HotToastyRag I remember the massive hype for 2012's Lincoln, priming audiences and voters to give Daniel Day-Lewis another Oscar. The powers that be touted his performance, claiming no one had ever played Abraham Lincoln the way he had, and he was being realistic in his performance, speaking in a thin, rather high-pitched voice as Lincoln really did. They said watching the film was like seeing Lincoln peeled from a painting and come to life. Well, "they" clearly missed the television adaptation of Gore Vidal's bestselling Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston as the nation's most beloved president. In 2012, Daniel Day-Lewis just put on a beard. In 1988, Abraham Lincoln truly came to life.I already love Sam Waterston and find him an incredibly talented actor, but if there's anyone out there who hasn't seen his movies, watching Lincoln will make you a life-long fan. His posture, mannerisms, walk, accent, and facial expressions are not his usual; it's clear from the first scene Sam studied everything about the president to make his performance as authentic as possible. While Hal Holbrook wins the look-a-like contest in his beloved Lincoln portrayals in North and South and the 1970s miniseries Lincoln, Sam emits an aura that makes you forget about Hal for a while. When you're watching Sam, you believe he was raised in a log cabin. You believe he's Honest Abe.In addition to the historically accurate tidbits included in Ernest Kinoy's script, the production values of the film are wonderful. It doesn't feel at all like a 1980s TV movie. The costumes are beautiful, the production and art directions are extremely realistic, and the choice of using muted and dusty colors makes all the difference in the world. Usually, British movies have the market cornered on authentic lighting, but Joe Clayton, chief lighting technician for the film, did a fantastic job giving audiences a view of how things really looked during the Civil War.Co-starring Mary Tyler Moore as the tragic figure Mary Todd Lincoln, Richard Mulligan as Secretary Seward, Steven Culp as Lincoln's secretary, Ruby Dee as Mary's dressmaker, David Leary as General McClellan, and John McMartin as Senator Chase, this three-hour tribute to Lincoln's presidency is extremely entertaining. Lamont Johnson won an Emmy for his direction, and Mary and Ruby were nominated for their performances, as were the hairstylist, art directors, costume designers, and film as a whole. Sam's performance was ignored, and when you watch the movie, you'll be as stumped as I am. Pair it with Ken Burns's The Civil War for a reprise of Sam Waterston's role, or with A House Divided to see Sam in another Civil War drama, but playing a villain!

bkoganbing 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.

bdebbie I have watched this movie many times, as I use it to teach US history to eighth graders. It is an excellent portrait of Lincoln, showing his complexity and compassion. Yes, VerhoHo from NYC, NY, the book is better, but a movie that exactly mirrored the book would last for weeks. I think the movie does a fine job of summarizing Gore Vidal's comprehensive and historically accurate account of Lincoln's years as president. After seeing the movie the first time, when it aired on TV, I wanted to read the book and did.Sam Waterson and Mary Tyler Moore are fabulous in their roles and bring these historical figures to life. I was also surprised to see Thomas Gibson (first from "Chicago Hope," then "Dharma and Greg") portraying Gov. Sprague. His accent and costume really disguised his identity.I also like the way the director muted colors and added to the melancholy of the era.

Weeluuv 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!