Shenandoah
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"There's not much I can tell you about this war. It's like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning. And the politicians who talk about the glory of it. And the old men who talk about the need of it. And the soldiers, well, they just wanna go home." |
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1965 anti-war movie staring Jimmy Stewart, whose personal anti-war stance had a large part in the movie's existence. Also a 1975 Broadway musical staring John Cullum (for which he won a Best Actor Tony).
Widower Charlie Anderson is living in Virginia with his children when the American Civil War breaks out. He wants nothing to do with the war and does his best to keep his family out of it despite the Confederacy trying to recruit his sons and his daughter Jenny's marraige to a confederate officer named Sam. However, when his youngest son is mistaken for a Confederate soldier and taken by Union forces, Anderson decides is now "his war". He, his other sons, except the eldest James, who stays behind with his wife Anne and infant daughter Martha, and Jenny set out to save the Boy. Before the movie is over, the Anderson family finds itself drastically reduced.
- Anyone Can Die: James, Anne, Jacob
- Bittersweet Ending
- Cannot Spit It Out: Sam
- Child Soldiers: Gabriel and the Boy
- Contrived Coincidence: The train hijacked by the Anderson happens to be the prisoner of war transport Sam is on.
- Happily Married: Charlie and Martha were, until she died; James and Anne, until they die.
- Politically-Correct History: Averted, notably for its time, as neither side is portrayed nicely
- Protect This House
- Team Mom: Anne
- Tomboy: Jenny
The musical also provides examples of:
- All Musicals Are Adaptations
- Badass Baritone: Charlie
- Final Love Duet: "Violets and Silverbells (Reprise)" is a subversion
- The Eleven O'Clock Number: "Meditation II"
- "I Want" Song: "Over the Hill" for Jenny and "The Only Home I Know" for the soldiers.
- Sidekick Song: "Next to Lovin' (I Like Fightin')"