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Post by Treasuredude on Jan 28, 2006 19:17:15 GMT -6
Gary Cole wasn't skinny enough, and his moustache wasn't bushy. I That and the fact he showed the personality of an empty milk carton. |
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Post by fred on Jan 29, 2006 10:09:43 GMT -6
I'm crushed!
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Post by crzhrs on Jan 29, 2006 14:01:08 GMT -6
Gary Cole? Wasn't it the small black kid who kept saying "what you talkin' 'bout, Willis"?
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Post by fred on Jan 29, 2006 15:28:23 GMT -6
Crzhrs--
I guess nobody likes Gary Cole but me. Actually, the only role I ever remember him in was Son of the Morning Star. I don't even think it got good TV ratings. Apparently, he's in some new crime drama, but... who cares?
Fred.
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Post by alfuso on Jan 29, 2006 16:41:02 GMT -6
Fred
Cole had no spark in his acting, no passion. Just walked through the scenes.
alfuso
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Post by Treasuredude on Jan 29, 2006 16:42:29 GMT -6
Crzhrs-- I guess nobody likes Gary Cole but me. Actually, the only role I ever remember him in was Son of the Morning Star. I don't even think it got good TV ratings. Apparently, he's in some new crime drama, but... who cares? Fred. He played Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch movies. He's the only actor capable of making Custer look boring. |
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Post by fred on Jan 29, 2006 18:25:46 GMT -6
My God! You guys are eating me alive here! I surrender!
How about Demi Moore as a Force Recon marine... did you like that one?
Best wishes,
Versailles Freddy.
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Post by alfuso on Jan 30, 2006 0:24:57 GMT -6
My God! You guys are eating me alive here! I surrender! How about Demi Moore as a Force Recon marine... did you like that one? Best wishes, Versailles Freddy. I didn't even like the trailers. alfuso |
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Post by El Crab on Jan 30, 2006 0:48:24 GMT -6
Crzhrs-- I guess nobody likes Gary Cole but me. Actually, the only role I ever remember him in was Son of the Morning Star. I don't even think it got good TV ratings. Apparently, he's in some new crime drama, but... who cares? Fred. Rent Office Space. Gary Cole stole scene after scene in that one. |
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Post by fred on Jan 30, 2006 11:57:57 GMT -6
Thank you, alfuso.
Best wishes,
Fred.
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Post by crzhrs on Jan 30, 2006 13:00:58 GMT -6
Fred:
I believe SOMS got a 3-out-of-4 stars for a rating according to a book on movies I have (I forget the author)
I actually enjoyed the movie . . . it did have some holes such as Libbie falling apart when GAC was leaving for the LBH . . . and who the heck is Mr. Reynolds (scout who was killed during Reno's retreat in movie) Of course there was Charlie Reynolds (someone goofed) and Benteen's hair was quite long a la Custer in the movie. I don't think he would have done anything to copy Custer.
The best scenes were Reno's fight and retreat. Custer's fight looked like a car chase and did not depict it very accurately.
Cole seemed too brooding and did not have that Custer "charm" needed for a actual true picture of him.
The guy playing Benteen was right on, however.
Other than that it is the best depiction of the events leading to and the battle itself.
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Post by Tricia on Jan 30, 2006 15:56:40 GMT -6
Gary Cole wasn't skinny enough. Crab-- I think you're correct. It is amazing how slender GAC was up until the last year of his life ... where in some of those last photos--the ones taken at Mora's--he appears positively jowly (perhaps because he had been cooling his heels East a little too long). He, according to Libbie, had lost a considerable amount of weight on the final push of the ACW, and seemed to keep that fashionably gaunt appearence for the remainder. In some of the photos taken of him when they tented on the Big River, his thighs look almost disproportionately huge, not surprising for a cavalry man, I guess. You made another point about Gary Cole's mustache--it didn't change its appearence over time, whereas GAC's evolved into shrubbery ... Regards, LMC |
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Post by El Crab on Jan 30, 2006 16:38:21 GMT -6
The guy playing Benteen was right on, however. David Strathairn. Who, by the way, is excellent in Good Night, and Good Luck. One of the most talented actors in the film, really. I think they just wanted to make sure we knew Benteen had white hair. All in all, they did a pretty good job on casting as far as looking the part. At least with some of the choices. Terry O'Quinn (who is my favorite on Lost) is a fine character actor, and the guy who played Lt. Cooke looked like the real deal. Their Sherman didn't look as gruff and mean as the pictures, but Stockwell's Sheridan wasn't half bad. But most of the miniseries had to be condensed, and several characters rolled into one (like the scout). Plus, the Fetterman and Custer battles weren't very good. |
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Post by elisabeth on Jan 31, 2006 4:43:50 GMT -6
Strathairn was brilliant. That cool, sardonic detachment was just right. Tragic about the hair, though. Maybe they thought it marked him out as a one-man "awkward squad", but it should never, ever, have been so much longer than GAC's!
The Reno guy was well cast, too, I thought. But Arquette was just terrible: relentlessly feeble and whiny. And Cole was dull, dull, dull. Some nice touches, though, like the moustache-trimming scenes subtly hinting at vanity.
Yes, the battle scenes were very perfunctory. Ironic that the best screen Custer battle (IMHO) should have been the Washita fight in "Little Big Man". Beautifully staged.
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Post by El Crab on Jan 31, 2006 5:14:59 GMT -6
Strathairn stole the movie, IMO. And the moment that really stands out is when he doesn't say a word. Its the reaction after he said he was sorry they didn't take the extra battalion of 2nd Cavalry, and Custer explains his reasoning. Strathairn mouths something as he puts his pipe back in his mouth and leans back.
The guy playing Reno was pretty good, he did look anguished and scared out of his mind at times. And while they didn't let us know that it was Hodgson, Reno did look very upset when the man who grabs the stirrup to get across the river gets it. And, if I'm not mistaken, the man who offers the stirrup was a trumpeter, as was possibly the case in real life. Makes me wonder if they edited out any scenes where we'd actually know it was Hodgson and what his relationship to Reno was.
One thing I didn't like about the miniseries was the lack of cavalrymen. It forced them to "loop" soldiers. Not such a bad thing, but on the Custer field, you'll remember the soldier who lost the four mounts he was holding. He chases after them and trips over a dead soldier. I swear that soldier, with the dead eyes and open mouth, was the same man who played Reno! Its one thing to reuse extras, but c'mon! And the same goes for the trooper sends after Benteen. Its Martini! Obviously, they were sticking with the Voss-to-Benteen scenario, but why use Martini? Just throw a bugle over the shoulder of any trooper and send him on his way. Heck, just switch hats, and maybe I wouldn't have noticed as much. Martini had a rather distinctive hat, with the front brim bent into a V.
And again, Cole was too bulky! I can't get over it. And one day, I hope they get the moustache right. Flynn had his trademark moustache, but it was Flynn playing Custer, and you never were going to forget that.
Richard Mulligan had a pretty good Custache (yes, I made that word up). It wasn't quite the bushy thing that GAC had at the end, but it worked. He also had a spark to him, even if he was a psychopath. He made the role his own.
Cole just didn't have the spark. He didn't make it his own. And one of his contacts fell out when we're looking at his face at the end. And while we're on the subject, I did enjoy the ending. Custer pulling himself up for one last "stand", firing his Webley and then going down. Seeing the arrows overhead, even if he probably would not have been alive once the shot to the head came crashing home.
Its funny to me, because SOTMS did get many things right. Even when economy was introduced to the characters, they managed to stick to a lot of the facts. But the Custer battle was a mess, and it never really made me think I was looking at the real field or the perceived movements of Custer's battalion.
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