Fox Channel's Civil War Lies and Legends - Assassination of Lincoln: JWB

[BettyO]

CAUTION - Spoilers ahead!

Did anyone catch the Fox Channel's CW Lies and Legends episode last night pertaining to the Assassination of Lincoln/JWB ?!

While the costumes were somewhat good and only a few sets confusingly so, two of the chosen "talking heads" were rather odd - one chap from Columbia University and another "Willie Nelson" looking fellow - never heard or seen either one before.... The only recognizable and well-respected historians to appear were Harold Holzer and Kate Larson.

JWB is depicted as a deranged, psychopathic killer bent on revenging the South, while the rest of the conspirators appear more or less as rather dirty-looking "street people" described as a "ragtag" group who mostly sit and drink themselves silly.

Set errors are the interior of Ford's Theatre a big enough area to dance in; the box right at stage level - so much for a 12-foot leap from the box by which JWB supposedly/could have broken his leg. Here, JWB rather just steps over the railing onto the stage. By the way, his derringer is the size of a cannon....
JWB rides a black horse rather than a bay mare. When they arrive at the Surratt House (with brick steps to a long veranda porch), Lloyd rushes out with a carbine and hands it to Herold. How did Lloyd know they were coming? Did they phone first? Cut to Zekah Swamp - no Dr. Mudd is seen or mentioned whatsoever. What appears to be an entire Union Brigade is shown marching/searching for Booth in the woods, where he is finally found in what appears to be someone's wooden frame garage rather than a tobacco barn. JWB is shot and dies (after having his life flash before him!) on the grass in front of said structure; leaving one to wonder where was the Garrett House. Powell is shown slugging Fanny Seward and then running down the stairs with his hat still on his head. Quickly cut to the gallows at McNair - only being about 7-8 feet tall. Not a very far drop at all - it's a wonder they didn't all strangle.

Pretty strange show....

Here's a link: http://video.foxnews.com/v/5793114204001.../all-shows

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

[RJNorton]

Thanks for posting this, Betty. Do you know if the whole show is online? Maybe I am doing something wrong - all I am getting is the first 11 minutes and 59 seconds (ends with Mrs. Grant getting spooked by Booth at lunch at the Willard Hotel), and then the same 11 minutes and 59 seconds plays again over and over.

[BettyO]

It IS online - whole show....I downloaded it this morning. I'll look for it again - unless they removed it. If so, I'll send you MY copy and you can post a link. Is that OK?

[RJNorton]

Yes!

[BettyO]

Here is the Link to the FULL Video of CW Legends and Lies - The Killing of Lincoln: John Wilkes Booth -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtoGmljq...GLqmBOh2ut

Sorry for the Confusion!

[Gene C]

The didn't interview assassination expert and author, Bill O'Reilly?

I'm shocked.

[BettyO]

I was surprised at that as well, Gene!

[RJNorton]

(06-04-2018 01:15 PM)Gene C Wrote:  The didn't interview assassination expert and author, Bill O'Reilly?

I'm shocked.

The video has an interview with Martin Dugard and identifies him as the author of Killing Lincoln. No mention at all of Bill O'Reilly...

Thanks for posting the other link, Betty. All is working fine now.

[L Verge]

Thanks, Betty, for supplying the full video. I am sure that I will "stand corrected" by some of you, but I actually liked the production! Maybe I'm just worn out from cheering the Washington Capitals on to repeated victories, but I thought it was much more accurate in its history than most of the similar shows that I have endured over the past twenty years or so.

I know that this is a full Fox series on the Civil War, and I have not watched the others in the series, but I kept watching for the "Legends & Lies" about the assassination and heard none - unless they were insinuating that the whole, documented history as we know it is a legend or a lie. I thought they stayed pretty close to the facts, and I appreciated the 3-4 inserts taken directly from Booth's writings.

I gave up a long time ago finding fault with characters who did not look like the real historical figure, film sets that didn't match real life, etc. This time, I only gulped a bit when I saw such a good-looking Atzerodt, Mrs. Grant outside without a bonnet on her head, Lincoln falling back in the chair after being shot, and Mary being allowed in the death room at the moment of her husband's death.

What did become a distraction for me were the large amount of talking heads that kept popping in for 1-2 sentences. Since only about four of them were familiar to me, I started a list and spent this morning googling to see their qualifications. As far as being well-known in the Lincoln assassination field, only Kate Clifford Larson qualifies as far as I am concerned. If you were as clueless as I about the others, here's a score sheet:

Brian Kilmeade is actually a Fox News personality, but he is the author of books on Washington, Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson among others; Samuel Dolan is the author of a book on cowboys and gangsters, but also an Emmy winning producer; the only reason I knew the name of David Eisenbach is because a friend gave me his book, One Nation Under Sex, to read during my medical leave, but he has also written one on The Kingmakers about the modern day press; I was very familiar with W.C. Jameson, singer and songwriter as well as prolific author with a series of books on bad guys "Beyond the Grave" and also treasure hunter; I still haven't figured out who David Smith and Andrew Nelson are (men by their names have links to sports, but no mention of Booth); Brooks Simpson from ASU does seem to be a well-respected historian and CW author; and of course, Martin Dugard was familiar for obvious reasons -- a man who first wrote about long-distance runners and became a buzz word in the field of history...

All in all, I thought the acting was pretty well done. It was also nice to see a SMILING Lincoln -- even though I thought the uproarious guffaws during Our American Cousin were a tad overdone (especially for Lincoln, a President, and in the public eye during more gentlemanly times). Other than that, I will probably watch it again and come up with different opinions.

[LincolnMan]

I really like the Lincoln actor. I too was surprised that it portrayed him has laughing so strongly at the play. Somehow I never pictured him as doing so. I didn’t care for the Booth actor. I don’t think he looked like him enough, for one thing. Thanks Betty for the review. I noticed many of the goofs you pointed out. Oh well.

[L Verge]

I thought the Booth actor should gain some weight around the face; he seemed anorexic. He was definitely sinister looking, but he could not capture Booth's eyes (I'm still convinced that only Johnny Depp can do that). With modern contacts, there must be some way to add that evil, yet entrancing, shine into a Booth actor's persona.

BTW: I just learned the other day that Johnny Depp is blind in one eye and has very blurred vision in the other. He has had eye problems since a child and that is the reason why you generally see him in tinted glasses when off screen and in public.

[LincolnMan]

Yes, Johnny Depp would have been a better choice. Didn’t know about his eye problems!