The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWatching "Grant" on the history channel?
Glad to see this at this point in time. It's an awfully vivid picture of the Civil War. Really important, I think.
Leonardo DiCaprios Big Middle Finger to the Confederacy
The History Channel miniseries Grant, executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, celebrates Ulysses S. Grants Civil War heroism and exposes the evils of the racist Confederacy.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/leonardo-dicaprios-big-middle-finger-to-the-confederacy?ref=home
Bleacher Creature
(11,237 posts)Is it a fully scripted show/movie from start to finish, or is it a documentary with certain events re-enacted? I can't quite tell from the trailer.
Buzz cook
(2,470 posts)with live reenacting.
Mme. Defarge
(7,982 posts)Hopi it will soon be available on Amazon or Netflix.
katmondoo
(6,454 posts)I hated them. I did not see it as History. I do like the series on Grant, informative and well done.
benld74
(9,889 posts)Zorro
(15,691 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)2 down one to go.
Buzz cook
(2,470 posts)Too much broad strokes, not enough detail.
I guess I'll read the book.
Bucky
(53,805 posts)I'll be eager to catch this mini-series on Netflix or when it's out for rental. But there couldn't be a starker difference between the two men than how they generalled.
The closing chapter that dealt with Grant's presidency couldn't have been a less deserved tragedy.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)I think Ken Burns would do better, though.
His documentaries are amazing.
Niagara
(7,408 posts)I like the detailed maps and also the details of Grant's designed strategies. I didn't know about some of Grant's background or how he and Lincoln communicated before actually meeting each other in person.
It's interesting to me, but when I was in high school I didn't care for history at all.
This is completely irrelevant, but the actor playing Grant ( Justin Salinger) is extremely handsome.
Paladin
(28,204 posts)Did you notice that portrait of a young, uniformed Robert E. Lee they showed during the first episode? He was better looking than 99% of the movie stars walking around today---DiCaprio included.
Good series. I was aware of The Wilderness battle, but I didn't know just how awful it was until I saw the details of it on last night's show.
Niagara
(7,408 posts)If this in the one, I'm going to guess he's 18-21 years of age, around the time he attended West Point.
I was impressed how Grant moved his army across the Mississippi, cut off the confederate supplies, digging ditches and giving the men, who's freedom he was fighting for, their own weapons to help fight for the cause. Grant sure wasn't messing around when it came to down to it. I didn't know most of these details, it's interesting to learn them.
Paladin
(28,204 posts)And Grant is a fascinating individual, isn't he? His ability to stay calm, review opposition movements and terrain features, and then take decisive action, is a marvel. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series, this evening.
Niagara
(7,408 posts)I was hoping that was the portrait of Robert E Lee that you were talking about.
Grant certainly is fascinating individual. I'm ready and looking forward to this evenings last episode as well.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)Whereas...
His life is there on his countenance.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)Henry (Harry) Morgan and John Wayne.
Niagara
(7,408 posts)But if you go back and reread, I said that the actor playing Grant ( Justin Salinger) is extremely handsome.
Someone else had brought up Robert E Lee being handsome in his younger days. I never once said that Lee was extremely handsome. I was curious on what photo Paladin was referring to and I don't like to speak ill of the dead.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)I notice the cinematic eye in many scenes. Especially the very beginning at Shiloh.
The fact that so many generals were at West point together is well known, but this series is able to show us what that meant strategically. And now for the weeklong celebration until Lincoln is assassinated and the rise of the KKK.
Gonna be a real sad end.
NNadir
(33,368 posts)...it's a good starting point.
A few of his most famous remarks during the war, including "lick 'em tomorrow," at Shiloh and his remark to his subordinates at the Wilderness about their fear of Lee, are a bit mangled.
I understand that Steven Spielberg is going to adapt Chernow's book. Presumably it will be better.
The book is worth reading, although I think it comes down on the wrong side with respect to the importance of Grant's drinking.
I do hope that this series will emphasize that Grant's Presidency was actually outstanding, and not a corruption filled cesspool. I personally regard Grant as the 2nd most important President of the 19th century after Lincoln. Without Grant, the Confederacy would have won the peace, which they almost did with the help of a Trumpian President Andrew Johnson who filled in between Lincoln and Grant's Presidencies.
History has vastly underrated Grant's Presidency, and it is time to correct this terrible misapprehension.
kairos12
(12,817 posts)Kaleva
(36,147 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)SharonClark
(10,005 posts)History channel and no Pickers or Hitler or Aliens building the pyramids? Im shocked!
herding cats
(19,549 posts)Well, first and middle name. My family on my maternal grandfathers side have a tradition of naming the boys after Union hero's. They still do to this day. It makes me proud.
I'll be streaming the series as a binge.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)Mark Twain to the rescue. I'd forgot that.
Warning and or moral of the story:
Grant was "barely succeeded by Rutherford B Hayes. A lot of cheating going on re: reconstruction. Talk about reconstruction. Beware the electoral college!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compromise_of_1877?wprov=sfla1
hunter
(38,264 posts)... fire their police, take away their guns, and throw their leaders in prison.
The racism that infects this nation is a terrible plague.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)It aired the day George Floyd was killed. It truly showed how entrenched those rebels were during and after the surrender. Grant began what really would have been a necessary reconstruction. And then after his presidency the network grew.
Only now after the protests do I understand the harm done by honoring Confederate military heroes and Andrew Davis!!!, for God's sake. How and why do we consistently take a step forward and two back?