@bushhunter90001 The song is "Kathleen Mavourneen," an Irish-American pop song that was popular in the US before the war. "Kathleen Mavourneen, the gray dawn is breaking, the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill. The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking, oh Kathleen Mavourneen, why slumbering still? Hast thou forgotten how soon we must sever?Hast thou forgotten this day we must part? It may be for years, it may be forever, why art thou silent, voice of my heart?"
@rob9641 Pop Song I think you mean Operatic Air, written by a written by an English man. Its about as Irish as St. Patricks Day on an Indian Reservation.
Oh wow! Perhaps the most honest performance i have ever seen. That wasn't Richard Jordan speaking, that was Gen. Lewis Armistead right there. Even with Almira Hancock being just a thought in this scene, he brought her to life in all her splendor, its like all of a sudden you know who she is w/o seeing her. How is it that every time i see this my emotions are like the first time i saw it. Every time.
this film and esp this scene makes me see this country is, or at least once was a family; we fight, kill, argue and try to hurt eachother, but brother to brother we still love one another. happy birthday, america.
This scene makes me reflect upon my own life and friendships every time I see it. After all these years it still brings tears to my eyes. Definitely one of the best acted pieces I have ever seen. These two play off each other really well.
For whatever reason no one at the Motion Picture Academy looked kindly one these films. Jordan should have gotten a nomination for this role (as should have Stephen Lang in "Gods and Generals"). This is one of best performances I have ever seen on film.
I love this scene. It really gives you a good idea about what the War was really about. Good men served on both sides. When people decipher which side was right or wrong, they are wasting their time. Someone's philosophical standpoint meant nothing during that time. You simply fought for the state in which you lived.
Soldiers don't die for ideals, they die for one another and their respected units.
" So exactly how many of your relatives are apes?" Kemper's quip was hilarious. There was humor amid all the honor in that war. Not sure of course if Kemper actually made that joke to Pickett, but it's within the realm of reality.
I'm glad to see there are other people out there who appreciate this scene, and this movie as much as I do. My favorite line is "I went over to Hancock, I took him by the shoulder, I said Wynn, so help me, if I ever raise my hand againest you, may God strike me dead" That should be how we all feel about our brothers and sisters....Armistead's final request is another scene that is too beautiful for words.
PS: Best score ever written, still my favorite to date.
This is indeed an excellent moment for Jordan . . . an excellent and wholly underappreciated actor. But I'd also like to say a few words about Berenger's performance in this scene. The expression on his face as he watches Jordan go through his personal agony. To my way of thinking, Berenger is portraying one of the most thankless jobs a military commander must surely face: having to send his friends into what must seem certain death, and walking on emotional eggshells all the while.
@Setebos My favorite Berenger moment in this scene is at 5:45 - he's shaking just a bit, like his foot (off camera) is moving nervously back and forth. I don't know why, but I love that. I assume Berenger knew he was doing it, but maybe not. I don't even know if Berenger's reaction shots were filmed with Jordan playing to him or just somebody else feeding him the lines, but 5:45 has a very real feel to it.
I start to cry when Armistead is mentioning all the places where Hancock had served and he stuttered a bit when he mentioned Fredericksburg seeing as it was mainly Hancock's division that got mauled on Mayre's Heights.
Richard Jordan in this scene...I'm a student of film. I've seen lots, analyzed and criticized many, and loved quite a few. Of all the performances that have moved me, this one...breaks me up every time. So natural and unaffected, real. This man shows grief and regret and a love of family/friends in a way that is unreal. The score just adds to it. God...this man was a miracle in this scene. When he says, "Maybe for years, maybe forever..." haven't we all reminiced this way? R.I.P. Jordan.
@Shagrat65 A lot of people have asked me that question. The only answer I have is that nobody in Hollywood was going to do anything for a Ted Turner film. On the other hand, he STILL gets big ovations in at the Gettysburg battlefield - I've heard them myself. Longer lasting than an Oscar.
@rob9641: Hey bud thanks for the quick reply. Thats good to see and your right of course. They don't mean anything really but I would have liked him to get more recognition. He was incredible in that movie.
Friend, this is on a unrelated note, do you reckon we will ever see the 6 hour cut of Gods and Generals with the battle of Antietam? I know Maxwell had problems in owing the distributers money, something like $1 million was it? A shame as I know he has shown it in a few screenings in the U.S
@Shagrat65 On G&G with Antietam restored - supposed to be coming this summer, with a screening at the Hylton Center in Mannassas VA on July 22 and 23, with Maxwell, J Daniels, R Duvall and S Lang in attendance.
@rob9641 The DVDBlueray should be out this summer. Word is a director's cut of Gettysburg will follow, but I don't know when, and I don't know when either will get "across the pond" - hopefully, right away.
@underarmar099 General Lewis A. Armistead is my all-time favorite historical figure. The story of his life is truly a sad one. I cannot imagine the emotional suffering he went through with losing both his wives and some children, and much inbetween those early years until the war when he had to face his dearest friend on opposing sides. So very sad, yet he was a brave soul... the epitomy of true courage.
I wish they had treated on what was IN the package. It was Armistead's Bible. These people were deeply religious, this movie (while vastly superior to most Hollywood treatments) does not do this justice. It is especially disappointing in Chamberlaine's utter fatuity (as presented in the movie) re: religion. He was a prof. of natural theology after all.
@VictorLepanto At the end of the film they tell what happened to the men. They say Armistead died and that the package contained his personal Bible. In reality, Armistead left that package with Almyra Hancock on the night he left California.
@VictorLepanto Another FYI if you didn't know - Armistead had written in his Bible "Trust in God and fear nothing" - one of the other things he's known for in Civil War circles because it summed him up well.
@JohnCronin103 - Since I am this "Rob person," please tell me where I have been proven wrong on other Civil War Issues. I'm always interested in learning from my mistakes.
@JohnCronin103 Your right John. Everything I post, he rebutes it with me or complains of my spelling. Like I said to him before, he must of been their in 1863 cause he knows about everything that happened.
@deerhunter59ify I don't know what rebutes means and I never claimed to know everything that happened, but I do ask for citations of your claims in good faith, and you haven't given me any. Sniping will get you nowhere.
@VictorLepanto Religion does run thru the film. Lee is always talking to God, reciting Bible verses. Armistead talks about how Lee is seen as an angel of the Lord and commends his spirit to God as he goes into a battle he knows he's going to get killed in (Armistead is a Christ figure if there ever was one in film). In this scene, he's afraid because he made a vow that God should strike him dead, and he knows God will strike him dead.
@VictorLepanto This is a complicated scene - Amstd is crushed because he has to face Hancock, afraid because he knows God will strike him dead, regretful because he had to leave his old US outfit,resolved because he knows he's going to go into battle no matter what, relieved because Longstreet will take his Bible to Almyra and after that he's totally resolved. Remember his line to Fremantle - "WE'RE all here..." Jordan NAILED this part. I wish he'd lived to see that.
@rob9641 This scene gets to me every time, even more so now that I've ~read~ Gods and Generals and am making my way through The Killer Angels. The next time I visit the spot he fell, I know it's going to hit me harder than the first. ...after I get done watching children giggle at the chipmunks that now reside under the monument, crafty little buggars that they are... This is such a wonderfully acted scene. He outdid himself. And it still creeps me out how much they all LOOK their parts!
@StudioONY I think I remember Jeff Schaara saying the only time he ever saw his father cry was at the monument where Armistead fell. You have good company.
@Tony750410: That scene is rather unrealistic. The vague way they discuss how the Civil War relates to Classical literature or the Bible is absurd. They would have been able to discourse on chapter & verse from not only the Bible but all the relevant parallels from the Romans & the Greeks.
@VictorLepanto Maybe in reality, but remember, this is a film directed to 20th Century audiences. If they talked chapter and verse the audience would have gotten lost and disinterested. Besides, the point of the conversation wasn't chapter and verse. It was Hancock's unease about facing his friend Armistead in battle. He didn't want to do it, but he had to do it. That was the point of the whole film - men trapped in a situation they wanted to end, but they couldn't end it.
@JohnCronin103 - It would be interesting to know what the plate episode was about, but nobody does. It was between Armistead and Early. Maybe Early was just being his usual S*B self. A line they should have kept in the film - as Armistead begins to leave Longstreet here, Longstreet says "I was thinking about the time you hit Early over the head with the plate," and Armistead says, "Didn't hit him hard enough."
Thanks for putting this on YouTube. I have seen this movie a million times but this scene always gets me emotional. Richard Jordan was the perfect choice to play Armistead. To me, Armistead was the Civil War, he did his duty even though he had to fight against the man who was like a brother to him, Hancock. I have a book on Armistead's life, his uncle defended a fort against the British that inspired our national anthem to be written.
One of the reasons Jordan was perfect to play Armistead is that Ron Maxwell wrote the role specifically for him. They were friends for a long time, according to Maxwell. Since I grew up in Baltimore, I know all about Maj. George Armistead who commanded Ft. McHenry - you didn't get out of the Baltimore public school system without knowing him. "Lo" Armstd is buried next to him in Baltimore.
The first time I was at the new Visitors' Center at Gettysburg NBP they were running this film without sound behind the sales counter in the bookstore. It was at this part, and there were several people standing around watching. Even tho there was no sound, I guess they remembered the words like I did. But it actually hurt to watch it in that setting, on the back side of Cemetery Ridge, not a quarter mile from the Angle. This scene seems very personal to me, partly because of that.
Some of the themes of this movie are just not things that are talked about or really "en vouge." So from my Dad, his brother, and my grandfather (all veterans and career officers) I gleaned some of these values from them, I gleaned some from a more or less classical education (some of it of my own accord), and then this movie has so many good examples to follow. Good men, caught on opposite sides of a conflict trying to do the best they can. Its timeless.
I saw this movie as a young man, it formed so many of my convictions. Armistead had a lot to do with it, given an impossible mission and saw it through to the best of his ability... must have been a hell of guy. This chokes me up, but so does Chamberlain's speech about the Union army and the war, I quoted it when I told my Mom I had accepted an ROTC scholarship.
I suspect that if you told this to Jeff Daniels or Richard Jordan, they'd feel really good about it. I remember Jordan saying something like he felt like his work was good when what he was doing was valuable to someone else.
The relationship between Armisted and Hancock is well known. Longstreet also had the same relationship with Grant. It was Longstreet who introduce Grant his future wife, Julia. When Grant came east, Longstreet told Lee that Grant would not give up on a fight. He will take it to him.
On of the most brilliant scenes in the movie! I find it hard not to be emotional watching this......so much love, angst, and openness. It chokes me up.
It's a tough scene - Armistead goes through a lot of different emotions in the span of 5 minutes. Nostalgic, grieved, afraid, resolved, even a little embarrassed. I wonder how an actor prepares for something as complex as this. Maybe some actor will read this and offer his thoughts.
Great analysis. I can't imagine someone playing it different...and I can only imagine that had such a scene really had happened, that the real Gen. Armistead would have had the same emotions. It comes off exceptionally genuine.
Genuine's a good word. I'm not an actor, but I like to study how they do it. I wish Jordan had left some notes behind on how he prepared for this, or maybe Maxwell had some thoughts. It's beautifully done - right on the money. Jordan did that pretty often in his work. Wish we had his thoughts on that but then again, some actors can't really verbalize how they do it. They can put themselves in imaginary situations as a matter of instinct.
"Kathleen Mavourneen" - "Kathleen mavourneen, the grey dawn is breaking, the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill. The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking, oh Kathleen Mavourneen, why slumbering still? Oh, has thou forgotten how soon we must sever? Oh, hast thou forgotten this day we must part? It may be for years, and it may be forever. Oh why art thou silent, thou voice of my heart? It may be for years, and it may be forever. Why art thou silent, Kathleen Mavourneen?"
This is a really good speech for Armistead, even though it wasn't in the novel 'The Killer Angels'.... The events of which he speaks occur in 'Gods and Generals'.... but I think they cut it out of the film version.... pisses me off... I'm officially in love with this scene though!!
Always thought Richard Jordan was a very unappreciated actor. He's in top form here, as usual, but what tragic character to play. Very few brigadier generals elicit as much respect and admiration from both sides as did Armistead. I'm very glad to have witnessed Jordan's interpretation. Absolutely moving.
Ron Maxwell said he wrote the part of Armistead specifically for Jordan. I've often tried to picture other actors in this scene, but I haven't yet thought of one who could have played it so effectively. Jordan had remarkable range.
The key to Jordan's performance is that the lines he's given are meant to absolutely wrench the heart of the viewer and relate the often overlooked fact that this particular war was fought by many men who were either actual brothers or as close to such as is possible.
This scene and Armistead's final scene are probably the two most heart wrenching and human scenes in the film and drive that point home so well.
I don't know if anyone else could have done it so well as Richard Jordan did.
This film makes you actually feel the "brother against brother" anguish better than any other I've seen. I don't know how much you know about Jordan, but calling the scenes "human" would have been to him the highest praise you could give him. Presenting what he called "emotional truth" in a human way was what he was always aiming for. He'd have liked to hear how well it worked in this film.
I'm not familiar with his work, although his performance here certainly makes me want to see more. A good actor makes you buy the character. A great actor makes you feel the character. There's plenty of good actors, but very few great ones. If this performance is indicative of a Richard Jordan performance, then he was most certainly of the latter group and sadly, under appreciated in his craft.
His last scene in the film STILL has the power to move me to tears, no matter how many times I see it
He did very good work, mostly bad guys or very complex good guys, but some out and out sweethearts. See The Friends of Eddie Coyle for a good "what is he, good or bad?" type, or look him up here on youtube.
Interesting, didn't know that Maxwell wrote it for Jordan specifically. And yes, Jordan's range is impressive. Particularly in Gettysburg, you see the anguish, the semi-unravelling of a man, and dogged determination. Always wondered about Hancocks feelings of his friends demise. There are records of his chief of staff being w/ Armistead and recording some thoughts, but Almira Hancock hardly mentions it in her bio. Hancock, to my knowledge, never made his feelings known. Must have been awful.
I met Maxwell in Gburg a couple months ago, when he said he wrote it for Jordan. The more complex the character, the better Jordan was at playing him. Remember, this was fiction - Armstd and Hancock stand for everyone who had someone close on the other side. This didn't necessarily represent fact. As soldiers, they were always ready to lose friends, but you're right, had to be awful when your own troops kill your friend. I never read Almyra's bio. Got to do that.
I have to confess, one of my guilty pleasures is a film he did in England called "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." It's a real quirky British comedy he did with David Niven. Jordan's character, Pinky Green, is a young guy who can't stay out of crime no matter how hard he tries, and when he's caught by the cops in a huge bank robbery, his guilt is hysterical. The very end is so Britishly funny. A very un-Jordan film - he only did a couple comedies.
No matter how many times I watch this, I always find myself, crying, too. Two brothers separated by cruel fate, destined to face one another... *starts sobbing*
This has to be one of the best, most touching moments of this movie. Armistead tries in vain to keep his friends from all being killed. Richard Jordan did an excellent job.
I thought he played it perfectly - one of the most perfectly played scenes I ever saw in a movie. Jordan acted his heart out in this film. And I thought it was written really well - great idea to have Longstreet remain essentially silent for something like 6 minutes, just listening. Works great.
Can anyone tell me the name of the song the man was singing in this scene?
bushhunter90001 5 months ago
@bushhunter90001 The song is "Kathleen Mavourneen," an Irish-American pop song that was popular in the US before the war. "Kathleen Mavourneen, the gray dawn is breaking, the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill. The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking, oh Kathleen Mavourneen, why slumbering still? Hast thou forgotten how soon we must sever?Hast thou forgotten this day we must part? It may be for years, it may be forever, why art thou silent, voice of my heart?"
rob9641 5 months ago
@rob9641 Pop Song I think you mean Operatic Air, written by a written by an English man. Its about as Irish as St. Patricks Day on an Indian Reservation.
StrangeIsMyWorld 1 month ago
Oh wow! Perhaps the most honest performance i have ever seen. That wasn't Richard Jordan speaking, that was Gen. Lewis Armistead right there. Even with Almira Hancock being just a thought in this scene, he brought her to life in all her splendor, its like all of a sudden you know who she is w/o seeing her. How is it that every time i see this my emotions are like the first time i saw it. Every time.
RGN07 6 months ago
One of my favorite War films. The acting here is nothing short of phenomenal!
StonewallJackson26 6 months ago 2
The subtle, yet intense, scenes like this one are what make Gettyburg one of my top ten.
AdognamedOp 6 months ago
Jordan sounds maudlin at first, and then the depth of his feeling makes the impending battle horrible, and the tragedy of the war intolerable
SupernalOne 7 months ago
this film and esp this scene makes me see this country is, or at least once was a family; we fight, kill, argue and try to hurt eachother, but brother to brother we still love one another. happy birthday, america.
Gawaine687 8 months ago
This scene makes me reflect upon my own life and friendships every time I see it. After all these years it still brings tears to my eyes. Definitely one of the best acted pieces I have ever seen. These two play off each other really well.
Dandy5th 8 months ago
Wow, that was powerful and emotional. Even better than the same scene from the book. Thank you so much for posting this.
aleks1939 8 months ago
mmmh hmm that boy can sang lol reminds me of coming to america lmao
spade2187 9 months ago
For whatever reason no one at the Motion Picture Academy looked kindly one these films. Jordan should have gotten a nomination for this role (as should have Stephen Lang in "Gods and Generals"). This is one of best performances I have ever seen on film.
cyberlucy 9 months ago
I love this scene. It really gives you a good idea about what the War was really about. Good men served on both sides. When people decipher which side was right or wrong, they are wasting their time. Someone's philosophical standpoint meant nothing during that time. You simply fought for the state in which you lived.
Soldiers don't die for ideals, they die for one another and their respected units.
HaggenPagan26 9 months ago
" So exactly how many of your relatives are apes?" Kemper's quip was hilarious. There was humor amid all the honor in that war. Not sure of course if Kemper actually made that joke to Pickett, but it's within the realm of reality.
divisioneight 9 months ago
I'm glad to see there are other people out there who appreciate this scene, and this movie as much as I do. My favorite line is "I went over to Hancock, I took him by the shoulder, I said Wynn, so help me, if I ever raise my hand againest you, may God strike me dead" That should be how we all feel about our brothers and sisters....Armistead's final request is another scene that is too beautiful for words.
PS: Best score ever written, still my favorite to date.
clarkdubya2 10 months ago
What a great performance, great movie!!
sawzaw203 10 months ago
This is indeed an excellent moment for Jordan . . . an excellent and wholly underappreciated actor. But I'd also like to say a few words about Berenger's performance in this scene. The expression on his face as he watches Jordan go through his personal agony. To my way of thinking, Berenger is portraying one of the most thankless jobs a military commander must surely face: having to send his friends into what must seem certain death, and walking on emotional eggshells all the while.
Setebos 10 months ago 3
@Setebos My favorite Berenger moment in this scene is at 5:45 - he's shaking just a bit, like his foot (off camera) is moving nervously back and forth. I don't know why, but I love that. I assume Berenger knew he was doing it, but maybe not. I don't even know if Berenger's reaction shots were filmed with Jordan playing to him or just somebody else feeding him the lines, but 5:45 has a very real feel to it.
rob9641 10 months ago 2
I start to cry when Armistead is mentioning all the places where Hancock had served and he stuttered a bit when he mentioned Fredericksburg seeing as it was mainly Hancock's division that got mauled on Mayre's Heights.
StonewallJackson26 10 months ago
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I loved this movie because it was so dramatic. So many great actors portraying such a traumatic event.
summer20105707 10 months ago
Richard Jordan in this scene...I'm a student of film. I've seen lots, analyzed and criticized many, and loved quite a few. Of all the performances that have moved me, this one...breaks me up every time. So natural and unaffected, real. This man shows grief and regret and a love of family/friends in a way that is unreal. The score just adds to it. God...this man was a miracle in this scene. When he says, "Maybe for years, maybe forever..." haven't we all reminiced this way? R.I.P. Jordan.
GradiusMojo 11 months ago 5
@GradiusMojo Yep, he nailed it. One of the most perfectly played scenes I've ever watched.
rob9641 11 months ago
@GradiusMojo I agree. A master scene from one of the most underrated American actors.
kevinamgallagher 10 months ago
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@GradiusMojo I agree. A master scene from one of the most underrated American actors.
kevinamgallagher 10 months ago
@GradiusMojo I agree. A master scene from one of the most underrated American actors.
kevinamgallagher 10 months ago
RIP RICHARD GORDAN YOU WILL BE MISSED
TsumeBeta038 11 months ago
Where the hell was this man's oscar? God damn he was outstanding in this movie. God rest your soul Richard Jordan.
Shagrat65 1 year ago
@Shagrat65 A lot of people have asked me that question. The only answer I have is that nobody in Hollywood was going to do anything for a Ted Turner film. On the other hand, he STILL gets big ovations in at the Gettysburg battlefield - I've heard them myself. Longer lasting than an Oscar.
rob9641 1 year ago
@rob9641: Hey bud thanks for the quick reply. Thats good to see and your right of course. They don't mean anything really but I would have liked him to get more recognition. He was incredible in that movie.
Friend, this is on a unrelated note, do you reckon we will ever see the 6 hour cut of Gods and Generals with the battle of Antietam? I know Maxwell had problems in owing the distributers money, something like $1 million was it? A shame as I know he has shown it in a few screenings in the U.S
Shagrat65 1 year ago
@Shagrat65 On G&G with Antietam restored - supposed to be coming this summer, with a screening at the Hylton Center in Mannassas VA on July 22 and 23, with Maxwell, J Daniels, R Duvall and S Lang in attendance.
rob9641 1 year ago
@rob9641 Ah thats great news my friend. Really, really hope it comes to dvd soon as it will never get a screening over this side of the pond.
Shagrat65 1 year ago
@rob9641 The DVDBlueray should be out this summer. Word is a director's cut of Gettysburg will follow, but I don't know when, and I don't know when either will get "across the pond" - hopefully, right away.
rob9641 1 year ago
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@Shagrat65 Rip richard jordan you will be missed
TsumeBeta038 11 months ago
Beautifully expressed by Richard Jordan. R.I.P.
thanksforthemusic 1 year ago
@underarmar099 General Lewis A. Armistead is my all-time favorite historical figure. The story of his life is truly a sad one. I cannot imagine the emotional suffering he went through with losing both his wives and some children, and much inbetween those early years until the war when he had to face his dearest friend on opposing sides. So very sad, yet he was a brave soul... the epitomy of true courage.
c44LuWanda 1 year ago
@c44LuWanda God don't make 'em any better, and that's a fact.
rob9641 1 year ago
Longstreet was a good listener, apparently.
bookkeeper57 1 year ago
@underarmar099 Better look out underarmar099, rob9641 will ask for a "citation" for you to prove it!
deerhunter59ify 1 year ago
@underarmar099 - Illustrious family. Do you pronounce it with or without the "i" (ie "Arm-stead")? I've heard it both ways.
rob9641 1 year ago
Comment removed
JohnCronin103 1 year ago 2
I wish they had treated on what was IN the package. It was Armistead's Bible. These people were deeply religious, this movie (while vastly superior to most Hollywood treatments) does not do this justice. It is especially disappointing in Chamberlaine's utter fatuity (as presented in the movie) re: religion. He was a prof. of natural theology after all.
VictorLepanto 1 year ago
@VictorLepanto At the end of the film they tell what happened to the men. They say Armistead died and that the package contained his personal Bible. In reality, Armistead left that package with Almyra Hancock on the night he left California.
rob9641 1 year ago
@VictorLepanto Another FYI if you didn't know - Armistead had written in his Bible "Trust in God and fear nothing" - one of the other things he's known for in Civil War circles because it summed him up well.
rob9641 1 year ago
@rob9641 Beware of this Rob person, he has been proven wrong on other Civil War related issues.
JohnCronin103 1 year ago
@JohnCronin103 - Since I am this "Rob person," please tell me where I have been proven wrong on other Civil War Issues. I'm always interested in learning from my mistakes.
rob9641 1 year ago
@JohnCronin103 Your right John. Everything I post, he rebutes it with me or complains of my spelling. Like I said to him before, he must of been their in 1863 cause he knows about everything that happened.
deerhunter59ify 1 year ago
@deerhunter59ify I don't know what rebutes means and I never claimed to know everything that happened, but I do ask for citations of your claims in good faith, and you haven't given me any. Sniping will get you nowhere.
rob9641 1 year ago
@VictorLepanto Religion does run thru the film. Lee is always talking to God, reciting Bible verses. Armistead talks about how Lee is seen as an angel of the Lord and commends his spirit to God as he goes into a battle he knows he's going to get killed in (Armistead is a Christ figure if there ever was one in film). In this scene, he's afraid because he made a vow that God should strike him dead, and he knows God will strike him dead.
rob9641 1 year ago
@VictorLepanto This is a complicated scene - Amstd is crushed because he has to face Hancock, afraid because he knows God will strike him dead, regretful because he had to leave his old US outfit,resolved because he knows he's going to go into battle no matter what, relieved because Longstreet will take his Bible to Almyra and after that he's totally resolved. Remember his line to Fremantle - "WE'RE all here..." Jordan NAILED this part. I wish he'd lived to see that.
rob9641 1 year ago
@rob9641 This scene gets to me every time, even more so now that I've ~read~ Gods and Generals and am making my way through The Killer Angels. The next time I visit the spot he fell, I know it's going to hit me harder than the first. ...after I get done watching children giggle at the chipmunks that now reside under the monument, crafty little buggars that they are... This is such a wonderfully acted scene. He outdid himself. And it still creeps me out how much they all LOOK their parts!
StudioONY 1 year ago
@StudioONY I think I remember Jeff Schaara saying the only time he ever saw his father cry was at the monument where Armistead fell. You have good company.
rob9641 1 year ago
i wish someone would upload the two scenes where Hancock talks to Buford then Chamberlain about Armisted
Tony750410 1 year ago
@Tony750410: That scene is rather unrealistic. The vague way they discuss how the Civil War relates to Classical literature or the Bible is absurd. They would have been able to discourse on chapter & verse from not only the Bible but all the relevant parallels from the Romans & the Greeks.
VictorLepanto 1 year ago
@VictorLepanto Maybe in reality, but remember, this is a film directed to 20th Century audiences. If they talked chapter and verse the audience would have gotten lost and disinterested. Besides, the point of the conversation wasn't chapter and verse. It was Hancock's unease about facing his friend Armistead in battle. He didn't want to do it, but he had to do it. That was the point of the whole film - men trapped in a situation they wanted to end, but they couldn't end it.
rob9641 1 year ago
Interesting fact-- Armistead was kicked out of west point for breaking a dinner plate over Jubal Early's head.
JohnCronin103 1 year ago
@JohnCronin103 - It would be interesting to know what the plate episode was about, but nobody does. It was between Armistead and Early. Maybe Early was just being his usual S*B self. A line they should have kept in the film - as Armistead begins to leave Longstreet here, Longstreet says "I was thinking about the time you hit Early over the head with the plate," and Armistead says, "Didn't hit him hard enough."
rob9641 1 year ago
@rob9641
Well Early was famous for, as you say, being salty, and also an enormous chaw in his mouth, causing his teeth and breath to rot and stink.
He never married.
JohnCronin103 1 year ago
@JohnCronin103 I can imagine why. Jubal Early was known as a bit of an asshole.
StonewallJackson26 1 year ago
I like that meerschaum pipe he's got there. Is that weed in there?
I think it is. Longstreet was all about 420.
Don't forget...it was legal then.
afterapplepicking 1 year ago
Thanks for putting this on YouTube. I have seen this movie a million times but this scene always gets me emotional. Richard Jordan was the perfect choice to play Armistead. To me, Armistead was the Civil War, he did his duty even though he had to fight against the man who was like a brother to him, Hancock. I have a book on Armistead's life, his uncle defended a fort against the British that inspired our national anthem to be written.
americanhellcatf6 2 years ago
One of the reasons Jordan was perfect to play Armistead is that Ron Maxwell wrote the role specifically for him. They were friends for a long time, according to Maxwell. Since I grew up in Baltimore, I know all about Maj. George Armistead who commanded Ft. McHenry - you didn't get out of the Baltimore public school system without knowing him. "Lo" Armstd is buried next to him in Baltimore.
rob9641 2 years ago
I remember breaking down to tears when I saw this.
clipzngunz 2 years ago
The first time I was at the new Visitors' Center at Gettysburg NBP they were running this film without sound behind the sales counter in the bookstore. It was at this part, and there were several people standing around watching. Even tho there was no sound, I guess they remembered the words like I did. But it actually hurt to watch it in that setting, on the back side of Cemetery Ridge, not a quarter mile from the Angle. This scene seems very personal to me, partly because of that.
rob9641 2 years ago
Some of the themes of this movie are just not things that are talked about or really "en vouge." So from my Dad, his brother, and my grandfather (all veterans and career officers) I gleaned some of these values from them, I gleaned some from a more or less classical education (some of it of my own accord), and then this movie has so many good examples to follow. Good men, caught on opposite sides of a conflict trying to do the best they can. Its timeless.
olejackisairbornetoo 2 years ago
I saw this movie as a young man, it formed so many of my convictions. Armistead had a lot to do with it, given an impossible mission and saw it through to the best of his ability... must have been a hell of guy. This chokes me up, but so does Chamberlain's speech about the Union army and the war, I quoted it when I told my Mom I had accepted an ROTC scholarship.
olejackisairbornetoo 2 years ago
I suspect that if you told this to Jeff Daniels or Richard Jordan, they'd feel really good about it. I remember Jordan saying something like he felt like his work was good when what he was doing was valuable to someone else.
rob9641 2 years ago
The relationship between Armisted and Hancock is well known. Longstreet also had the same relationship with Grant. It was Longstreet who introduce Grant his future wife, Julia. When Grant came east, Longstreet told Lee that Grant would not give up on a fight. He will take it to him.
b42baritone 2 years ago 2
There were many such relationships - George McClellan and AP Hill was another.
rob9641 2 years ago
R.I.P. Richard Jordan , Thank God we can enjoy your finest moment as this is, again and again.
Rampmeister 2 years ago 9
God don't make 'em any better, and that's a fact.
rob9641 2 years ago
On of the most brilliant scenes in the movie! I find it hard not to be emotional watching this......so much love, angst, and openness. It chokes me up.
ravenclaw67 2 years ago 10
It's a tough scene - Armistead goes through a lot of different emotions in the span of 5 minutes. Nostalgic, grieved, afraid, resolved, even a little embarrassed. I wonder how an actor prepares for something as complex as this. Maybe some actor will read this and offer his thoughts.
rob9641 2 years ago
Great analysis. I can't imagine someone playing it different...and I can only imagine that had such a scene really had happened, that the real Gen. Armistead would have had the same emotions. It comes off exceptionally genuine.
ravenclaw67 2 years ago 5
Genuine's a good word. I'm not an actor, but I like to study how they do it. I wish Jordan had left some notes behind on how he prepared for this, or maybe Maxwell had some thoughts. It's beautifully done - right on the money. Jordan did that pretty often in his work. Wish we had his thoughts on that but then again, some actors can't really verbalize how they do it. They can put themselves in imaginary situations as a matter of instinct.
rob9641 2 years ago
I just wanna know wich song sings Capt. Mc Cormick, meanwhile Armisteed and Longsetreet are talking. Anybody can help me?
SAUL2004 2 years ago
"Kathleen Mavourneen" - "Kathleen mavourneen, the grey dawn is breaking, the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill. The lark from her light wing the bright dew is shaking, oh Kathleen Mavourneen, why slumbering still? Oh, has thou forgotten how soon we must sever? Oh, hast thou forgotten this day we must part? It may be for years, and it may be forever. Oh why art thou silent, thou voice of my heart? It may be for years, and it may be forever. Why art thou silent, Kathleen Mavourneen?"
rob9641 2 years ago
"Mavourneen" is the Irish Gaelic word for "my love."
rob9641 2 years ago
This is a really good speech for Armistead, even though it wasn't in the novel 'The Killer Angels'.... The events of which he speaks occur in 'Gods and Generals'.... but I think they cut it out of the film version.... pisses me off... I'm officially in love with this scene though!!
LoveNorbertTheDragon 2 years ago
Yes, it is in The Killer Angels - end of Chapter 5, almost verbatim.
rob9641 2 years ago
Really? Why don't I remember it? I love the book! I've read it three times!!
LoveNorbertTheDragon 2 years ago
okay found it.. WOW. I feel really dumb now..
LoveNorbertTheDragon 2 years ago
Don't feel dumb. I once forgot my secretary's name. That went over real well.
rob9641 2 years ago
Good job.
LoveNorbertTheDragon 2 years ago
Always thought Richard Jordan was a very unappreciated actor. He's in top form here, as usual, but what tragic character to play. Very few brigadier generals elicit as much respect and admiration from both sides as did Armistead. I'm very glad to have witnessed Jordan's interpretation. Absolutely moving.
Evocati2008 2 years ago
Ron Maxwell said he wrote the part of Armistead specifically for Jordan. I've often tried to picture other actors in this scene, but I haven't yet thought of one who could have played it so effectively. Jordan had remarkable range.
rob9641 2 years ago
The key to Jordan's performance is that the lines he's given are meant to absolutely wrench the heart of the viewer and relate the often overlooked fact that this particular war was fought by many men who were either actual brothers or as close to such as is possible.
This scene and Armistead's final scene are probably the two most heart wrenching and human scenes in the film and drive that point home so well.
I don't know if anyone else could have done it so well as Richard Jordan did.
MrBanjo 2 years ago 2
This film makes you actually feel the "brother against brother" anguish better than any other I've seen. I don't know how much you know about Jordan, but calling the scenes "human" would have been to him the highest praise you could give him. Presenting what he called "emotional truth" in a human way was what he was always aiming for. He'd have liked to hear how well it worked in this film.
rob9641 2 years ago
I'm not familiar with his work, although his performance here certainly makes me want to see more. A good actor makes you buy the character. A great actor makes you feel the character. There's plenty of good actors, but very few great ones. If this performance is indicative of a Richard Jordan performance, then he was most certainly of the latter group and sadly, under appreciated in his craft.
His last scene in the film STILL has the power to move me to tears, no matter how many times I see it
MrBanjo 2 years ago
He did very good work, mostly bad guys or very complex good guys, but some out and out sweethearts. See The Friends of Eddie Coyle for a good "what is he, good or bad?" type, or look him up here on youtube.
rob9641 2 years ago
He is dead, not sure if you know that.
Great actor.
JohnCronin87 2 years ago
Well, if you watch the Gettysburg credits, you know he's gone, even if you didn't know before. The roles he played on film are still alive tho.
rob9641 2 years ago
Sounds like you know an awful lot about Richard Jordan.
JohnCronin103 2 years ago
I read (and I know a couple people who knew him).
rob9641 2 years ago
Interesting, didn't know that Maxwell wrote it for Jordan specifically. And yes, Jordan's range is impressive. Particularly in Gettysburg, you see the anguish, the semi-unravelling of a man, and dogged determination. Always wondered about Hancocks feelings of his friends demise. There are records of his chief of staff being w/ Armistead and recording some thoughts, but Almira Hancock hardly mentions it in her bio. Hancock, to my knowledge, never made his feelings known. Must have been awful.
Evocati2008 2 years ago
I met Maxwell in Gburg a couple months ago, when he said he wrote it for Jordan. The more complex the character, the better Jordan was at playing him. Remember, this was fiction - Armstd and Hancock stand for everyone who had someone close on the other side. This didn't necessarily represent fact. As soldiers, they were always ready to lose friends, but you're right, had to be awful when your own troops kill your friend. I never read Almyra's bio. Got to do that.
rob9641 2 years ago
It is actually Almyras bio of General Hancock, not of herself. Is Maxwell going to do The Last Full Measure?
Evocati2008 2 years ago
If he comes up with $60 million. Don't hold your breath.
rob9641 2 years ago
Indeed. I loved Jordan even in Dune.
guycodedotcom 2 years ago
I have to confess, one of my guilty pleasures is a film he did in England called "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." It's a real quirky British comedy he did with David Niven. Jordan's character, Pinky Green, is a young guy who can't stay out of crime no matter how hard he tries, and when he's caught by the cops in a huge bank robbery, his guilt is hysterical. The very end is so Britishly funny. A very un-Jordan film - he only did a couple comedies.
rob9641 2 years ago
that was a great synopsis. i must see this.
guycodedotcom 2 years ago
No matter how many times I watch this, I always find myself, crying, too. Two brothers separated by cruel fate, destined to face one another... *starts sobbing*
MaryToddLincoln65 2 years ago
If anybody would know about having loved ones on the other side, it would be Mary Todd Lincoln.
rob9641 2 years ago
*nods* Very true.
MaryToddLincoln65 2 years ago
Mary Todd, you have serious issues.......
But I like you.......
JohnCronin103 2 years ago
Thank you. :)
MaryToddLincoln65 2 years ago
"Kathleen Mavourneen" - genuine song popular during the Civil War. Check it out on Wikipedia.
rob9641 2 years ago
What is the of the song the Captain is singing.
uboatcommander 2 years ago
This has to be one of the best, most touching moments of this movie. Armistead tries in vain to keep his friends from all being killed. Richard Jordan did an excellent job.
wtmhmh 2 years ago 10
I thought he played it perfectly - one of the most perfectly played scenes I ever saw in a movie. Jordan acted his heart out in this film. And I thought it was written really well - great idea to have Longstreet remain essentially silent for something like 6 minutes, just listening. Works great.
rob9641 2 years ago
This was Richard's final role. He was working in The Fugitive was he became sick and passed shortly after. He was quite the artist.
NYVoice 1 year ago
@NYVoice He nailed a lot of his roles - especially this one.
rob9641 1 year ago