Product Details

• Actors: Sam Waterston, Mary Tyler Moore, Ryan Merriman, Steve Bacic
• Directors: Lamont Johnson, Yelena Lanskaya
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: October 20, 2009
• Run Time: 271 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002STN6FC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,045 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Gore Vidal's Lincoln / The Colt" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

LINCOLN
A believer in personal freedom with dreams of preserving the Union, Lincoln spent his first days in office contending with generals who refused to fight, and politicians who schemed to usurp his power. After the death of his young son - that drove his wife to the edge of madness - and a war more ferocious and bloody than anybody imagined, Lincoln lived just long enough to see his dreams realized before an assassin's bullet ended his life. From humble beginnings, to the most powerful position in the world, to a sudden, shocking end, Abraham Lincoln's life story is extraordinary. This is the epic, six-time Emmy® Award nominated miniseries about one of the greatest leaders in the history of our nation.

THE COLT
It's 1864, and the First Michigan Cavalry is stranded in a Virginia forest, choking with smoldering fires and smoke and chilled by the distant cries of falling men. Among those stranded in this hell: the weary Sergeant Longacre (Steve Bacic, Out of Order); Covington (Darcy Belsher, Legalise), an illustrator enlisted to capture the Civil War in unerring detail; and trooper Jim Rabb (Ryan Merriman, Taken), who counts his brother among the casualties, yet still rides his beloved mare Jen with a true soldier's indomitable will to survive. Then one morning Jim discovers that Jen has given birth and by her side is a newborn colt, shaking and afraid, born to chaos, and clinging to his mother for life. Longacre orders Jim to shoot the foal, lest it prove a hindrance, but Jim - seeing the colt as a consolation and a reminder of the beauty of life - refuses. An omen of good fortune, Jen and her nursing foal join the team of men marching toward unknown horizons. However, the camp is suddenly taken by Confederates, Jen and the colt are stolen, and Jim spurs a horse in a long, winding chase and shoots the fleeing soldier to retrieve the mother and baby. The incident has left him in darkness, afraid, lost, and separated from his bivouacked brigade, with a dying enemy on his hands. But honoring the Confederate Reb's last wish sparks in Jim a journey of remarkable honor and duty toward enlightenment and untold danger one that will test the spirit and courage of a country at war and pay heartrending tribute to those of God's creatures who are blessedly innocent to the careless ways of man.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great emotional viewing, January 12, 2010

By 

John R. Mckridge - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gore Vidal's Lincoln / The Colt (DVD)

Lincoln, when first produced was nomiated for 6 emmy awards and I could see why, Sam Waterford was great, as was Mary tyler Moore, The film followshis life and struggles and gives us an insight as to th character of the man and his struggless, Well acted, written this film moved me. It is a that eached me on a emotional level. The Colt is a very nice story too and also well done and there was something about a new colt in the middle of the Civil war and the Soliders attachment to it that moved me also, I truly enjoyed these filmsGore Vidal's Lincoln/The Colt

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Abraham Lincoln: "There is nothing more like eternity than a train ride of eleven days, unless it's two people and a ham.", October 26, 2010

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gore Vidal's Lincoln / The Colt (DVD)

Unilke other ECHO BRIDGE/PLATINUM DISC products, this Civil War double feature doesn't have a distracting on-screen company logo.


THE COLT is a nice extra, an award-winning family film that centers on the common soldier, in this case, men of the 1st Michigan regiment. Amidst the horrors of war and violence that claims one private's brother, his mare gives birth. Jim disobeys an order to destroy the foal and it becomes a mascot for his unit, and more than that: the colt is a symbol of hope and renewal in the face of so much destruction. A cast of unknowns do a fine job in this feel-good TV movie. (Note: a traumatic finale may not be suitable for the very young.)


Gore Vidal's LINCOLN is the full 3-plus hour made-for-TV movie. Audio is clear and video has a look similar to O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (2000), with a color spectrum skewed toward shades of brown and no vibrant primary colors. As there's a deterioration disclaimer before the main menu, this antique effect is probably unintentional.

A limited production budget has advantages and drawbacks. On the plus side, unnecessary digressions are eliminated. Case in point: no plot-stopping inaugural ball footage. To the negative: battle reenactments that, due to a small number of participants, barely rise beyond the level of skirmishes. The many insertions of stock footage in war sequences is obvious, as these flown-in scenes lack sharpness of focus. The film is not primarily about these clashes of arms, so such limitations are not ruinous, just noticeable. Not having Abe's personal assistant John Nicolay in the story however while John Hay is extensively featured is a curious choice of economizing.

The movie opens and closes with the modified lyrics version of Woody Guthrie's "This Train is Bound For Glory" over the beginning scene, a train arriving in Baltimore and at the end, while it bears away from Washington the martyred president's remains. In-between, the story of Abraham and Mary Lincoln is deftly scripted and capably served by stars Waterston and Moore.

Both are presented with human failings. Lincoln occasionally lashes out at subordinates when flustered or his sensibilities are insulted by them, but mostly he's mild and affable. Mary is more complex, a woman with many grudges and few friends, possibly manic-depressive, her spendthrift bursts place a tremendous financial burden on a husband already heavily laden with preserving the Union. To finance her impulsive buying sprees, Mary leaks information to the press for a price and more egregiously, commits fraud by collecting the salary of a deceased White House employee.

Those familiar with Lincoln's part in the Civil War will be pleased by the historical accuracy of this presentation. A supporting cast of familiar faces adds to the enjoyment. Highly recommended to all aficonados of costume drama and 19th Century American history.


Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll ratings.

(6.5) The Colt (TV-2005) - Ryan Merriman/Steve Bacic/William MacDonald/Darcy Belshar/Scott Heindl/Peter LaCroix/Haig Sutherland

(7.1) Lincoln (TV-1988) - Sam Waterston/Mary Tyler Moore/Richard Mulligan/Gregory Cooke/Steven Culp/Ruby Dee/James Gammon/Cleavon Little/John Houseman

4.0 out of 5 stars Good addition to your Civil War period history film collection, October 30, 2011

By 

W. Truax (Dillsburg, PA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gore Vidal's Lincoln / The Colt (DVD)

Lincoln - presents the viewer with a decent accounting of the most trying period of Lincoln's life. It's told in the form of a dramatic re-creation not just a documentary which is a great plus.
The Colt - a good creative drama of a story at the common civil war soldiers level. It's particularly good if you have a liking or a connection to horses.