Lincoln

Sam Waterson and Mary Tyler Moore play Abraham and Mary Lincoln, 16th president of the United States and his first lady. A rather calculating politician from the mid west who invented a cracker-barrel image of himself that has passed into legend.

When John Ford and Henry Fonda made their Young Mr. Lincoln back in 1939, Ford allegedly told Fonda that he was not playing the Great Emancipator, but a hick country lawyer from New Salem. Waterson took some of that same advice in his performance. Lincoln shows just how much image management he used in making a bumpkin persona belie an incredible innate shrewdness. This was a man with so much confidence in his abilities to deal with people that he took in his two chief rivals William Seward and Salmon Chase in his cabinet as Secretaries of State and Treasury and worked with both.

Mary Tyler Moore gives one of her most memorable portrayals on the big and small screen as Mary Lincoln who was one woman with issues. She caused her patient husband no end of grief with her extravagance in the middle of the Civil War over her wardrobe and redecorating the White House. It all of course hid some incipient madness, lot of that brought on by the death of her son Willie.

Some meticulous research was done for this series as the personalities of Civil War Washington seem to have descended on the cast playing them. I particularly liked what James Gammon did with General Ulysses S. Grant a man who had two main characteristics, military genius and an occasional bad judgment in friends.

Lincoln's legend like JFK passed into our American scene with his assassination at the moment of his triumph holding the Union together. Forgetting the course the country would have taken had he lived and retired at the end of his second term in 1869, how would he be regarded today, as quite the mythic figure he is?

This mini-series should be well regarded and seen.

This was a well done movie, particularly for television. Sam Waterson's performance as Lincoln was well done. This will be evident to people who have taken the time to study Lincoln, the man, not what he is credited for. Lincoln is known for having a high pitched, "countrified" voice, which Waterson did very effectively. Lincoln was known for normally being a bit haggard looking, which was also portrayed well. His mannerisms and use of colloquialisms in conversation were accurately handled. The supporting cast did a fine job, particularly Richard Mulligan as Seward. Mary Tyler Moore was very effective portraying Mary Lincoln as they wanted it done in the movie. She certainly conveyed Mary Lincoln's mental shortcomings well. My only complaint is that the battle scenes used the same stock footage over and over, being that one can tell it was all filmed at one location. This is a good movie in general, and if you are a student of Lincoln, the man...surprisingly so.

I must disagree strongly with the correspondant who describes this film as garbage. I believe the production team, the writer and the efforts of Waterston and Tyler Moore have brilliantly captured Vidals characterisation of Honest Abe, both as politician and as a family man. Vidals GENIUS is the bi-play between Lincoln and Seward and Lincoln and Chase but in a three hour film it would be quite impossible to portray these intense rivalries and do any justice at all to the quality of the book. Many characters from the book are missing and there is no play at all of the assassination plotters that threads through the book. Nevertheless the Lincoln that has been lifted from the page makes for a most enjoyable film and well worth a viewing

I really expected a better performance from Waterson. He looks too frazzled and the dialogue often rings false. Moore came across well as a woman losing it bit by bit.

I'm very glad to see this one out on video at last, as the one I had from TV is worn out. I found Sam Waterston's performance to be wonderfully well-rounded. From the calculated Lincoln wit & military management,to his personal powerlessness in the face of on going family tragedy. One of the best depictions of Abraham Lincoln I have seen, & I would be quite happy to see him take another turn at it anytime he gets the chance!

Mary Tyler Moore was marvellous as Mary Todd Lincoln, conveying the extremes of mental illness without going over the top & nullifying her warmth, intelligence, & independence, as other portrayals have!

Imagine my surprise upon renting this again, to find Thomas Gibson (Darhma & Greg) was Sprague. That's part of the fun of watching something not seen for a while, in my opinion; Seeing favorite performances again, & realizing who you'd watched before they were famous!