Glory (1989)

Another long forgotten epic that really is quite a fantastic film, loosely covering the days of Col Robert Shaw and his command of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry around 1862 which consisted of African American soldiers.Upon reading about this film its actually quite impressive how reasonable close the film is to fact, major events are covered within the film such as Shaw and his men refusing pay until they gained equal pay with white troops and even his death seems to be quite accurate, normally these things tend to get a Hollywood make over.I guess the main plus point is the fact the film is based around all the characters and not just Shaw, you care about all the men under his command and get to know many of them well (the main cast), this in turn makes it more emotional as the predictable happens towards the finale. The cast are really on form here too, possibly one of Broderick's best performances despite his marginal acting skills, he still seems too weak and shy to me. Morgan is perfect as the wise older soldier (I think he was born old n wise hehe), Washington makes his first real big film here, maybe a bit too 'in the face' in his performance but the rest is history (no pun intended) and Elwes is solid as the second in command with his classic blonde 'Errol Flynn' type features.I tend to forget this was made way way back in 89 as it looks really spot on with costume, sets, location, stunts, weapons...the works, its all made with the care and attention to detail you would expect in a modern epic. Musical score is probably one of the films biggest factors with a sweeping emotional score combined with choir that really brings home the savage needless death of so many.All in all this is a highly enjoyable historical film that is pretty accurate without stooping to over the top glamorisation (much), looks fantastic and is totally a character driven piece making it completely immersing for the viewer, Broderick even looks like Shaw.