Spielberg's Lincoln

[RJNorton]

Kate, many of the things you noted were almost word for word what my wife said as we walked to the parking lot after seeing the movie.

[rbrugler]

Saw it @ Gettysburg with 300 folks from the Lincoln Forum which included two consultants on the movie. Quite a challenging audience for the movie.

Almost to a person it was evaluated as powerful, informative & well worth seeing again. At the theater, you can not stop it to discuss the scenes. Can not wait for the DVD with Director's Cuts.

Harold Holzer & Gabor Boritt were consultants & made suggestions. Some were taken, others were not.

SEMI-SPOILER ALERT......in the movie:

1-You know who did not strike his son,
2-Mary did not sit in the gallery of the House,
3-the actor who portrayed Grant was too tall, had reddish hair & beard and was too talkative for the normally quiet General.

[Hess1865]

Thankfully Grant was not portrayed as a boozing nincompoop

[ReignetteC]

The LA Film Critics Association snubbed "Lincoln."

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/12/0...e-lincoln/

[LincolnMan]

What in the world were they thinking?

[JMadonna]

(12-06-2012 07:58 AM)ewtsmail Wrote:  How historically accurate is this movie? Was Lincoln the great emancipator? I have read in some books that Lincoln would be considered a racist by todays standard.

By today's standards EVERYONE is a racist except the person making the accusation.

[Linda Anderson]

Here is an interview with Sally Field about her role as Mary Lincoln.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...-more.html

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(12-09-2012 09:00 PM)ReignetteC Wrote:  The LA Film Critics Association snubbed "Lincoln."

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/12/0...e-lincoln/

Roger Friedman calls the LA Film Critics Association "an iconoclastic group that often makes surprising and unpredictable choices..."

http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/10/la-...ur-actress

[RJNorton]

Maybe I am misreading it, but I felt that Sally Field leans toward favoring the "Tripp thesis" in that one comment she made.

Regarding the awards, I wonder if either David Strathairn or Tommy Lee Jones will receive any support for best supporting actor.

[JMadonna]

Well Walton Goggins wont, but he's just a terrific character actor.

[LincolnMan]

Roger, I read the Sally Field interview a few times. I really don't think she was leaning towards Lincoln being gay-at least it wasn't what I came away with. I was suprised by her comment that MTL had quite a sexual appetite (or something to that effect). I don't think I've ever read Mary described as having such.

[Sally]

I loved the movie. Obviously, DDL did a great job. But I was also impressed by how much the other actors looked like the real people they were portraying. My only disappointment was the way Robert was portrayed. (I'm kind of an RTL fan.)

First, I've always read that he didn't grow a mustache until after his father's assassination. I know this is a minor point, but it seems odd to me that the producers did such a great job getting almost every other detail correct, yet this one slipped by them.

My second (minor) quibble was that Robert had a southern accent. It has also been my understanding that, in his efforts to distance himself from his father's "homespun" background, the young RTL put on the eastern airs and accent of his schoolfriends from Phillips Exeter and Harvard.

Third, as has been stated, Lincoln would NEVER have hit any of his sons. I don't know why that was put in there.

Finally, I was somewhat surprised by the intimation that Robert was conceived on the wrong side of the marriage certificate. This occurred in the scene where Mary and Lincoln are arguing over Lincoln's decision to let Robert join the army. Mary makes a comment to the effect that Lincoln never liked Robert because he was the reason he'd been roped into a marriage that made him miserable. Did anyone else get that? I suppose, since RTL was born only nine months after the wedding, they could easily have fudged his birth certificate for the sake of "decency". But wouldn't that have come out somehow? Mary had so many enemies, like Herndon. You'd think he would have loved to prove that she'd been a "fallen woman". Or did I somehow miss that in Herndon's writings?

[RJNorton]

(12-10-2012 08:08 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I was suprised by her comment that MTL had quite a sexual appetite (or something to that effect). I don't think I've ever read Mary described as having such.

Good morning, Bill. It's 5:07 A.M. as I write this, and normally I am not thinking too much on this topic at this time of day (especially at my age). I cannot tell you what page it's is on, but I am pretty sure Jean Baker mentions this in her biography of Mary Lincoln. She talks about how women didn't openly discuss topics like this in that era, but her conclusion is that Mary indeed had a strong appetite for intimacy with her husband. At least that is my memory at this early hour of the day.

[LincolnMan]

Roger, you and I are early birds for sure. I written posts that early as well-sometimes earlier. Maybe we "need a life?" That's great information. It shows that Sally Field did her homework. Well, that's another to put in my "mental file" of all things Lincoln.

[Rob Wick]

If one article could sum up the film for most people, I think this one might.

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Rob: What a great review. Thanks for finding it and providing the link.