Class of '61

Class of 61 tells the story of a group of friends who are cadets at West Point at the outbreak of the civil war. While the story starts slow and lets us get to know about these folks as people and as friends, it ends abruptly at the Battle of Manassas.

Not surprising really in that it was meant as the pilot for a TV series dealing with the civil war.

As a movie it really doesn't stand alone all that well. Just as you get to know and care about the characters the film is over.

RELEASED TO TV IN 1993 and directed by Gregory Hoblit, "The Class of '61" details what happens when three West Point graduates & their friends opt for opposite sides when the The Civil War breaks out and the impending Battle of Bull Run destroys any delusions of a quick, glorious victory for the Union.

Despite the limitations of a TV budget, this is a well-done Civil War drama that leads up to the Battle of Bull Run. While there aren't any sweeping shots of this initial battle (because the budget wouldn't allow for it), I liked the way the movie focuses on the individual's experience during battle with those in the immediate vicinity.

Dan Futterman stands out as the main protagonist, but there are some future stars as well, like Clive Owen and Josh Lucas, the latter playing Armstrong Custer. The movie scores well on the female front with the jaw-dropping Sue-Ann Leeds, as well as Sophie Ward and a young Laura Linney. It's also interesting seeing Robert Newman again.

Besides the closing battle sequence, a couple of scenes are dramatically exceptional: The compelling train sequence and, especially, the quiet fishing boat scene where the protagonist has an honest talk with his black friend, who also happens to be a family slave (Andre Braugher).

FYI: This was originally intended as the first of a 13-episode miniseries.

THE MOVIE RUNS 95 minutes. WRITER: Jonas McCord.

GRADE: B-

Great premise and cast. Really disappointed it didn't make it to series, think it had tons of potential.

Needed more time to breathe, I think we needed more bonding scenes of the cadets in West Point. Probably needed a mini series where chapter 1 ends with the class breaking up for war.

Given they only had 90 minutes, I think it needed to be focused on 1 character, But you could see they were setting up plotlines for the series with underground railroad etc.

As noted in other reviews, very soft on the Confederacy and Southern slave owners. If you don't have the time to be "warts and all" don't just show the good side.

As an Irishman, I appreciated the scene where 'Da' spoke to one of the sons in Irish and he hadn't a notion. Good way to show the disconnect between the generations. Although I am not sure about some of the Oirish accents from some of the British cast (Clive Owen, Sophie Ward) - though they were great in every other respect.

Not the greatest of its kind, Class Of '61 suffers a hastily delivered plot, too many plot holes and sometimes, poor acting. Anyway, Clive Owen and Laura Linney alone saved this albeit a bit shallow effort, as their delivery is very decent and very deep. The sheer tragedy of a class split, of friendships destroyed, of mates killed in the same battle is shown here. Well, bother, that could have been much better, had Ron Maxwell done that in his sheer Gettysburg style and grandeur. What the movie does show well is the very banality of death at war, the immediacy of tragedy looming, the simplicity of bloodshed. No heroism, almost, just a real suffering of men and women. That could be a better movie, but even now, it is OK

While there are issues with this project because it was intended to be just the beginning of a series, the quality of this work is higher than most say. I wish the battle scenes were more realistic and compelling, as I believe they are neither. But the connections between the main characters who were 1861 West Point cadets are quite interesting. Spielberg, Burns and Foote being connected to this project is evident. Historically, it is strong. Much of the script is adapted from historical documents and accounts. Anyone who's studied the Civil War will note the familiar lines of dialogue and pieces of letters. Unfortunately, ABC did not pick up this pilot for series, so it's now seen as what it is, a 90-minute TV movie.