The Day Lincoln Was Shot

Director John Gray, after his last two mediocre-at-best theatrical efforts "Born To Be Wild" and "The Glimmer Man", returns to his tv-directing roots with "The Day Lincoln Was Shot", a fascinating look at one of our country's most famous assassinations. When you watch a good movie, you usually go through the motions: suspense, awe, tragedy (or at least mild sadness), and hopefully in the process crack a smile or two. While no brilliant cinematic triumph, "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" more or less manages to achieve those basic standards, and nowadays, that's no easy feat. What helps it achieve that, though, are two vital factors that elude most modern Hollywood projects: great subject material and great casting. The material is obvious, and should be interesting to most anyone who has even the vaguest knowledge of American history. As for casting, "Millennium" star Lance Henriksen finally lands a fresh role as the Sixteenth President, and it's a startling discovery to find that Mr. Henriksen has been seemingly born with the precise facial mold of good ol' Honest Abe himself, and that it's taken so long for someone to notice! Just add beard, costume and viola! While still playing a dark role, there's a spark to Mr. Henriksen's Lincoln, that makes him alive and real, and more importantly, human. Rob Morrow is John Wilkes Booth, the actor gone bad, who, as we see here, is not just a cardboard borderline psychotic, rather, there's a method to his madness, a motive that fringes on being understandable that brings a freshness to the scenes Morrow steals; it's a relief to see him playing someone other than a smug yuppie trapped in our society. All in all, John Gray has been blessed with the gift of story-telling brevity, and we get a satisfying tv-viewing experience in one evening, not two or three or four, as is the growing tradition for TNT films...done sparingly, this is a treat for the audience.

I like this movie a lot. Proof that Ted Turner's people are better off sticking with "made for TV" movies as opposed to trying to go "big screen" (see: "Gods and Generals" for one such disaster).

I did not particularly care for some of the "MTV-like" camera angles and going from color to black and white (hopefully this "fad" will die a quick death).

Lance Henrickson is a fine actor and did a great job as Lincoln. Unlike Henrickson, Lincoln was a "western" country hick with a higher pitched voice and did not have the graceful mannerisms Henrickson protrayed in this film (I blame the casting, not Henrickson, for this), but it's no big deal, unless you are a nit-picker who liked to show off your deft knowledge of history.

Rob Morrow kicked ass as Booth. Another very underrated actor.

Here again, as in the TNT effort "Andersonville" which in my view is the most unique and my absolute favorite Civil War movie to date, I believe that the using of mostly "role actors" pays off.

Bizarre as it may sound, I really believe that background, incidental music can make or break a movie, especially a period piece such as this. And with this movie, it's excellent!

I doubt Hollywierd will ever treat Lincoln on the "big screen" again (as has been done before many many years ago). So I guess we will have to settle for TV efforts like this. And if they are all this good, that could be a good thing!

I really enjoyed this movie. What makes this movie so good is the great performance by Lance Henricksen. He truly is one of the greatest actors of all time. If you want to see him at his best see this movie. Lance Henricksen was born to play the role of Abraham Lincoln. I also recommend "Aliens", "Pumpkinhead", and "Hard Target" to see him at his best. I give this movie 10/10

An excellent portrayal of the circumstances surrounding the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in 1865. Rob Morrow provides an excellent portrayal of John Wilkes Booth and also provides us with an interesting insight as to the depth of patriotism, ill-feeling and desire for revenge that existed on the Confederate side during the Civil War. Lance Henriksen also provides an excellent portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln and his last days in the White House before the shooting and gives us an insight into his courage, his strong convictions and his determination to promote forgiveness over revenge. A strong supporting cast gives this movie additional credibility and it had me entranced from start to finish. A powerful and moving historical drama that I would highly recommend. My only criticism would be that it tends to place too much emphasis on some events and not enough on others

My rating: 10 out of 10.

I bought this from Warner Archive without remembering that it ever existed. I was somewhat surprised that I hadn't previously thought of Henriksen as a potential Lincoln, but he really does look more like the President than any other actor I've seen in the role, including Royal Dano. The makeup is excellent, but Henriksen's face is already 2/3 of the way there. He's a greatly underrated actor; he approaches all his roles with dedication, focus and intelligent; the same is true here. In the header I said he's one of the best Lincolns; actually, he may be >the< best, rivaled only by Henry Fonda and Raymond Massey. But everything about this understated, well-researched movie is outstanding; I was surprised and pleased by how good it is.