Shenandoah (1965) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a Virginia family during the Civil War that refuses to participate in the war despite the father having five sons and several daughter. They never believed in slavery and wont fight for it now. The South keeps trying to recruit the sons and the family resources but a stubborn father wont have it; however, when the youngest son gets caught up in the war activities the family may have to get involved after all.

This movie is directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (The Wild Geese) and stars James Stewart (Vertigo), George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke), Patrick Wayne (Big Jake), Rosemary Forsyth (Disclosure), Doug McClure (The Land that Time Forgot), Tim McIntire (Brubaker) and Katharine Ross (The Graduate).

The storyline, characters, setting and circumstances of the time period are very well established. The family dynamics is outstanding and James Stewart couldn't have been better cast. His script, demeanor and intensity was perfect. The chemistry within the entire cast was excellent.

The circumstances and perspectives of the Civil War were also well delivered; and the ending was a bit sad, but realistic and very well done.

Overall this isn't a perfect film but is very well executed and is definitely worth a viewing. I would score this movie a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

James Stewart is at one of his best performances, in I think is the only sad movie that he's been in. I mean, there's so much death in this movie, I surprise myself by giving it an eight.

****Major Spoilers ahead****

Right from the very beginning, we can see that this is a Civil War movie. Stewart plays Charlie Anderson, a widower with many sons and daughters. He will not join the Confederates, because he opposes slavery. He won't join the Union, because he is against war. But his sons are invited to join the Confederates. None of them do, and later, the same Confederates that made the offer were all killed.

One of his sons is kidnapped by some Yanmkeess, and Charlie sets out to rescue him. Charlie sees first hand the horrors of war, and he is forced to make a stand on the war.

If you watch this movie, be sure to have plenty of tissues, because you will definitely need them.

My Score: 8/10.

Shenandoah (1965)

A leisurely, somewhat by-the-book movie, directed by a television veteran, Andrew V. McLaglen. The story, of a family who resisted the Civil War by sheer stubborn principles (like objecting to war), is interesting, and a bit different. This has the feel of a Western, but it's set in Virginia, so is closer to "Drums Along the Mohawk" in depth and intention.

But more to the point--James Stewart is the patriarch, and he brings an older, deeper, wiser sensibility to the film than all the other actors combined. It's a great performance top to bottom, and he pulls it off with complexity and rare conviction. The plot is absorbing because of Stewart, and that's the final word, really.

It doesn't hurt to note this is 1965, and the Vietnam war is getting going on a large scale, making the front of Life Magazine. Whether or not this is a comment on that war, or on war in general, it's hard to know from here, but the audience must have seen it that way. There is a conflict of innocence and sheer naiveté that doesn't always wash well with common sense, and this large family is nothing if not smart. The large crisis that marks the halfway point was avoidable by paying attention to the hat a little more.

But these men and women still show the power of passive resistance to a war that seemed, to them, to be nonsense.