1965 movie about life in the middle of the American War Between the States
Shenandoah is a 1965 American War Between the States film starring James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne and, in their film debuts, Katharine Ross and Rosemary Forsyth. The film was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The American folk song "Oh Shenandoah" features prominently in the film's soundtrack. Though set during the War Between the States, the film's strong antiwar and humanitarian themes resonated with audiences in later years as attitudes began to change toward the Vietnam War. Upon its release, the film was praised for its themes as well as its technical production.
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Web Pages
Video Products
Shenandoah (1965), 6 May 2003
Articles
Liberty at the Movies, by David Boaz, 20 Jun 2005
Short reviews of some of Boaz' "all-time favorite libertarian movies" from "Hollywood"
Short reviews of some of Boaz' "all-time favorite libertarian movies" from "Hollywood"
Shenandoah, a 1965 film starring Jimmy Stewart, is often regarded as the best libertarian film Hollywood ever made. Stewart is a Virginia farmer who wants to stay out of the Civil War. Not our fight, he tells his sons. He refuses to let the state take his sons, or his horses, for war. Inevitably, though, his family is drawn into the war raging around them, and the movie becomes very sad. I cried when I was 11 years old, and I teared up again when I saw it recently. This is a powerful movie about independence, self‐reliance, individualism, and the horrors of war.
Memorial Day Alternative, by Butler Shaffer, 16 May 2007
Short summaries of anti-war films with rankings (as a number of *'s [1-3]) in terms of importance
Short summaries of anti-war films with rankings (as a number of *'s [1-3]) in terms of importance
*** Shenandoah – the best anti-war film with a consistent libertarian message. Jimmy Stewart plays a Virginia farmer — with a large family — who has no use for the Civil War and its intrusions upon his property. When I first sat through this film over 40 years ago, I kept waiting for Stewart to cave in and see the errors of his ways. He never does. Some wonderful lines that you'll not soon forget. One of the very few films that later became a stage play. If you haven’t seen this one, where have you been?
Reviews
Shenandoah (1965), by Stephen W. Carson
This film starring Jimmy Stewart portrays a widower named Anderson at the time of the War between the States who refuses to join either side and just wants to be left alone. His crusty independence and anti-war attitude have made this film a libertarian favourite.
Shenandoah (1965)
by Jon Osborne, Miss Liberty's Guide to Film and Video, 2001
by Jon Osborne, Miss Liberty's Guide to Film and Video, 2001
Despite the family's heroic independence, however, war inevitably comes to their farm in the form of skirmishes between Confederate and Union armies. ... The antidraft and antiwar elements are prominent, very satisfying ... It was the runner up for 'Best Libertarian Picture' at the 1994 First International Libertarian Film Festival.
Videos
Shenandoah Official Trailer #1 - James Stewart Movie (1965) HD, 1965
Includes scene where Charlie Anderson (James Stewart) responds to Lt. Johnson's "Virginia needs all of her sons" with "That may be so ... but these are my sons. They don't belong to the state"
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shenandoah (film)" as of 27 Sep 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.