Longstreet's Beard

On this, the anniversary of the Pickett-Pettigrew assault, I offer you a few words on unsightly faux whiskers:

You know, sometimes things are just plain ridiculous. I mean......asinine. Case in point - Tom Berenger did a fair enough job playing Confederate General James Longstreet in the Film Gettysburg. But the beard....really?????

Whoever did the hair and makeup for this film should be tarred and feathered. Or at least, never allowed to work in the motion picture business. I have heard that wretched looking thing compared to squirrels, beavers, brooms, coon-skin caps, and any number of other things that all would look equally ridiculous glued to a man's chin.

My God people, did anyone think this thing looked like a real beard? Couldn't Berenger have just grown one? It would have been worth the time. It is really really distracting.

But here is another problem. To a whole lot of people, the film Gettysburg is what the  battle - and those who took part in it - looked like. So now, to my horror, when people think of James Longstreet - many of them think of Tom Berenger as Longstreet.

Don't believe me? Take a trip to the battlefield sometime. You will find a very odd (dedicated post Gettysburg) monument to - James "Tom Berenger" Longstreet - beard and all. The power of the motion picture is simply remarkable - despite the sometimes hideous use of fake facial hair.

With compliments,

Keith