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Reviews
The Blue and the Gray (1982)
A good if somewhat uneven miniseries
This miniseries shows the war primarily through the eyes of a Virginian who wants to witness history but cannot commit to either side of the conflict. His new-found profession of journalism allows him to participate as a neutral observer. He is surrounded by relatives and friends on both sides, and the miniseries shows events through their eyes as well.
The human side of the war is stressed, and it excellently portrays the toll the conflict took on families.
Many of the subplots are taken from Civil War historian Bruce Catton's final work, "Reflections On The Civil War." However, none of the people in the book, including the real John Geyser, appear in the miniseries. Rather, observations made in the book are woven around the main storyline as supplementary material.
Most of the military aspects of the miniseries are laughable and bear little resemblance to reality. Due to the miniseries being done on a miniseries budget we see none of the grand scale evident in "Gettysburg" or "Glory."
Stacy Keach gives a terrific performance as Jonas Steele, the Federal special operations agent. We see from his performance a little of the decentralized, more personalized ways in which intelligence gathering and other non-standard military operations were conducted in the nineteenth century.
The miniseries ran for over six hours on CBS in 1982, but well over an hour was cut for the two-cassette video release. Get the whole treatment if you can.
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Great movie, but not the real Birdman
Lancaster does a masterful job in this sympathetic portrait of the inmate Robert Stroud, who, with only a rudimentary education, conducted avian medical research leading to advances in veterinary medicine while incarcerated at Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon transfer to Alcatraz he was not permitted to conduct avian research, which is accurately portrayed in the movie. The real Stroud, while brilliant, was a quite surly and difficult prisoner. Karl Malden is strong as the warden who insists Lancaster conform to his attitudes as a condition of rehabilitation. Lancaster lends an air of nobility to his character's defiant role. Telly Savalas is good as a cellmate of Lancaster. Highly recommended.