The South Celebrated In Cinema
Five Classic Films Set in the South on DVD for the First Time
Five Classic Films Set in the South on DVD for the First Time
(Boyd Cathey, LewRockwell.Com) - It’s no secret that Hollywood over the past three decades has not been kind to the South or to the Confederacy. The last major films that have in any way attempted to be objective about the Confederacy were, probably, “Ride With the Devil” (1999), “Gods and Generals” (in 2003), and perhaps “The Conspirator” (2010). But despite general audience approval, the negative reaction to these blockbusters by critics, and the evaporation of financial funding for such cinema (no doubt affected by the changing cultural climate), Hollywood in recent years has considered the South, and in particular, the Confederacy, toxic, racist, and a cesspool of “white supremacy.”
But it was not always that way. Indeed, during the mid-twentieth century Hollywood directors and producers released literally dozens of films which reflected the continuation of a cultural trend that began a few decades after Appomattox. That trend was one of national unity—unification—of recognizing the nobility, sacrifices and honor of those hundreds of thousands of men who wore the gray, and welcoming them back into the union. Certainly, slavery was condemned, but as most historians and political leaders of the period recognized, that issue was in the past. Indeed, former Confederate officers of higher rank served in the Spanish-American War, under the Stars and Stripes, including notably “Fightin’ Joe” Wheeler, Fitzhugh Lee, Matthew Butler, and Thomas Rosser.
This emphasis on unification and the recognition that Confederate veterans were honorable and deserving of respect produced the widespread movement in …
