawyer. Fine millwork, big rooms, nice furniture. Were there really mansions like that in the Shenandoah in the 1860's for a farmer? I'm surprised that the Confederate Army hadn't already seized his stock and crops earlier in the war. Cold Mountain was more realistic. So was Friendly Persuasion for that matter. The scene where the scavenger trio go after the young wife was dark for a movie that up to that point had treated the female characters with delicacy. Again, it was the middle of the war, both armies are in the Valley. Yet the door is unlocked, and she didn't have a gun at hand to protect her baby? Costumes were nice, and close to realistic, for a Hollywood film, no hoop skirts. It just felt like a made for TV movie, or a John Wayne movie.

SHENANDOAH is a war western drama film that sends a family anti-war message from a dark and bloody environment. Mr. McLaglen made strong relations between the topics and melodrama. Therefore, the dialogues and actions, even the soundtrack, are very well focused around a harrowing family story.Charlie Anderson and his six sons run the family farm, while his daughter and his daughter-in-law take care of the housework, in the Commonwealth of Virginia during the Civil War. The family has no slaves. Charlie goes to church on Sundays, together with members of their families, out of respect for his late wife Martha. He internally blames God for taking his wife from him. Charlie's oldest son Jacob wants to join the war, but Charlie repeatedly tells his family that they won't join the war until it concerns them. However, the war will soon knock on their door...The warmth of a family story and bloody war interests are emphasized in detail. A lively and working family is faced with wartime circumstances. Their confrontation and loss deliver a realistic power to this film. Since one character dominates in almost all scenes, the characterization is not so bad.James Stewart as Charlie Anderson is a head of his family, which on its back bears a thematically burden of this film. He tries to keep his family at all costs, while war neatly sends its bills. Mr. Stewart, despite his age, doing a very good job. Although, I think he's got too much space in this film.All the other actors are in his shadow. Here we can mention Doug McClure (Sam) as a clumsy son in law and determined soldier, Phillip Alford (Boy) as Charlie's youngest son and character which has got a little more space next to his father, two beauties Rosemary Forsyth (Jennie) as as brave Charlie's daughter and Katharine Ross (Ann) as more braver daughter-in-law.

Released in 1965 and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, "Shenandoah" is a Civil War drama/western starring James Stewart as a curmudgeonly widower in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, trying to keep his sons out of the war because (1.) his big farm needs them since they have no slaves and don't believe in slavery, and (2.) he feels the war isn't his concern; at least, not until his youngest boy (Phillip Alford) is captured by the Yanks. Glenn Corbett and Patrick Wayne are on hand as his other sons while Rosemary Forsyth and Katharine Ross play his daughter and daughter-in-law respectively. The former is romanced by a Confederate soldier, played by Doug McClure. Mel Gibson & Roland Emmerich took the basic plot of "Shenandoah" to forge 2000's "The Patriot," which is okay because they changed more than enough to make it stand on its own. The only problem I have with "Shenandoah" is that it substitutes California & Oregon for Virginia and you can always discern the difference when the movie shows the decidedly coniferous hills in the background. Other than that, they do a pretty good job of making the locations look like the Shenandoah Valley.The movie was released during the Centennial of the war's end. It doesn't focus on conventional Civil War-type battles, but is dramatically-driven within the war's context and effectively so. Stewart easily carries the movie. Unfortunately, there are some dubious or eye-rolling elements, like the kid wearing a Confederate cap he finds and his dad & brothers not objecting to the folly of this with Yanks operating 5-12 miles away. There are other obvious examples, but the film accomplishes what it sets out to do: It entertainingly brings the viewer into the midst of the conflict and the inherent challenges thereof. But the movie will likely drive erudite sticklers nuts. The film runs 105 minutes. GRADE: B

There are many historical inaccuracies in this movie, I am aware of them. There are issues that some would mock that make the movie seem moronic concerning plot problem (i.e. the boy wearing the confederate hat and none of the family addressing that issue. But when you look at the many war movies of the 20th and 21st century you see so many horrid inconsistencies and outright instances of pure propaganda that glorify war and demonize various groups of people such as the southern citizens and Native Americans, I have no problem overlooking the errors of this movie when i see the underlying message speaks volumes to those who understand the the war in Vietnam and all the ensuing wars our nation has taken up in the name of "freedom" that has only furthered the military industrial complex and expanded the power of our tyrannical government. In light of these facts, I find that this movie is a refreshing change from so many movies that Hollywood churned out as propaganda that helped form an opinion that America was right to become an Imperialistic power to involve itself in so many countries and sacrifice our sons and daughters to further the immoral cause to spread "democracy" to other countries rather than fighting to keep our own country free of tyrants who call themselves "leaders" who answer to corporations and special interest groups.I feel that Jimmy Stewart's speeches throughout the movie, particularly to Johnson and at the end of the movie when he speaks to his dead wife at the grave encapsulate what most libertarians feel about the role of government in our lives. Leave us alone to raise our families and let us decide what is right for us. If you interfere with that you should expect us to withdraw our consent to be governed by you. After all, it was what our forefathers chose to do with the government of England and it led to the revolution. The War of Northern Aggression against the Southern States wasn't about Slavery, it was about the state's right to govern themselves. If they had been allowed to secede from the union slavery would have ended peacefully without the killing of so many men. 2 separate countries, one free and one slave holding could not have existed very long when slaves were able to flee to a free country without any threat of return. Brazil went through the same process during this time and eventually outlawed slavery without the bloodshed. War is never right, it is the worst possible solution, this movie clearly points this out when a man and his family is forced to engage in this war. the outcome is never positive.