Glory (film)

Infobox Film
name = Glory


caption = Theatrical release poster
imdb_id = 0097441
writer = Kevin Jarre
starring = Matthew Broderick
Denzel Washington
Cary Elwes
Morgan Freeman
Andre Braugher
director = Edward Zwick
producer = Freddie Fields
cinematography = Freddie Francis
editing = Steven Rosenblum
distributor = TriStar Pictures
released = December 15 1989
runtime = 122 min.
country = United States
language = English | music = James Horner
awards =
budget = $18,000,000 (est.)

"Glory" is a 1989 drama war film based on the history of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment during the American Civil War. The 54th was one of the first formal units of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African American men (apart from the officers).

ynopsis

The movie begins with newly promoted Captain Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) at the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862. His troops are nearly destroyed and he is trapped between gunfire and cannon fire. Grazed by shrapnel, he falls near a dead soldier and passes out. He is awakened by a black grave digger named John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). Despite what happened at Antietam, Shaw is appointed commander of the first all black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts. Hesitant, he agrees, with his childhood friend, Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes), as the executive officer. Their first volunteer is another one of Shaw's friends, an educated, literate, free black man named Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher).

They soon have hundreds of men joining the regiment, including John Rawlins, a proud escaped slave named Trip (Denzel Washington), and a young, free black man named Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy). Once at camp, Thomas, Rawlins, Trip, and Sharts all share one tent, along with a mute drummer boy. Shaw soon learns of a Confederate proclamation that any black caught bearing arms against the Confederacy will immediately be returned to a state of slavery. Any black captured wearing a Federal uniform will summarily be hanged. Any white officer leading a Negro regiment in battle against the Confederacy will also be executed. After learning this, he gave the men and Forbes an opportunity to be discharged. But to his surprise the following morning, all remained.

Shaw then hires Sergeant Mulcahy, a tough Irish-American in the army, to properly train the men for the battles ahead. Shaw also became much more strict as, when the guns arrive, he makes Sharts, who already has the best shooting skills among the enlisted men, shoot while Shaw fires toward the sky right behind his head to prove the point that aiming/firing by yourself is much easier than aiming/firing in battle. Though disgusted, Forbes carries out Shaw's request to train the men properly. Meanwhile, Thomas is finding life in camp hard, as he is the weakest and slowest of the men and is constantly being teased by Trip for being educated like a white man. Trip himself was also not adjusting well to camp life, and was always at odds with the other men, especially Rawlins. One night, he leaves camp to get some shoes, as his current shoes are worn out. He is then caught and it is assumed by the army that he was a deserter. Shaw has him flogged in front of the entire regiment, proceeding after seeing that his back is severely scarred from prior floggings. Shaw, after learning the truth from Rawlins, was able to force the supply officer to finally give the men new socks and shoes.

Soon, the men are assembled to receive long-awaited pay. However, upon learning that they will receive a ten dollar wage rather than the promised thirteen dollar pay (because they are a colored regiment), the men, at Trip's provocation, tear up their wage sheets. Presumably to show solidarity with his soldiers, Shaw follows suit. However, spirits rise as the men receive uniforms; Jupiter is especially happy, as he had long-desired a "blue suit". Before leaving Massachusetts, the regiment, dressed in new uniforms, file in review through the streets of Boston, passing Frederick Douglass and Governor Andrew in the reviewing stand.

During the subsequent march south, Shaw appoints Rawlins as Sergeant Major, making him the highest ranking enlisted man in the regiment. Shaw soon learns that there is another all black regiment called the "contraband", more rabble than soldiers, looting whenever the opportunity arises. Colonel James Montgomery (Cliff De Young), a higher-ranking officer in charge of the contraband regiment, orders Shaw to burn the town of Darien, Georgia, which the contraband regiment has just looted. Shaw initially resists the order but, under threat of court-martial (and Montgomery's statement that Shaw's men would become his under such circumstances), reluctantly orders his men to do so. Likewise, the troops, although disgusted with their fellows' craven behavior, carry out their orders dutifully well aware their commander has no choice in the matter.

Shaw and his men soon become frustrated that they have been assigned only to manual labor, not being allowed to fight in any battles, and that white soldiers disrespect them. After Shaw approaches the area commander with a threat to expose illegal activities undertaken by his command, Shaw's request that the regiment be allowed to fight is finally granted. In battle, the regiment pushes back a Confederate attack. Thomas, who earlier in the battle saved Trip from a Confederate soldier, is shot but lives.

Shortly thereafter, Shaw volunteers the 54th Massachusetts to be the lead regiment to attack Fort Wagner. On the night before the attack, the men sing at the camp fire to raise their spirits up for the imminent battle. The next day, the 54th Massachusetts is honored by both white soldiers and officers as it marches toward Fort Wagner. They then charge the fort under heavy enemy fire, and take shelter in the sand dunes. At nightfall, Shaw leads the men in a charge across the remaining beach. With the Rebels on the top of the fort firing down on them, Shaw turns to see the American flag down. He gets up and attempts to rally the men forward up the hill but is quickly shot and killed. Trip (who earlier in the film, said that he doesn't want to hold the flag) gets up, lifts the flag, and rallies the men. He is then shot, but holds up the flag, even while dying. The remaining men, led by Forbes and Rawlins, charge at the Rebels. The men slowly make their way to the top and enter the fort, only to be met by waiting Confederate cannons. The scene ends before the men are presumably killed by the firing cannons.

The film concludes with the Confederates still holding the fort, while slain men of the 54th Massachusetts, including Shaw and Trip, are buried by the Confederates in a mass grave (with their shoes removed). The 54th lost half its men that day but earned glory, sparking the creation of many more black regiments. By the end of the war, there were some 300,000 African-American men in uniform, a fact which President Abraham Lincoln considered instrumental in securing victory in the war. Fort Wagner was never taken during the war, though the CSA forces abandoned it eventually.

Cast

Comparisons with historical fact

Articleissues
citations missing = June 2008
trivia = June 2008
OR = June 2008

* The film depicts the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry training through the Christmas holidays of 1862 (after the September 1862 Battle of Antietam), but the real 54th Massachusetts did not organize until March 1863, and they were engaged in their first battle on James Island, SC on 16 July 1863, and then Battery Wagner (the final battle in the film) on 18 July 1863.
* The film suggests that most of the black soldiers were former slaves from Southern secessionist states who wished to fight for the abolitionist North, but in fact the majority were born free in the North, although some did escape from slavery.Fact|date=June 2008
* Of the major characters in the movie's version of the regiment, only Robert Gould Shaw was a real person. The rest are composite characters. The name of Shaw's executive officer (Cabot Forbes) is a combination of the first name from one of the real Shaw's friends and the last name of another.
[
right|thumb|200px|Sgt_William H. Carney, .]
* In the film, Shaw is offered and accepts the job to be the commanding officer of the 54th on the same day. In reality, he rejected the offer once and accepted only after many days when his parents threatened to disinherit him. Shaw is also shown as promoted directly to colonel, whereas his record indicates he was a major for several months as the regiment grew in strength and was at last promoted to colonel just prior to the regiment being deployed.
* Flogging was banned in the Union Army in 1861. Pvt. Trip would not have been whipped, at least not by someone as by-the-book as Col. Shaw.
* The incident just before the charge into Fort Wagner in which Colonel Shaw points to the flag bearer and asks "If this man should fall, who will lift the flag and carry on?" is based on a real event. However, the person who asked the question was General George Crockett Strong; Shaw was the person who responded. When the flag bearer fell, another black soldier, Sergeant William Harvey Carney, grabbed the flag and carried it all the way to the bulwarks of Fort Wagner. He remained there under enemy fire until the 54th was forced to retreat. Sergeant Carney struggled back to Union lines with the flag, receiving four wounds from which he recovered. Carney became the first black .
* Colonel Shaw was married, but his wife is not depicted in the film.
* The manner in which Colonel Shaw dies in the movie is based on fact. His final words were "Forward, Fifty-fourth!" before he was shot several times in the chest. However, though the film depicts him falling on the parapet, he in fact made it to the top and his body fell into the fort. ["Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw", ed. Russell Duncan (Athens & London: The University of Georgia Press, 1992), 52.]
* The final scene of the film shows Shaw's body being thrown into the burial pit alongside his fallen men. This is historically accurate, although his body was in fact first stripped of his uniform, [Kathy Dhalle, "A Biography of Robert Gould Shaw," http://www.bitsofblueandgray.com/june2003.htm] but in the film, only his shoes and socks are missing. When Shaw's parents inquired about his body, the Confederate commander responded, "We buried him with his niggers." It seems to have been meant as an insult, but Shaw's father later said that he was proud that his son was buried next to his men.
* In the movie, it is claimed that "over half" of the regiment was lost during the assault on Fort Wagner. However, official records state that the 54th sustained 272 casualties, which is closer to 40%. Of these casualties, only 116 were fatalities, just under one fifth of the men to storm the fort. If the 156 soldiers that were captured are included, it would bring the total to "over half". In formal military terms, though, "casualties" include captured soldiers. In any event, by most standards, including those of the Civil War, these are heavy casualties and the regiment was widely viewed as having performed bravely indeed.
* The movie's epilogue also claims that "the fort was never taken." While it is true that the fort was never taken by force, it was abandoned by the Confederate Army two months later.
* In the movie, the ocean is on the left side of the regiment when they charge the fort; this was allegedly done in order to get the best quality of light at the time of filming. In reality, however, the regiment charged with the ocean on their right, or coming from the south. Also, the approach was along a narrow spit at high tide.
* The real second in command was first Lt. Colonel Norwood Penrose Hallowell, then later, at the time of the attack against Fort Wagner, was his younger brother Edward Needles Hallowell, who later went on to become colonel and lead the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The fictional Major Cabot Forbes, played by Cary Elwes, is based on Edward Needles Hallowell. Although he was seriously wounded, Hallowell did survive the attack on the fort and led the regiment until it disbanded in 1865. He retired with the rank of Brigadier General.
* In the movie, Shaw is surprised when the men refuse pay that was reduced because they are a "colored" regiment (though he eventually joins them in their refusal). In reality, the refusal was his idea, and he encouraged them to do it.
* In the attack on Fort Wagner, the regiment volunteers to be the vanguard of the charge, when in fact they did not volunteer, but were commanded to lead the charge.
* Years after the film was made, it came to light that the word "Glory" was used by one of the men of the Regiment. First Sergeant Robert John Simmons, of B Company, was a twenty-six year old Bermudian clerk, probably from St. George's, believed to have joined the 54th on 12th March, 1863 (many Black and White Bermudians fought for the Union, mostly in the US Navy. Many more profiteered from the war by smuggling arms to the South). Simmons was introduced to Frances George Shaw, father of Col. Shaw, by William Wells Brown, who described him as "a young man of more than ordinary abilities who had learned the science of war in the British Army". In his book, "The Negro in the American Rebellion", Brown said that "Frances George Shaw remarked at the time that Simmons would make a 'valuable soldier'. Col. Shaw also had a high opinion of him". Sgt. Simmons was mentioned in an 1863 article of the "Weekly Columbus Enquirer", which described him as "a brave man and of good education. He was wounded and captured. Taken to Charleston, his bearing impressed even his captors. After suffering amputation of the arm, he died there." The newspaper also described him as saying that he fought "for glory". Simmons, who had been specially mentioned among the enlisted men of the 54th by Shaw's successor, Col. Hallowell, and who had been awarded a private medal, died in August, 1863, following the attack on Fort Wagner. [http://www.freemaninstitute.com/markcollect.htm]

oundtrack

James Horner composed the soundtrack to the film. One of the most popular tracks is "Charging Fort Wagner", an adaptation of Carl Orff's "O Fortuna". This music plays when the regiment charges the fort. The Boys Choir of Harlem were featured on the entirety of the soundtrack.

Awards

The film was nominated for five categories and won three Oscars:

* Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Denzel Washington.
* Oscar for Best Cinematography - Freddie Francis.
* Oscar for Best Sound Mixing - Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg C. Rudloff, Elliot Tyson, Russell Williams II.
* Nomination for Art Direction - Norman Garwood (art direction) & Garrett Lewis (set decoration).
* Nomination for Film Editing - Steven Rosenblum.

References

* Luis F. Emilio, "A Brave Black Regiment: A History of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry: 1863-1865" (Boston: The Boston Book Company, 1891).
*James M. McPherson, “The ‘Glory’ Story,” "The New Republic", January 8 & 15, 1990, pp. 22-27. (film review)

Cited references

External links

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* [http://www.articlemyriad.com/111.htm Analysis of the character Trip in "Glory"]
* [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/moviespeeches.htm Text, Audio, Video of 4 Speeches from the Film]