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 History
in the Media
 History
in the Media
Film and Television

Robert Niemi

ABC-CLIO
Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England
Copyright 2006 by ABC-CLIO

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in
a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Niemi, Robert.
History in the media : film and television history in the media /
Robert Niemi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57607-952-X (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-57607-953-8
(ebook) 1. Historical films—History and criticism. 2. Historical
television programs—History and criticism. 3. Biographical
films—History and criticism. 4. Biographical television
programs—History and criticism. I. Title.

PN1995.9.H5N54 2006
791.43'658—dc22
2006007457

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for
details.

Acquisitions Editor: Jim Ciment

Production Editor: Laura Esterman
Associate Production Editor: Cisca Schreefel
Media Editor: Giulia Rossi
Production Manager: Don Schmidt
Manufacturing Coordinator: George Smyser

ABC-CLIO, Inc.
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116–1911

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America
 To the memory of my father
Alfred Antii Niemi
March 7, 1915–April 7, 2005
“Ei ole koiraa karvoihin katsominen”
 Contents

Acknowledgments, xix
Introduction, xxi

1 Military History on Film and Television:

Wallace’s Rising to the Boer War, 1
Wallace’s Rising (1297–1304), 2
Braveheart (1995), 2
The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, 4
Culloden (1964), 4
The Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815), 5
Kolberg (also known as Burning Hearts) (1945), 5
The Battle of Austerlitz (1960), 7
Waterloo (1970), 7
The Texas Revolution (1835–1836), 9
Davy Crockett and The Last Command (1955), 10
The Alamo (1960), 11
Viva Max! (1970), 13
The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987), 13
The Alamo (2004), 14
The Crimean War (1854–1856), 16
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), 16
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), 17
The American Civil War (1861–1865), 19
The Andersonville Trial (1970), 19
Glory (1989), 20
The Civil War (1990), 21
The Battle of Gettysburg (1955), 23
Gettysburg (1993), 24
Pharoah’s Army (1995), 25
Andersonville (1996), 25
Gods and Generals (2003), 26
Custer and the Indian Wars, 27
They Died with Their Boots On (1942), 27

vii
viii Contents

Sitting Bull (1954) and Custer of the West (1967), 28

Son of the Morning Star (1991), 29
Geronimo Fights Back, 30
Geronimo and the Apache Resistance, 1851–1886 (1988), 30
Geronimo and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), 30
British Colonial Wars in Africa, 32
Zulu (1964), 34
Khartoum (1966), 35
Zulu Dawn (1979), 37
The Spanish-American War and the Philippine Revolution (1898–1901), 37
Rough Riders (1997), 38
The Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), 41
“Breaker” Morant (1980), 41

2 Military History on Film and Television:

World War I, 45
Filming the Front Lines, 45
The Battle of the Somme (1916), 45
The Lost Battalion (1919), 46
Films in the Time between the World Wars, 47
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), 47
The Fighting 69th (1940), 49
Sergeant York (1941), 50
World War I Filmed in Hindsight, 52
Paths of Glory (1957), 52
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 54
World War One (1964–1965), 57
Johnny Got His Gun (1971), 58
Gallipoli (1981), 59
Anzacs (1985), 61
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (1996), 62
The Lost Battalion (2001), 64
Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003), 64

3 Military History on Film and Television:

World War II, 67
Contemporaneous World War II History Films, 68
Wake Island (1942), 68
In Which We Serve (1942), 70
“Why We Fight” Film Series, 71
December 7, 1941 (1943), 73
Bataan (1943), 73
Guadalcanal Diary (1943), 75
The Sullivans (1944), 75
 Contents ix

The Purple Heart and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944), 77

The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944), 79
The True Glory (1945), 79
The Battle of San Pietro (1944), 80
The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), 81
They Were Expendable (1945), 83
Your Job in Germany (1945), 84
Our Job in Japan (1946), 84
World War II History Films of the Cold War Era, 84
Design for Death (1947), 84
Battleground (1949), 85
The Wooden Horse (1950), 85
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951), 86
Victory at Sea (1952–1953), 87
The Dam Busters (1954), 88
To Hell and Back (1955), 90
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), 91
Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) (1955), 92
British World War II Exploits in Film, 94
The Colditz Story (1955), 94
The Battle of the River Plate (1956), 95
The Man Who Never Was (1956), 95
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), 96
I Was Monty’s Double (1958), 98
Dunkirk (1958), 98
Sink the Bismarck! (1960), 99
Films of Wartime Events, 100
Hell to Eternity (1960), 100
The Diary of Anne Frank (1960), 101
Judgment at Nuremberg (1962), 104
The Longest Day (1962), 105
The Great Escape (1963), 106
P.T. 109 (1963), 108
Battle of the Bulge (1965), 109
Anzio (1965), 110
Battle of Britain (1969), 111
Le Chagrin et la pitié: Chronique d’une ville Française
sous l’occupation (The Sorrow and the Pity: Chronicle
of a French City under Occupation) (1969), 111
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), 113
Patton (1970), 114
The World at War (1973–1974), 117
World War II History Films of the Post-Vietnam Era, 117
The Execution of Private Slovik (1974), 117
Midway (1976), 119
A Bridge Too Far (1977), 119
x Contents

Ike (1979), 121

Playing for Time (1980), 122
Let There Be Light (1946; 1981), 123
Oppenheimer (1980), 123
Das Boot (1981), 125
Empire of the Sun (1987), 127
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989), 129
July 20th and The Plot to Kill Hitler (1990), 129
Tragedy at Sea and Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the
U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991), 130
Stalingrad (1993), 132
Schindler’s List (1993), 133
Tuskegee Airmen (1995), 135
Paradise Road (1997), 135
Saving Private Ryan (1998), 136
The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (2000), 138
Nuremburg (2000), 139
To End All Wars (2001), 140
Pearl Harbor (2001), 140
Enemy at the Gates (2001), 141
Band of Brothers (2001), 142
The Pianist (2002), 143
Blind Spot (2002) and The Downfall (2004), 144

4 Military History on Film and Television:

Korean War to Bosnia, 147
The Korean War, 147
The McConnell Story (1955), 147
Pork Chop Hill (1959), 149
MacArthur (1977), 150
Inchon (1981), 151
The Korean War on Television, 152
The Vietnam War, 152
The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (1965), 152
Loin du Vietnam (Far from Vietnam) (1967), 153
The Anderson Platoon (1967), 153
In the Year of the Pig (1968), 154
The Selling of the Pentagon (1971) and Hearts and Minds (1974), 155
Vietnam: A Television History (1983), 156
The Killing Fields (1984), 158
Hamburger Hill (1987), 159
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), 161
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1988), 162
Born on the Fourth of July (1989), 162
Heaven and Earth (1993), 163
 Contents xi

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994), 164

Return with Honor (1998), 165
Regret to Inform (1998), 166
A Bright Shining Lie (1998), 166
We Were Soldiers (2002), 167
United States’s Somalia Engagement, 170
Black Hawk Down (2001), 171
The Intervention of the United States in Bosnia, 172
Behind Enemy Lines (2001), 173

5 Sports History on Film and Television, 175

Baseball, 176
The Pride of the Yankees (1942), 176
The Babe Ruth Story (1948), 177
The Stratton Story (1949), 177
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), 178
The Pride of St. Louis (1952), 179
Fear Strikes Out (1957), 179
It’s Good to Be Alive: The Roy Campanella Story (1974), 180
One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978), 181
Don’t Look Back: The Story of Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1981), 182
New York Yankees (The Movie) (1987), 182
Still We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie (2004), 183
Eight Men Out (1988), 183
The Babe (1992), 184
Baseball (1994), 185
Cobb (1994), 185
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995), 187
Soul of the Game (1996), 187
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998), 188
Babe Ruth (1998), 188
61* (2001), 189
Boxing, 189
The Leonard-Cushing Fight (1894), 189
The Corbett-Courtney Fight (1894), 189
The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897), 190
Jeffries-Sharkey Contest (1899), 191
The Johnson-Jeffries Fight (1910), 192
Gentleman Jim (1942), 193
The Great John L. (1945), 193
Day of the Fight (1951), 194
The Joe Louis Story (1953), 195
The Harder They Fall (1956), 196
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), 197
Legendary Champions (1968), 198
xii Contents

The Great White Hope (1970), 198

Mohammed Ali Films, 199
Post-Vietnam-Era Boxing Films, 202
Football, 210
Knute Rockne All American (1940), 210
Jim Thorpe—All-American (1951), 211
Crazylegs (1953), 212
Brian’s Song (1971), 213
Friday Night Lights (2004), 213
Basketball, 214
Hoosiers (1986), 214
Hoop Dreams (1994), 216
Olympics Films, 217
Olympia (Olympiad) (1938), 217
The Bob Mathias Story (1954), 218
Tokyo orimpikku (Tokyo Olympiad) (1965), 218
Chariots of Fire (1981), 219
The Jesse Owens Story (1984), 221
Fists of Freedom: The Story of the ’68 Summer Games (1999), 222
Prefontaine (1997) and Without Limits (1998), 222
Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980
U.S. Hockey Team (2001) and Miracle (2004), 223
Mountaineering Films, 224
Climbing Mount Everest (1922) and Epic of Everest (1924), 224
The Conquest of Everest (1953), 225
Americans on Everest (1963), 225
Everest Unmasked (1978), 226
Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997), 226
Touching the Void (2003), 227
Contemporary Sports History on Film, 228
Surfing, 229
Bodybuilding, 230
Professional Wrestling, 231
Skateboarding , 232
A Return to Period Topics, 234

6 Music History on Film and Television, 237

Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Motown, and the Swing Era, 238
Young Man with a Horn (1950), 238
The Glenn Miller Story (1953), 238
St. Louis Blues (1958), 240
Wattstax (1973), 240
Bix: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet (1981), 241
Say Amen, Somebody (1982), 242
Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got (1985), 242
 Contents xiii

Louie Bluie (1986) and Sweet Old Song (2002), 243

Let’s Get Lost (1988), 244
Bird (1988), 244
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1989), 245
A Great Day in Harlem (1994), 246
The Genius of Lenny Breau (1995), 247
Wild Man Blues (1996), 247
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (1997), 248
Buena Vista Social Club (1999), 248
“Jazz” (2001), 250
Strange Fruit (2002), 251
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002), 251
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues—A Musical Journey (2003), 252
You’re the Top: The Cole Porter Story (1990), 254
Night and Day (1946), 255
De-Lovely (2004), 255
Rock, 256
Don’t Look Back (1967), 256
Monterey Pop (1969), 257
Woodstock (1970), 258
Gimme Shelter (1970), 260
Cocksucker Blues (1972), 261
Jimi Hendrix (1973) and Janis (1974), 262
Renaldo and Clara (1978), 264
The Last Waltz (1978), 265
The Kids Are Alright (1979), 265
History of Rock ‘N’ Roll (1995), 266
Festival Express (2003), 267
Punk (and Grunge) Rock, 268
The Punk Rock Movie (1978), 268
D.O.A. (1980) and The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1980), 269
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), 269
Another State of Mind (1983), 270
Sid and Nancy (1986), 270
Kurt and Courtney (1998), 272
Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie (1999), 273
The Filth and the Fury (2000), 273
Hype! (1996), 274
Songs for Cassavetes (2001), 274
Between Resistance and Community: The Long Island
Do It Yourself Punk Scene (2002), 275
End of the Century—The Story of the Ramones (2003), 275
Pop Singer Biopics, 276
The Jolson Story (1946), 276
The Helen Morgan Story (1957), 277
Lady Sings the Blues (1972), 277
xiv Contents

The Buddy Holly Story (1978), 278

La Bamba (1987), 278
Great Balls of Fire! (1989), 279
Truth or Dare (1991), 279
The Doors (1991), 280
What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993), 281
Selena (1997), 282
The Cream Will Rise (1998), 282
Beyond the Sea (2004), 283
Ray (2004), 284
Folk Music, 285
Bound for Glory (1976), 285
Leadbelly (1976), 285
The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time (1982), 286
The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack (2000), 286
Country and Western, 288
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), 288
Sweet Dreams (1985), 289
Classical Music, 289
Lisztomania (1975), 289
Amadeus (1984), 290
Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould (1993), 290
Immortal Beloved (1994), 291
Shine (1996), 291
Hilary and Jackie (1998), 293

7 Art History on Film and Television, 295

Lust for Life (1956), 295
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), 296
Civilisation (1969), 297
Ciao! Manhattan (1972), 298
Caravaggio (1986), 299
Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh (1987), 299
Camille Claudel (1988), 300
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), 301
Vincent & Theo (1990), 301
Crumb (1994), 302
I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), 304
Basquiat (1996), 305
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996), 306
Surviving Picasso (1996), 306
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998), 307
Pollock (2000), 308
Frida (2002), 309
American Splendor (2003), 311
 Contents xv

8 Labor, Business, and Political History on

Film and Television, 313
The Forties, 313
Citizen Kane (1941), 313
Give Us This Day (1949), 316
The Fifties, 317
Salt of the Earth (1954), 317
On the Waterfront (1954), 320
The Sixties, 323
Harvest of Shame (1960), 323
The Seventies, 324
The Molly Maguires (1970), 324
Joe Hill (1971), 326
Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976), 327
All the President’s Men (1976), 328
Union Maids (1976), 330
Norma Rae (1979), 331
The Eighties, 332
Reds (1981), 332
Missing (1982), 333
Silkwood (1983), 335
Matewan (1987), 337
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), 338
Roger & Me (1989), 339
The Nineties, 342
American Dream (1991), 342
JFK (1991), 343
F.I.S.T. (1978) and Hoffa (1992), 345
Cradle Will Rock (1999), 348
The New Millenium, 350
Erin Brockovich (2000), 350
The Weather Underground (2002), 352
Howard Hughes, 353
Good Night, And Good Luck (2005), 358

9 History of U.S. Race Relations on

Film and Television, 361
Films Made before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 361
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963), 361
Black Like Me (1964), 362
Films Made after the Civil Rights Act, 364
King: A Filmed Record . . . Montgomery to Memphis (1970), 364
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976), 365
King (1978), 365
Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987), 366
xvi Contents

Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years (1954–1965) (1987), 367
Mississippi Burning (1988), 368
Malcolm X (1992), 369
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), 372
Amistad (1997), 373
Rosewood (1997), 375
4 Little Girls (1997), 376
Africans in America: America’s Journey through Slavery (1998), 377
Antwone Fisher (2002), 378
With All Deliberate Speed (2004), 380

10 History of Crime on Film and Television, 381

The Thirties, 381
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), 381
The Forties, 383
Rope (1948), 383
The Fifties, 385
A Place in the Sun (1951), 385
I Want to Live! (1958), 386
Compulsion (1959), 387
The Sixties, 388
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), 388
Bonnie & Clyde (1967), 389
In Cold Blood (1967), 392
The Boston Strangler (1968), 394
The Seventies, 395
Bloody Mama (1970), 395
The Honeymoon Killers (1970), 396
Manson (1973), 398
Badlands (1973), 398
Dillinger (1945) and Dillinger (1973), 400
Serpico (1973), 401
Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Third Memory (2000), and
Based on a True Story (2005), 402
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), 404
The Onion Field (1979), 405
The Eighties, 406
Brubaker (1980), 406
Prince of the City (1981), 407
The Executioner’s Song (1982), 408
Shot in the Heart (2001), 409
The Killing of America (1982), 409
Star 80 (1983), 410
Fatal Vision (1984), 411
The Deliberate Stranger (1986), 412
 Contents xvii

The Thin Blue Line (1988), 413

The Accused (1988), 415
The Nineties, 416
Goodfellas (1990), 416
The Krays (1990), 418
Reversal of Fortune (1990), 419
Brother’s Keeper (1992), 420
Swoon (1992), 421
To Die For (1995), 422
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), 423
Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996), 424
Donnie Brasco (1997), 425
The Brandon Teena Story (1998) and Boys Don’t Cry (1999), 426
The Hurricane (1999), 427
The New Millenium, 431
Blow (2001), 431
Bully (2001), 432
Auto Focus (2002), 433
Aileen Wuornos on Film, 433
Capote (2005), 435

Bibliography, 437
Index, 449
About the Author, 501
 Acknowledgments

F
irst of all, I offer special thanks to my friend, Alan Harris Stein, oral historian
and archivist extraordinaire, for facilitating this project. Thanks to my editors,
Jim Ciment and Laura Esterman, for their expert advice, good cheer, and
patience. Thanks to my colleagues in the English Department and other departments
at St. Michael’s College: Mike Arena, Jeff Ayres, Nick Clary, Carrie Kaplan, Bill Grover,
Nat Lewis, Jack MacDonald, Will Marquis, Susan Ouellette, Christina Root, Kerry Shea,
Lorrie Smith, and Erin Stehmeyer. Thanks to Laurence Suid and Jim Leger who read
and commented on portions of the manuscript in progress. I owe a heartfelt thanks to
Don and Lynn Feeser for all their help and support and also acknowledge Paul Mal-
one, Richard Davis, Mick, Cindy, Alex, Andy, Buzz, Karen, my mom, my brothers Tom
and Al, my sister, Karen, my daughter, Elena, foster son, Dima, and my good friends
Mark Madigan and Steve Soitos for many years of loyalty. Finally, I owe my continuing
spiritual well-being to my wife, best friend, and life partner, Gretchen.

xix
 Introduction

F
rom 1981 to 2005, thirteen of the twenty-five Oscar winners for Best Picture
have been movies based in history. Over the same period, 32 of the 100 films
nominated for Best Picture have had their basis in historical events. Both sta-
tistics testify to the continuing power and prestige of history as source material in the
film business. Likewise, when members of a viewing audience see the familiar phrase,
“based on a true story,” flash on the screen during the opening credit sequence, they
tend to assume, rightly or wrongly, that the movie they are about to watch will deliver
more significance than a pure fiction and will therefore require a heightened level of
attentive engagement and respect. The irony is rich: in a constantly accelerating cul-
ture of consumption that fosters short attention spans and shorter memories, histori-
cal subject matter somehow continues to hold strong sway over filmmakers and
moviegoers.
Perhaps much of the appeal of history films has to do with an unsatisfied popu-
lar hunger for some sort of grounding in “truth” and “reality.” As postmodern business
civilization becomes more standardized, authoritarian, and alienating, its culture
industries have had to aspire to new depths of insipidity and escapism to mask and
compensate for the real, and really depressing, social conditions that prevail. Though
never of great quality, a preponderance of contemporary movie and television fare is
weird, puerile, banal, and slyly contemptuous of its audience. Sizable fractions of the
populace are quite aware that products of corporate media do not emanate from, or
reflect, any reality they know. In a world of simulacra and contrivance, people want
some recognizable token of life on planet Earth before “Commodity” became a raven-
ous god.
As a field of study, film and history have undergone a tremendous upsurge in
interest in recent years that is commensurate with the growing public appetite for his-
torical representations on film and television. First-rate history-film reference guides,
essay anthologies, and critical-theoretical works are now being published on a regular
basis (see the Bibliography at the end of this volume). Typically a “history film” is
defined, in very broad and loose terms, as either a “true story” or simply a period piece
that conjures a bygone era (e.g., All Quiet on the Western Front or The Searchers). The

xxi
xxii Introduction

theory goes that, even if the narrative and characters are largely fictional, the set-
ting is real and evocative enough to qualify the film as “historical.” There is noth-
ing wrong with this idea; historical fiction films can be profitably “read” as both
reflective and productive of the ideological temperament that informed the time
in which they were made, as well as the time they purport to represent. Indeed,
virtually any film can be analyzed as a revealing “historical” document.
To stake out new and exclusive ground, the present study applies a some-
what more rigorous litmus test: the film in question needs to be firmly “based on
a true story,” that is, it has to deal with an actual, documented historical incident.
The movie can contain fictional elements—every history film does—but must
describe a once real moment in a real place involving real people. Consequently
I have sidestepped the enormous repertoire of historical fiction films that most
other film-history studies treat as their bread and butter. I have also avoided
films dealing with ancient history topics because the existing documentation to
support the film’s veracity is often weak. Finally I have to confess to being much
more interested in films engaging modern history because the political and ide-
ological ramifications hit much closer to home.
As for theoretical presuppositions, while I have narrowed the definition of
what I consider to be a true “history” film, I have expanded the notion of what
constitutes “history” beyond the conventionally dominant categories of military,
social, and political history. Half the book treats these standard categories but
the other half examines films dealing with the history of sports, music, art, race
relations, and crime—types of human endeavor not necessarily tied up with
shaping and reshaping nation-states but important nonetheless as specimens of
ideology and psychohistory. Furthermore, I have opted to treat the films under
consideration not as discreet artifacts but as events—an axiom that precludes an
alphabetical, encyclopedic arrangement. Instead the ten chapters herein are gen-
erally laid out in uninterrupted chronological sequences to delineate patterns of
stylistic and ideological development that may arise from or reflect changes in
political temperament over periods of time. Treating a film as an event also
means dealing with the aesthetic, personal, and political character of the people
who conceived it, the historical moment in which it was spawned, the film’s
genre kin and immediate antecedents, the resources the filmmaker had at hand,
the commercial requisites that shape tone and narrative structure, the concrete
circumstances of the film’s production, and the sort of critical and popular recep-
tion it received. All these factors make up the gestalt of the film as representa-
tive of history, as an historical event in its own right, and as part of a larger his-
torical mosaic formed by the entire body of films on the subject.
As for conclusions arrived at after intensively researching, studying, and
analyzing some 375 history films, a few things come to the fore. Because it focuses
 Introduction xxiii

exclusively on the “true story,” this book deals with two types of history film: the
docudrama and the documentary. Docudramas invariably streamline, distill, and
radically simplify historical events. In keeping with the Anglo-American ideology
of heroic hyperindividualism, docudrama narratives have room for one or two
protagonists but no more than that. Consequently, docudramas routinely create
composite characters or erase important participants in the real event altogether
because the requisites of economical storytelling dictate as much. Docudramas
also tend toward melodrama as they exaggerate internal and interpersonal con-
flicts and emotional Sturm und Drang. In a similarly reductive way, they posit
Manichaean moral schemes with clearly recognizable heroes and villains, jump to
arbitrary conclusions when the evidence is incongruous, and structure the histor-
ical incident into a classic three-act drama that ends with the requisite satisfactory
closure. These common narrative tropes militate against the ambiguity and com-
plexity that naturally inheres in any real event. Docudramas also get lots of great
and small details wrong, either deliberately—to argue a partisan political point or
drum up sympathy or antipathy for a particular person—or inadvertently, due to
poor research or fallacious assumptions. Ultimately historical accuracy is a func-
tion of the filmmakers’ political and intellectual integrity and varies wildly depend-
ing on the persons involved and the lasting ideological significance of the histori-
cal event being depicted.
The popular perception is that a documentary film is far more objective
and reliable a source of historical truth than a docudrama. This is, of course, not
true. Documentaries are susceptible to the same sorts of narrative distortions
that characterize docudramas and are even more dangerously seductive because
they appear to adhere to a higher standard of epistemological neutrality by typ-
ically showcasing authoritative and explanatory voice-overs; interviews with
experts and other real people in the know; and obviously genuine archival
footage, maps, still photographs, and other sorts of visually compelling graphic
evidence to prove their cases. The source materials are all real enough and the
interviewees supposedly sincere. The documentary filmmaker manipulates in a
more subtle way, through what he or she inserts or omits and how the film’s
materials are edited. Finally both docudrama and documentary filmmakers tend
to skew history by offering a partisan interpretation, or perhaps two simple,
opposing interpretations, of an historical event when the event calls for many
more points of view to do justice to its mysterious aspects, insoluble contradic-
tions, and complexities. In sum, a history film of any sort might be emotionally
compelling, intellectually persuasive, and an artistic triumph but none of these
apparent strengths mean that it is good history—buyer beware.
 1
Military History on Film
and Television: Wallace’s
Rising to the Boer War

A
t the outset of this chapter, a crucial distinction needs to be drawn
between the vast war film genre and a subset of the war film: the mili-
tary history film. The Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com)
lists over 4,500 war films. Of that number, less than 150 (or about 3 percent) qual-
ify as films that more or less accurately deal with authentic episodes in military
history. The remaining 4,350 war movies have to be classified as war fiction
films—that is, films that superimpose largely or entirely fictional narratives onto
war history settings. As is true of all genre classifications, there are a number of
gray areas here. For example, films like Gallipoli and Das Boot involve fictional
characters, but the settings and war action depicted are so specific and realistic
as to qualify them as military history films. Conversely, even a fastidiously accu-
rate military history film like Gettysburg will inevitably fabricate much of its dia-
logue; historical sources can only supply so much. Genre conventions, narrative
requisites, and ideological imperatives also introduce distortions into otherwise
credible renditions of military history. Still, all caveats aside, the distinction
between the war history and the war (fiction) film is clear enough to allow mean-
ingful classification. Military history on film essentially represents actual inci-
dents involving real persons. A war film may, in many ways, be a fairly accurate
pictorial representation of a particular conflict and may allegorize its salient
political, psychological, and moral issues brilliantly (for example, The Deer
Hunter) but it is still a fiction; the events depicted never happened. Quite a num-
ber of books have concerned themselves with ideological analyses of war films
per se. What is offered in what follows is a focused ideological-historicist read-
ing of military history on film.

1
2 History in the Media: Film and Television

Wallace’s Rising (1297–1304)

Braveheart (1995)

The moment of inspiration for Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s 1995 biopic about Scot-
land’s greatest hero, Sir William Wallace (1272?–1305), apparently occurred some-
time in 1983 when the film’s screenwriter, Randall Wallace, came across a statue
of William Wallace outside of Edinburgh Castle while he was researching his
family genealogy. (An alternate version of the story is that Randall Wallace hap-
pened on a plaque in a wall of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital near London’s Smith-
field Market commemorating the site of William Wallace’s execution.) Whatever
the exact impetus, an intrigued Randall Wallace began to research and write a
screenplay based on the life of his legendary namesake. At least eight biogra-
phies of Wallace had been published between 1830 and 1983, but all had their ori-
gins in a single, highly speculative, source: The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre
and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace (circa 1477), an epic poem by
Scottish poet, Henry the Minstrel (aka, “Blind Harry,” circa 1440–1493) (Mackay
1995). Written 172 years after Wallace’s death, Henry’s poem drew on the stories
passed down over the generations; it was adulatory and patriotic but of very
dubious accuracy. No matter, Randall Wallace was not overly concerned with
historical exactitude; as an American of Scottish ancestry, his aim was to write
an exciting swashbuckler of epic proportions that would captivate audiences
and pay homage to his courageous ancestors.
In broad terms, the story Braveheart tells is true enough. William Wallace
(Mel Gibson) did, indeed, rebel against King Edward I (1239–1307) “Longshanks”
(Patrick McGoohan); he handily defeated the English in battle at Loudon Hill,
Ayr, Scone, and, most notably, Stirling Bridge (after which he was knighted and
appointed Guardian of Scotland by Robert the Bruce); behind the scenes, the
Scottish nobles likely sold out the popular revolt against the English; Wallace’s
forces lost the Battle of Falkirk (June 1298); stripped of his prestige after Falkirk,
Wallace went into hiding but was eventually captured, tried, and executed for
treason. It also appears to be true that Edward’s son and heir apparent, the
Prince of Wales (Peter Hanly), was effeminate, probably homosexual, and neg-
lectful of his wife, Princess Isabelle (Sophie Marceau). The film’s falsifications
and distortions are equally significant, however. Wallace did not swear eternal
enmity against the Crown for the murder of his young wife—the alleged murder
never happened. (One source suggests that Wallace became an outlaw in a much
more prosaic manner—after a deadly quarrel with British soldiers over some fish
he had caught.) In the film, King Edward I is portrayed as a sinister, devious char-
acter but was, in fact, a strong and well-respected king; the real Wallace did not
A scene still of actor and director Mel Gibson from Braveheart. (Icon/Ladd Co/Para-
mount/The Kobal Collection)
4 History in the Media: Film and Television

have an affair with Princess Isabelle; the English did not take heavy losses at
Falkirk; the film’s depiction of the Scottish warriors in blue face paint and kilts
is anachronistic; the historical William Wallace was a giant of a man (6 feet, 7
inches tall) whereas Mel Gibson is of average height (5 feet, 11 inches).
Whatever its failings as history, Braveheart certainly has epic grandeur and
plenty of bloody, frenetic battle sequences, romance, and high-minded senti-
ment. Shot in Ireland and Scotland, Braveheart used 1,700 Irish army troops as
extras for its battle scenes and cost a hefty $70–$80 million to make
(http://www.imdb.com). But Gibson’s gamble paid off handsomely. A huge inter-
national hit, Braveheart received rave reviews, generated revenues in excess of
$200 million, was nominated for ten Oscars, and won five (including two for Gib-
son, for Best Director and Best Picture). On a more ominous note, filmmaker
(Hoop Dreams) Steve James saw Braveheart’s celebration of Anglo-Saxon chau-
vinism as playing to crypto-fascist elements in American society: “It is apparent
that sections of the US far right . . . find a mythical version of Scottish history
useful for their present political purposes. This fabricated Scotland closely
echoes contemporary rhetoric. This nation of ‘Bravehearts’ has no social classes,
only Scots. It devotes itself to defending ‘ancient freedoms’—that are thankfully
bound up with land, property and religion—against a foreign threat, both exter-
nal and internal” (James 1999).

The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745

Culloden (1964)

Radical media critic and filmmaker Peter Watkins started out in the mid-1950s, in
Britain, making short amateur (8mm) films. Two of his films—Diary of an
Unknown Soldier (1959) and The Forgotten Faces (1960)—won “Ten Best”
awards (the equivalent of the Oscar for amateur films in the UK) and were
screened at the London National Film Theatre. Impressed by his work, Huw
Wheldon, head of BBC-TV’s Documentary Film Department, hired Watkins as an
assistant film producer in 1962. In 1964 Watkins was granted a small budget to
make a film version of John Prebble’s Culloden (London: Secker & Warburg,
1961), a best-selling historical account of the British army’s destruction of Bonnie
Prince Charlie’s Scots Jacobin forces at Culloden Moor on April 16, 1746, the last
battle fought on British soil. Filming at Inverness, Scotland, with an all-amateur
cast in August 1964, Peter Watkins eschewed the conventional historical docu-
drama in favor of a cleverly mounted faux cinema verité approach that employed
 Military History on Film and Television: The Boer War 5

handheld cameras and direct-to-camera address of battle participants that quite

deliberately imitated contemporary television news coverage of the unfolding
war in Vietnam. Screened on BBC-TV on December 15, 1964 (exactly four months
after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution), Culloden presented “you are there” coverage
of a battle that had occurred 218 years before: a surreal Brechtian gambit that
proved to be a major success with critics and the viewing public and set the tone
and style for much of Watkins’ later work.

The Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815)

Kolberg (also known as Burning Hearts) (1945)

After the envelopment and destruction of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad in
the winter of 1942–1943, it became obvious that Hitler’s war with the Soviet
Union was going to be a protracted and exceedingly difficult struggle that Ger-
many might well lose. On June 1, 1943, convinced that the German people needed
a great inspirational film to galvanize their fighting spirit, Propaganda Minister
Josef Goebbels commissioned Kolberg [also known as Burning Hearts] (1945),
a period epic directed by Veit Harlan (Jud Süss) about a small Baltic port’s stub-
born fight against Napoleon’s army. Written by Harlan in close collaboration with
Goebbels, Kolberg actually conflates two distinct events: the resistance of the cit-
izens of Kolberg to French invasion in 1806–1807 and an insurrection against
French occupation forces led by Prussian Lt. Ferdinand Baptist von Schill’s
Freikorps in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund in 1809. The historical reality is as
follows. Under the military command of Prussian Field Marshal Neidhardt von
Gneisenau (1760–1831), Kolberg became famous for its long and spirited resist-
ance to capture by the French after the larger fortresses in the area had surren-
dered. The Stralsund story was quite different. After three quick victories against
the French and their allies, Schill (Gustav Diessl in the film) led his rebel solders
to the seaport of Stralsund to seek support from English warships harbored
there. Unfortunately, the English had already departed by the time Schill arrived.
Unable to stir a wider rebellion in Pomerania, Schill and his men (about 2,000
Prussians and Swedes) fortified Stralsund against the inevitable counterattack. It
came on May 31, 1809, when 5,000 mostly Dutch and Danish troops stormed the
town and overwhelmed Schill’s men in heavy fighting. In Stralsund’s market
square Dutch soldiers dragged Lieutenant Schill from his horse, bayoneted him,
stripped him of his uniform, and cut off his head, which was preserved and put
on display in a Dutch army museum until 1839. The French executed Schill’s
6 History in the Media: Film and Television

fellow officers by firing squad and sent his surviving soldiers into forced labor at
Brest and Cherbourg.
For Harlan and Goebbels, Kolberg’s staunch resistance to Napoleon’s
armies served as an allegorical example of what could be accomplished by a
patriotic people united at home and on the battlefront, despite the defeatism of
the generals. But eventually Kolberg did fall to the French, a historical fact omit-
ted from the Harlan-Goebbels version for obvious reasons. Likewise, the real
fate of the charismatic Lieutenant Schill—an allegorical stand-in for Hitler—was
elided from the movie. Though they played fast and loose with the historical
facts, Harlan and Goebbels made sure that Kolberg would rival Gone With the
Wind (1939) for pageantry and epic scope. Shot near Potsdam under constant
threat of air raids, Kolberg took two years to make, cost 8.5 million Reich marks,
and involved elaborate sets, 10,000 specially made uniforms, and trainloads of
salt for artificial snow. The film also used thousands of soldiers—Harlan makes
the unlikely claim of 185,000 in his memoir (Harlan 1966)—and 4,000 sailors as
extras at a time when the Third Reich needed every available combatant at the
front.
Kolberg’s public premier was one of the strangest in cinematic history. A
print of the film was parachuted into the besieged U-boat base garrison at La
Rochelle, France, and shown on January 30, 1945, the twelfth anniversary of
Hitler’s takeover, to exhort the surrounded troops to hold out—which they did
until a general surrender on May 9. Still, the overall propaganda effectiveness of
Kolberg was negligible and the yawning gap between Goebbels’ wish-fulfillment
fantasy and the war’s reality was manifest when the real Kolberg fell to advanc-
ing Soviet forces in early February 1945. Heinrich George, the actor who played
Joachim Nettelbeck (1738–1834), Kolberg’s heroic mayor, died of starvation in a
Soviet concentration camp in 1946. Twenty years after its initial release, Kolberg
was rereleased in West Germany as 30. Januar 1945, with an accompanying
documentary that corrected Kolberg’s many misrepresentations.
The reputation of French writer-director Abel Gance (1889–1981) rests pri-
marily on his 1927 silent masterpiece, Napoléon, a stirring and technically inno-
vative 4-hour epic that depicts Napoleon’s early life up to the beginning of his
military career. In 1981 director and film historian Kevin Brownlow released a
restored version with a new music score by Carmine Coppola. Gance had
intended to cover the remainder of Napoleon’s saga with another five films, but
when Napoléon proved to be a financial disaster, he had to abandon his ambi-
tious plan. Gance’s fascination with Napoleon never waned, however. In 1934
Gance released Napoléon Bonaparte, a reedited 2-hour, 20-minute version of
Napoléon with sound effects and dubbed dialogue added. Gance also released a
third reedited version, Bonaparte et la Révolution, in 1971.
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