# Movies that should be remade as TV series: "Glory" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [August 23, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145 "2022-08-23T04:39:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/1 "2022-08-23T04:39:15Z")
I nominate “Glory.” I recently had the opportunity to rewatch this - the 1989 film about the Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment that fought in the US Civil War. The movie holds up big time, and man there’s some goddamn awesome actors, but two things always troubled me: 1. There’s too much emphasis of the regimental commander, Robert Shaw, and 2. Matthrew Broderick is TERRIBLE as Shaw. He is a distraction most of the time he’s on screen; he adopts an accent that just doesn’t work at all and is putting on a dreadful performance. Robert Shaw is a hell of an interesting dude, don’t get me wrong, and his death at the age of 25 (and sadness of his wife, who had a broken heart the rest of her days) is terribly tragic juxtaposed against his genuine, deep, religious commitment to equality and the abolishment of slavery. His part of this story could be made deeply poignant. But he really shouldn’t be the main character. You could really get into the meat of the story of the 54th, give priority to the Black soldiers and their experiences, flesh more of them out as characters, and still have the Shaw story without making him the main character in a White Saviour tale (which is something Shaw and his family would have absolutely hated, based on what they said.) And you can have a better actor than Broderick. Granted, you aren’t gonna improve on the murderer’s row of acting talent amongst the soldiers - Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher? Hard act to follow. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/2 "2022-08-23T13:39:58Z")
How about **Dune**? It’s been done as two movies (one a two-parter) and as a pair of TV-movies, but there’s just way too much going on here to try and jam into even two movies. This would work better as an extended series. It’s similar, in some ways, to _War and Peace_. There are several movie versions, all of them too butchered, except for the seven hour Mosfilm version that takes too damned long to sit through (when they first showed it in the US, they split it into three parts on successive nights). But the BBC did an adaptation circa 1972 (starring Anthony Hopkins as Pierre) that split it into 20 bite-sized episodes that didn’t feel rushed. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/3 "2022-08-23T13:49:21Z")
I’m a fan of Stephen King’s horror, but have not yet felt compelled to read any of his ‘The Dark Tower’ series of novels. Still, I know there are a lot of fans of TDK out there, and the 2017 movie they attempted to make was pretty much destined for failure, trying to fit 8 novels into a single movie. This should be a good candidate for a series, as long as they decide on a definite arc and ending, and don’t pull an ‘Under the Dome’ treatment on it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/4 "2022-08-23T14:06:15Z")
Thomas Harris’ first book, before he became well known for Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs, was **Black Sunday**. It’s a gripping story about a disturbed Vietnam vet / POW who flies blimps for a living and decides to bomb the Super Bowl. A Mossad agent hunts for him and attempts to prevent the attack. It was made into a truly terrible movie starring Robert Shaw (not the one from Glory). I’m surprised nobody has ever remade this movie, or turned it into a mini-series. Harris is really good at creating characters with interesting back stories, but that tends to go the wayside in movies. A mini-series would allow time for that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/5 "2022-08-23T16:31:48Z")
I have to mildly disagree about _Glory._ I think Broderick was fine in the role. The emphasis on Shaw is understandable because much of the script is based on his personal correspondence. Most of the other characters are made up. If you get away from Shaw you get into fiction and get away from the history. Nothing wrong with that of course. It’s done in historical fiction all the time. But in this case it was done so well with the Freeman, Braugher and especially Denzel that anything else would look bad in comparison. And you can’t _Band of Brothers_ it by using the unit to show the story of the Civil War through the eyes of the soldiers. The 54th was in multiple smaller battles but never fought in any of the large historic battles. Basically I love the movie and think a tv show would be much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/6 "2022-08-23T16:43:28Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > It’s a gripping story about a disturbed Vietnam vet / POW who flies blimps for a living and decides to bomb the Super Bowl. I feel like the issue with this, for the screen, is that there’s no way to make a blimp bombing run not look hilarious. It’s like, “Oh my god, the snails are coming to trample us all to death! Amble! Amble your way clear for dear god and humanities sake!” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/7 "2022-08-23T16:50:20Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I have to mildly disagree about _Glory._ I think Broderick was fine in the role. The emphasis on Shaw is understandable because much of the script is based on his personal correspondence. Most of the other characters are made up. If you get away from Shaw you get into fiction and get away from the history. There probably aren’t enough people in the 54th with good historical record but, if you look through the entire record of the Civil War, you could probably find a decent selection of black soldiers who had journals or were otherwise documented - you would just have to move them into the 54th. > **[A Black Soldier’s Civil War Diary | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/news/black-soldiers-civil-war-diary)** > > A Black Soldier’s Civil War Diary | | Written by Stephanie Townrow and Mary Kate Kwasnik. William Woodlin enlisted in the United States Colored Infantry 8th Regiment in October 1863 and kept a journal during his service. Woodlin’s entries describe... > **[In Their Own Words](https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/their-own-words)** > > The NMAAHC has objects in its collection relating to African Americans in the military from the American Revolution through the War on Terror, including several personal diaries and letters from the Civil War and World War I eras. Many of these... You might also be able to find black farmers, slaves, etc. who experienced the war from the sidelines and show how it affected them. Not every character in a show needs to be in every episode. You can always put together something that focuses on different elements of the war, with no connection to the other parts, every episode. You can also do a mix, where you’ve got tight focus items on e.g. “a family’s home in the path of raiding soldiers and they decide to move West before they lose everything” intermixed with the longer story of the 54th. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/8 "2022-08-23T16:54:44Z")
Yeah the climax of the film only works if EVERYBODY on the police side is incredibly incompetent. You’re telling me theres only one police helicopter allocated to watch over the Super Bowl where the President is attending? Or that the cops decide to fly alongside the blimp to shoot at the cabin instead of just flying over it and pumping holes into the undefended top? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/9 "2022-08-23T16:58:15Z")
I wonder if enough of Adrian Cronauer’s papers still exist to create a _Good Morning, Vietnam_ series as had been originally intended. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/10 "2022-08-23T19:03:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > But in this case it was done so well with **the Freeman** … Now I’m picturing Gordon Freeman in his HEV suit, charging the Confederate lines armed with a crowbar. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/11 "2022-08-23T19:33:23Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I have to mildly disagree about _Glory._ I think Broderick was fine in the role. The emphasis on Shaw is understandable because much of the script is based on his personal correspondence. Most of the other characters are made up. If you get away from Shaw you get into fiction and get away from the history. > > There probably aren’t enough people in the 54th with good historical record but, if you look through the entire record of the Civil War, you could probably find a decent selection of black soldiers who had journals or were otherwise documented - you would just have to move them into the 54th. > > [https://www.gilderlehrman.org/news/black-soldier’s-civil-war-diary](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/news/black-soldier%E2%80%99s-civil-war-diary) > [In Their Own Words | National Museum of African American History and Culture](https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/their-own-words) > > You might also be able to find black farmers, slaves, etc. who experienced the war from the sidelines and show how it affected them. Not every character in a show needs to be in every episode. You can always put together something that focuses on different elements of the war, with no connection to the other parts, every episode. You can also do a mix, where you’ve got tight focus items on e.g. “a family’s home in the path of raiding soldiers and they decide to move West before they lose everything” intermixed with the longer story of the 54th. At that point just make it it’s own thing rather than make it _Glory._ > [@Miller](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > But in this case it was done so well with **the Freeman** … > > Now I’m picturing Gordon Freeman in his HEV suit, charging the Confederate lines armed with a crowbar. Now you got me. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/12 "2022-08-23T19:42:39Z")
**The Good, the Bad. and the Ugly**. The three lead characters obviously shared experiences prior to the events in the film. It could begin as far back as the California Gold Rush or the Mexican war. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/13 "2022-08-23T19:50:01Z")
My favorite book, _The Phantom Tollbooth_ by Norton Juster, was made into a rather forgettable animated movie in the 1970s. I think there’s enough in the book to lend itself to at least a mini-series. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/14 "2022-08-23T20:46:35Z")
Nah, I think the story of “Glory” has been done about as well as it can realistically be done in a fantastic movie. Better to pick the exploits of another USCT regiment for a series/miniseries- maybe the 1st Louisiana Native Guard(Corps d’ Afrique), which was formed in New Orleans after the city was taken. You’ve got some of the Army’s first Black officers in the regiment, one of whom was among the first Black officers killed in action in the US Army. You’ve got a fair amount of historical evidence, and a lot of opportunity for dramatic storytelling, and some battle action as well. My choice would be _“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”_. There are twenty Aubrey-Maturin novels out there and part of a 21st that wasn’t completed. They could make a long series out of those, even if they condensed some parts. Same thing for the Horatio Hornblower books- as good as the Ioan Gruffudd movies were, they’d make for a great reboot. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/15 "2022-08-23T21:35:53Z")
I would like to see some of the old matinee serials re-made. _Buck Rogers_ or _Flash Gordon_, with a _Game of Thrones_ budget. _Dick Tracy_ or _The Shadow_, with a _Boardwalk Empire_ budget. Doc Savage has been in development hell for decades. George Pal wanted a TV series, but only got one movie filmed. I’d like to see Matt Helm played straight, not parodied like those Dean Martin monstrosities. I would like to see Mary Stewart’s Merlin stories re-made, with a bigger budget and better actors. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/16 "2022-08-23T21:36:08Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > At that point just make it it’s own thing rather than make it _Glory._ You’re effectively saying that if it’s not the movie Glory then…it’s not the movie Glory. And well…yeah. And sure, it might not be 100% historical if you’re taking the lives of soldiers in other regiments and putting them into the 54th but…I mean, it’s still real history, from that time, serving for the Union army, and so on. Those might not be the lives of the guys that died trying to take Fort Wagner, but it just as well could have been - and wouldn’t that still have been a tragedy? Historical reconstruction is based on taking good information from existing sources and gluing it into nearby locations where the record is more spotty. If it’s a good enough technique for archaeology and scientists, I feel like it should be a good enough method for the entertainment industry. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/17 "2022-08-23T21:57:48Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Robert Shaw is a hell of an interesting dude, don’t get me wrong, and his death at the age of 25 (and sadness of his wife, who had a broken heart the rest of her days) is terribly tragic juxtaposed against his genuine, deep, religious commitment to equality and the abolishment of slavery. As a descendent of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw\*, I’d just like to say that our family would throw a huge party for anyone who cast a non-Broderick in the role. > **[Robert Gould Shaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gould_Shaw)** > > Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a Boston upper class abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment (the 54th Massachusetts) in the Northeast. Supporting the promised equal treatment for his troops, he encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equal to that of white troops' wage. > He led his regiment at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner in July 1863. They at... . \*As a kid, I could always get a reaction from Grandma by calling him “Bob Shaw”. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/18 "2022-08-23T22:10:52Z")
When I saw your thread title, I thought that’d be great, but make it about the troops, not Shaw. And then I read your post and I’m on board. The problem with the movie is they made it about Shaw as a white savior and factionalized the men in his unit. Most were not escaped enslaved men, but had been born free. Two of Frederick Douglas’ sons were in the 54th. A series about the creation of the unit, the challenges they faced just to be given the chance to fight for America and the great risk they faced would be a very compelling story. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/19 "2022-08-23T23:04:19Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Two of Frederick Douglas’ sons were in the 54th. “Douglass” of course. 🙂 How they didn’t get that into the movie blows my mind. It would be like doing a story about PT-109 and neglecting to mention of of the guys on the boat was John F. Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-be-remade-as-tv-series-glory/970145/20 "2022-08-23T23:25:10Z")
All of the soldiers were fictionalized in the story (not factionalized, my other typo). The movie, like a lot of movies about black Americans, became a story about the white guy. A show about all of them akin to Band of Brothers would be amazing.