• Genre: Historical Film
• MPAA Rating: R
• AMG Rating:
• Regional Coding: 1
  USA and territories, Canada

Glory is a celebration of a little-known act of mass courage during the Civil War. Simply put, the heroes involved have been ignored by history due to racism. Those heroes were the all-black members of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, headed by Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), the son of an influential abolitionist (played by an uncredited Jane Alexander). Despite the fact that the Civil War is ostensibly being fought on their behalf, the black soldiers are denied virtually every privilege and amenity that is matter of course for their white counterparts; as in armies past and future, they are given the most menial and demeaning of tasks. Still, none of the soldiers quit the regiment when given the chance. The unofficial leaders of the group are gravedigger John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and fugitive slave Trip (Denzel Washington), respectively representing the brains and heart of the organization. The 54th acquit themselves valiantly at Fort Wagner, SC, charging a fortification manned by some 1,000 Confederates. Glory was based on Lincoln Kirstein's Lay This Laurel and Peter Burchard's One Gallant Rush; the latter book was founded on the letters of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the real-life character played by Matthew Broderick. The film won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for co-star Denzel Washington, and additional statuettes for Best Cinematography (Freddie Francis) and Sound Recording. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bonus Features

• [None specified]

Actors

Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Cliff De Young, Jihmi Kennedy, Jane Alexander, Andre Braugher, John Finn, Alan North, Bob Gunton, Christian Baskous, RonReaco Lee, Jay O. Sanders, Richard Riehle, Mark A. Levy

Director

Edward Zwick

Producer

Freddie Fields

Violence, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Watch With Your Teen, War Violence

• Sound : DD5.1/DD2
• Language : Eng/Fre/Spa
• Subtitles : Eng/Fre/Spa

• Screen : WSE/P&S
• Oar : 1.85:1
• Dar : 1.85:1

Review

Edward Zwick's account of the experience of a group of African-Americans who served in combat during the Civil War is a rousing display of pageantry. The film was based partly on the letters of Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), the commander of the all-black 54th Regiment of the Massachussetts Volunteers, a unit formed to test the widely doubted ability of black troops to serve in combat. The film details the racist indignities to which the black soldiers were subjected, such as a lower rate of pay than white troops and delays in receiving provisions. The drama of the black regiment's training sequence, such as it is, revolves around the ability of Shaw to remedy these problems. Zwick has fabricated a group of four black characters to represent a cross section of the regiment, but, as in a WWI movie, their only purpose here is to bond and prepare to fight. As the film approaches its climax, with James Horner's theme becoming more throbbingly insistent, it's consumed almost entirely in the kind of pageantry that was John Ford's specialty. Just as this begins to become annoying, Zwick plunges one back into the horror of war in the attack on Fort Wagner. While one can quibble with aspects of the film, such as making a white officer the lead and narrator, the surfeit of TV-movie-like uplift, and the lack of substance in the parts of the black characters, all are outweighed by value of the film in more widely disseminating an invaluable piece of history. The project benefits from tremendous performances by Morgan Freeman as the unit's elder statesman, and Denzel Washington, who garnered an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

• Release Date : January 20, 1998
• Length : 117 Minutes
• Dvdsides : 2
• Dvddiscs : 1
• Upc : 043396702899