Truman

After seeing Gary Sinise in this movie he became one of my favorite actors. I live in Independence, the proud hometown of Harry S. Truman. I was fortunate enought to meet Gary, who is one of the friendliest actors around. ( Only said hi but he smiled and said hi back with such warmth.) I think he's a great actor who will hopefully be around for years to come!!

Gary Sinise is tremendous in this. It has become a favorite of my 12 year old son, which is a fine thing to see! The acting, and the painstaking accuracy make this a worthy portrayal of David McCullough's masterpiece of a book.

I didn't vote on it, just to be fair.

It was really pretty cool to be an extra, and to see the finished product. We shot one complete sequence at a "French" farm/farmhouse that never showed up in the final cut. It was Truman first receiving his troops. Too bad, approaching the farm outside Kanssa City, I figured the bomb-hole in the roof was faked, but could never quite focus well enough to stop fooling my eyes. It was tar paper under the red tiles of the roof, and was perfect! The horses, cannon, cheering/heckling were fun to do, too.

Shooting the opening scene, the muddy French battlefront outside KC,MO on a very cold 3AM or so Palm Sunday, they had to chip the ice off the cannon before each shot. We were being "showered", literally, with 5,000 gals of cold water (I forget what the amount on the tanker truck said). They gave up after the second load!

They had assigned me to stand on a particular hill with the younger guys. Ha, I was about 40!

We were in authentic militaria, my helmet's strap had the soldier's name, and Armentiers, I think, written in it. Some parts weren't period, but there were some re-enactors who brought the cannon, real rifles to add to the production's real and fakes, and the horses to pull them in both scenes.

I had to run in front of and dive/slip/get very muddy Gary Sinise riding into the scene. Finally, I thought I was too muddy to do it again, or be able to use the same costume for later shooting that week!

Gary Sinise was standing in the mud with the rest of us between takes. They put out ONE cannister of propane with a 1-foot square radiant heater atop. I stood a bit to the back of the group, and just hopped about, up and down, to keep my feet warm...-er. I was just concerned about keeping the same just-above-dead-frozen-yet-still- almost-completely-miserable temperature; the heater just LOOKED warm, and red, but didn't do much unless you kept spinning about, cooling off immediately, fast as you turned. It merely reminded you that you were cold.

Gary Sinise saw me hopping, felt sorry for me, and tried to get me to take his place close to it! Pretty nice guy, especially as I was just a grunt! (So much better than The Battle at the Met.)

Harry Truman was an American president of rare integrity. Steadfastly honest and loyal to his friends, his causes, and his own heart, and born into a lower middle class farming family, Truman stands out as a real anomaly in 20th century American politics. Like similar men of profound integrity, such as John Adams, his presidency was a turbulent time of great triumphs for freedom and democracy and huge problems for ethics, nationalism and human rights. And as the symbol and scapegoat of those times, Truman, again like Adams, played his role - whether cast as hero or villain - with profound dignity. This film tells his story from his enlistment in the armed forces during World War One, at the age of 33, to his retirement from politics about 35 years later.

The characters of this film are portrayed sensitively and authentically. Truman and his wife, and the controversial Generals Marshall and MacArthur are particularly impressive. In some cases - particularly the Trumans themselves - this must have been a fairly difficult effort. Truman was not a very dramatic and flashy person, and his wife was fairly detached and private. Sinise and Scarwid play the parts and the relationship perfectly.

Since the study of history is a big part of my career, I am writing from a slightly unusual perspective. "Truman" has all the pedigree for what should have been a really powerful biographical film - a great lead actor, a solid supporting cast, a good production team, a great story and a very strong writing team. And it is refreshing to see such an accurate portrayal of a true hero of American politics and such a vivid realization of his times. Despite all of this, I feel that Truman could have been a better film - more dramatic, more visually powerful and more poignant. Somewhere between the script and the directing, a bit of cinematic art was lost and never quite recovered. Historiographically, this is a satisfying film, but it does not go too far past "satisfying".

I knew that I was going to be interested in this film from the beginning, having read and enjoyed David McCullough's book of the same name. What I wasn't expecting was the incredible performance turned out by Gary Sinise as Truman. While I thought that he was the *only* good thing about the film Forrest Gump, I still wasn't completely sold on his acting ability. This film changed my mind, because I felt like I was watching Truman himself in action. I can't even fathom the amount of research he must have put into his role, but he was amazing.

As for the film itself, it was very well done, used stock footage well (although I would swear that I caught a glimpse of FDR in some footage after he had supposedly died) and was a good overview of the very lengthy source it came from. Having read the book, I would have liked to have seen the film act as more of a thesis than a summary, so while adding another hour may have alienated some in terms of length; it would have provided a more in-depth portrayal of a sometimes underrated president.

--Shelly