i love matthew but find it hard to take him seriously in this role. he looks and sounds like like a little kid. not his fault but there it is. miscast? for the same reason i find it hard to find leo dicaprio believable in many of his movies..he's got such a baby face. in titanic when he and kate winslet were together it looked like a grown woman with a teenager.
shareYou aren't the first person to think this, but the portrayal is accurate because Robert Gould Shaw did indeed look like a baby faced kid in real life. And Broderick does resemble him. Shaw was in his early 20's same as Broderick.
I think the main reason people had a hard time taking Broderick seriously in this roll was because they still thought of him as Ferris Bueller, which came out only three years or so before this. Lets face it, its a huge contrast to go from Ferris Bueller to a Union colonel in the Civil War in three years no matter how good of an actor you are.
ah, thanks for the info, i didn't know. that makes it more believable. will have to watch again with that in mind!
shareAs another poster stated, Matthew Broderick was the appropriate age for this part.
Despite so many Civil War films and documentaries portraying the war being fought by middle-aged men (due to an over-reliance on the volunteer services of re-enactors), Civil War armies consisted mostly of very young men- teens and early 20's.
The war saw a number of very young men promoted to high rank. By war's end, the Union had a number of 20-something year old generals including a 20 yr old brigadier general (Galusha Pennypacker) and a 25 yr old major general (George A. Custer.) The Confederacy, likewise, had its share of "boy" generals. Thus, a 20-something year old colonel, like 25 yr old Robert Gould Shaw, was not exceptionally unusual for the Civil War.
In the intro of the movie it says he was 23, imo he looks about that age.
shareYou would have really enjoyed being in combat with new 2nd lieutenants.
Perhaps the OP just wants to reach out for some sense of community.
It was noted at the time that Broderick was too young but it was pointed out that the character he played was also young looking.
It's that man again!!
To clarify things for you, Matthew Broderick was 26 years old during filming. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was 25 years old when he died at Fort Wagner. He wasn't only young looking, he was actually younger than the actor.
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.
The real Col. Shaw also was young and they do resemble each other https://blogs.harvard.edu/houghtonmodern/2011/08/25/if-i-should-fall-remember-what-you-see-here-robert-gould-shaws-letters-digitized/comment-page-1/
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.
I don`t dispute the age similarities, it`s just the real Shaw although young looking still had a "tougher" look.. Broderick is just too wimpy looking.
shareWe had 13 year old ship captains during the Civil War.
shareThat was historically accurate and part of the theme of the movie. As the Sergeant Major said he was just a boy.
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