Just wondering. Ned Fisk was a classmate of Orry Main, George Hazard, George Pickett, Tom Jackson and George McClellan at West Point. He's best remembered in Book 1 as Bent's favorite punching bag. Yet, in Book 2, he got stuck to being a major while Orry and the rest of Class of '46 became generals. He's the officer who almost led the Union soldiers in burning Mont Royal until Mrs. Main stood her ground.
shareI caught that too! I thought the scene would have been better this way: Fisk is leading the soldiers in to burn Mont Royal and Clarissa says this is the home of the Main family and you will not burn it. Fisk, recognizing the name, asks if Orry lives there. Clarissa says he is her son, and Fisk is silent, remembering Orry's long-ago kindness to him. Then he tells the soldiers to leave, they will not be burning the house.
shareThat would've been good. A nice touch would've been for Fisk to ask Clarissa to tell Orry that Ned Fisk sent his regards.
As for him only being a major, it was probable that Fisk had left the army after his mandatory four years of service were over, had re-entered when the war broke out and simply not been fortunate in getting promotions.
Thanks!
shareOne other possibility, as both George and Orry also left the army, but came back at high rank. The south needed officers and Orry was wealthy, and therefore needed AND able to provide funds for a unit. Ditto on George who was politically connected and wealthy. If you remember Fisks original issues with Orry at West Point, it was that he (Fisk) was the son of a small farmer ( I want to say in Kentucky), who blamed slave owning planters for the struggle they had to make a profit...Fisk probably stayed in...but no$$$ to accelerate his rise up the ranks....
shareFisk was from Ohio where his family had a small tobacco farm. As he nearly had to resign from the Academy when his father was injured, it stands to reason that he was the one expected to take it over one day. So, I imagine Fisk would have resigned his commission in 1850, after serving his required four years of service following West Point.
So, he definitely wasn't as wealthy as Orry or George and thus would have been less prominent in the years between the Mexican War and the outbreak of the Civil War. So, he wouldn't have been tapped for staff duty like they were, since they were more prominent names.
Fisk might also have been less concerned with promotions as he would have planned on returning to his family farm when the war ended.
It would also be better if Fisk, already a Union Army major, and Elkanah Bent had faced each other again during the Civil War. This time, it's Fisk giving Bent what he deserved.
shareIt would also be better if Fisk, already a Union Army major, and Elkanah Bent had faced each other again during the Civil War. This time, it's Fisk giving Bent what he deserved.
That's because the movie Bent is actually a combination of two characters from the books. The book Bent is actually from Ohio and doesn't like the Confederacy or Southerners. Wanting to be a great figure as a military man comes from the book Bent. Bent in the book is also heavy and awkward, not handsome like movie Bent.
The part of movie-Bent's wanting to overthrow Davis and importing luxuries, and being a Southerner and Confederacy supporter, that comes from the other character movie-Bent is based on, Lamar Powell from the 2nd book. Being handsome and having an affair with Ashton comes from this character as well. But unlike his movie-counterpart, Lamar was not in the army or interested in being, that comes from book-Bent.
Book 3's movie-Bent is pretty much fully based on the book's Bent.
It's a little confusing but if you check out the books, it's easier to understand.
Thanks that makes sense. I've never read the books, I plan to read book II someday. So they basically mixed a northerner and a southerner into one character? Pretty lame! I bet a lot of people must have been confused after buying the book/books after watching the series. Either way I prefer how Bent was portrayed in the first book, really evil and not the dressed up snob he later becomes, which also didn't make sense. I imagine him joining the army as quickly as possible, maybe even meeting Orry et al in the war... I picture him using his West Point uniform, at least during the early days of the war.
shareI think their reasoning when merging the characters was because they probably thought Bent as portrayed in the books wouldn't be a very compelling villain and nemesis for George and Orry. Not a pretty picture for the viewers, either. I'm pretty sure book readers could figure out when Bent announces he's from Georgia and later shows up with the Morgan Fairchild character (Burdetta) who they had merged him with.
They probably also thought it would save time.
I have mixed feelings on it. I saw the movies first so when I read the book, I wasn't happy with how Bent was in it. Bent is my favorite in the movies. I think he became a much more dangerous, slick, entertaining and compelling character by combining him with a handsome southerner but still keeping that military fanatic edge and enmity with George, Orry and Charles. It was all merged into one exciting character. Still, as a fan of the chsaracter he's based on in the 2nd book, it's a bit weird, but, then again I hated the lame death Jakes gave Lamar Powell in Book 2 so I'm pleased the movies didn't have that, even though some of it might have been cool (Indians and the southwest and such). Still, I like to pretend that death didn't happen, it was just a letdown.
The movie's explosion in the warehouse is much more exciting, and then Philip Casnoff could return for Book 3's movie. He was my favorite part of that movie, he looked hotter than ever and was spookier than ever. His best performance in the role, imo. So, had they not done it the way they did, he couldn't have been in that movie and as much as people don't like that one, it would have been worse without Casnoff.
Have fun reading the books! You should check out 3 too.
Casnoff was a great villain, he looked the part and had a great dialect. Swayze/Parker Stevenson I thought looked less "Civil Warish", if that's a word. The sharpsphooters in Berdan's regiments were usually odd, sectarian, social outcasts because sharpshooting was frowned upon in the era. Stevenson looked more like himself, a 1980s tv-actor. It's probably true that a powerhungry person like Bent would enter politics, but it did seem a bit odd. And I guess we did get to see Casnoff in the Mexican War. Maybe the upcoming remake will change everything...
A bit off-topic maybe, but from what I've heard there weren't that many blondes in the 1860s, Wendy Kilbourne and Genie Francis were beautiful but probably miscast in that sense. Maybe someone could correct me on this though..
I agree about Casnoff. I'm glad to see someone not picking on the accent!
I liked Parker Stevenson's Billy a bit better than the first one, because I thought John Stockwell I think it was, looked too young for Genie Francis. I thought Stevenson went better with her. But I'd never seen him in anything else so he was just "Billy" to me.
I have mixed feelings about the remake and how they'll handle it all. I kind of wish they'll merge Bent again, because I didn't like the book version of Bent, he seemed clownish to me rather than a real villain. I know the first movies weren't perfect adaptations but they still worked, and I wasn't all that impressed with Discovery's first scripted miniseries, Klondike.
I tend to find that remakes are just usually never as good as the originals somehow. Even when they're closer adaptations to the book. Sometimes closer adaptations just don't come off as exciting on film. For all it's inaccuracies to the book and maybe even the period, the first N&S miniseries was still entertaining and a form of cinema magic in it's own way, and I'm not sure I feel the new one is going to live up to it.
I do have a casting choice for Madeline: Phoebe Tonkin, who is on The Originals. She's gorgeous and kind of reminds me of Lesley-Anne Down.
About the blondes, I don't know about history but I hope there were blondes back then because I made up a character for N&S fanfic I write that's a blonde! lol Two of them actually.
Anyway, Augusta is blonde in the book and Willa (book 3) was actually a blonde, not brunette like her movie counterpart. George was supposed to be a blonde too. However Constance was a red-head and I think Brett was brunette, but I did like their casting of Wendy and Genie. Wendy was beautiful and played Constance well, and Genie was the same. I think they wanted to contrast Brett and Ashton, so by making Brett a blonde, they look very different and Brett has the more wholesome, fresh look, which she is supposed to in the book. Whereas Ashton is more the "vamp" look I guess.
Parker was better I agree, although perhaps too goodlooking for a 19th century Civil War soldier. I liked the "anti-war" stance of Brett's, and how Billy somehow matured and realized war was ultimately futile in the end, although some may think it was clichéd. I also agree it will be difficult to capture the mood of the original, Bill Conti's score, the drawings, and of course Ashton/Brett/Constance. I love anything Victorian/19th century :) And yeah there really were quite a few blondes in the series, no real idea if was that common, just something I read a while back.
shareI really liked the musical score. It added something to the movie, it was almost like a character within itself, which is common the older movies and that I don't notice as much in more modern movies. Most have scores that are forgettable these days.
I think the new miniseries has a tough act to follow, and I hope that they look at the movies and not just the books and take what was good about the movies and incorporate that.
There was this other guy from Ohio. He was in the class three years ahead of Hazzard and Main; he graduated in '43 and shows up briefly in an early scene of Book I. His family was successful, but not wealthy.
He graduated in the bottom third of his class, was dumped into the infantry, and resigned as a captain to avoid court martial. Then he went into civilian work and scraped by until the war started.
Based on your interpretation of Fisk, this guy should have been lucky to be called back at all and ended the war as a middle rank. But he went back in as a captain in the regular army and the governor of Ohio made him a colonel of Ohio infantry. Within a year he made it to brigadier general and took command of an Ohio brigade. By the time we see him again in the movie he is a major general and commander of the Army of the West. Then, Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders on 4 July 1863 (the day after Mead's victory at Gettysburg). Three days later this guy turns command of the Army of the West over to General Sherman because President Lincoln calls on him to take command of the Army of the Potomac.
It's funny how things turn out, but this guy, Ulysses S Grant, who had nearly been cashiered in the early 1850's takes command of the Union Army of the Potomac and attacks Bobby Lee's Army of Northern Virginia relentlessly. At the same time General Sherman leads the Army of the West on an eating frenzy through Georgia and the Carolinas.
Oh, and there's this other guy who graduated West Point at the bottom of his class in 1861. He started the Civil War as a second lieutenant and finished as a brevet major general: George A. Custer. If Fisk started the war as a major and ended as a major, somebody really did not like him.
by taylorje
» Sat Jan 24 2009 04:48:49
IMDb member since May 2005
I caught that too! I thought the scene would have been better this way: Fisk is leading the soldiers in to burn Mont Royal and Clarissa says this is the home of the Main family and you will not burn it. Fisk, recognizing the name, asks if Orry lives there. Clarissa says he is her son, and Fisk is silent, remembering Orry's long-ago kindness to him. Then he tells the soldiers to leave, they will not be burning the house.
by TorontoJediMaster
» Sat Nov 24 2012 22:04:07
IMDb member since September 2003
That would've been good. A nice touch would've been for Fisk to ask Clarissa to tell Orry that Ned Fisk sent his regards.