Movie Reviews

A new title in Sony’s Combat Classics is 1989’s Glory about the all-black members of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, led by Col. Robert Gould Shaw (a slightly miscast Matthew Broderick) and with Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington as the regiment’s unofficial leaders.. Being denied virtually every amenity and given only the most uneventful of tasks, the soldiers hang in there before finally acquitting themselves by charging a fortification manned by over 1000 Confederate soldiers.

It’s a long overdue tribute to the black soldiers that fought for the Union cause in the American Civil War, directed by Edward Zwick (who later went on to make Defiance, The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond) from a script by Kevin Jarre (Rambo II). It’s not the most action-packed war movie but both the training and battle scenes are convincing and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that went to Denzel Washington was well-deserved.