North and South (1985) (TV)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
1842, a special summer day at the huge plantation of Mont Royal.
A South Carolinian young man, Orry Maine, leaves his rich home for West Point Academy.
On his way northwards, in very strange circumstances, he meets two people
who will play a decisive role in his life: beautiful lady Madeleine Fabray whom Orry helps
and with whom he falls in love and a "Yankee" George Hazard by whom Orry is helped
and who is also on his way to West Point Academy.
From that time, Orry and George are best friends and help each other at every moment,
they fight for the USA in the Mexican War at Churubusco where George saves Orry's life.
A few years later, the friendship of Orry and George spread to the friendship of their families,
the Maines from South Carolina and the Hazards from Pennsylvania.
Yet, the love of Orry's life, Madeleine gets married to Justin LaMotte,
a rich cruel owner of nearby plantation in South Carolina.
Their love cannot be fulfilled and they only meet in secret. Years pass by and .Written by Marcin Kukuczka

Series Cast
Kirstie Alley ... Virgilia Hazard / ... (6 episodes, 1985)
Georg Stanford Brown ... Garrison Grady (6 episodes, 1985)
David Carradine ... Justin LaMotte (6 episodes, 1985)
Philip Casnoff ... Elkanah Bent / ... (6 episodes, 1985)
Lesley-Anne Down ... Madeline Fabray LaMotte (6 episodes, 1985)
Genie Francis ... Brett Main / ... (6 episodes, 1985)
Terri Garber ... Ashton Main Huntoon / ... (6 episodes, 1985)
Wendy Kilbourne ... Constance Flynn Hazard / ... (6 episodes, 1985)
Jim Metzler ... James Huntoon (6 episodes, 1985)
James Read ... George Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
Lewis Smith ... Charles Main (6 episodes, 1985)
John Stockwell ... Billy Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
Patrick Swayze ... Orry Main (6 episodes, 1985)
Johnny Cash ... John Brown (6 episodes, 1985)
Olivia Cole ... Maum Sally (6 episodes, 1985)
Morgan Fairchild ... Burdetta Halloran (6 episodes, 1985)
Robert Guillaume ... Frederick Douglass (6 episodes, 1985)
Hal Holbrook ... Abraham Lincoln (6 episodes, 1985)
Gene Kelly ... Sen. Charles Edwards (6 episodes, 1985)
Robert Mitchum ... Patrick Flynn (6 episodes, 1985)
Jean Simmons ... Clarissa Main (6 episodes, 1985)
David Ogden Stiers ... Congressman Sam Greene (6 episodes, 1985)
Inga Swenson ... Maude Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
Elizabeth Taylor ... Madam Conti (6 episodes, 1985)
John Anderson ... William Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
Lee Bergere ... Nicholas Fabray (6 episodes, 1985)
Jonathan Frakes ... Stanley Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
Wendy Fulton ... Isabel Truscott Hazard (6 episodes, 1985)
David Harris ... Priam (6 episodes, 1985)
Mitch Ryan ... Tillet Main (6 episodes, 1985)
Forest Whitaker ... Cuffey (6 episodes, 1985)
Erica Gimpel ... Semiramis (4 episodes, 1985)
William Ostrander ... Forbes LaMotte (4 episodes, 1985)
Tony Frank ... Salem Jones (3 episodes, 1985)
Alveda King Beale ... Slave (3 episodes, 1985)
Walter Barnes ... Benny Haven (2 episodes, 1985)
Nikki Creswell ... Young Brett Main (2 episodes, 1985)
Chris Douridas ... George McClellan (2 episodes, 1985)
Temi Epstein ... Young Ashton Main (2 episodes, 1985)
William Preston Daly ... Tom 'Stonewall' Jackson (2 episodes, 1985)
Arthur Gilliard ... Nathaniel (2 episodes, 1985)
Cody W. Hampton ... George Pickett (2 episodes, 1985)
Tuck Milligan ... Smith Dawkins (2 episodes, 1985)
Andy Stahl ... Cadet Ned Fisk (2 episodes, 1985)
Robert Vaucresson ... Jed (2 episodes, 1985)
Robert Jones ... Fighting Man (unknown episodes)
Michael T. Boyd ... West Point Instructer (unknown episodes)
Darryl Cox ... Southern Businessman (unknown episodes)
Robert Lee Hodge ... Soldier (unknown episodes)
Davis Hotard (unknown episodes)
Eddie King (unknown episodes)
Charles Lawlor ... Horace (unknown episodes)
Stanley Moore ... Horseman (unknown episodes)
Roger Ragland ... Mounted Dragoon (unknown episodes)
Jessie Winn ... Extra (unknown episodes)
Kevin R. Young ... West Point Instructer (unknown episodes)

Series Produced
Paul Freeman .... producer (6 episodes, 1985)
Rob Harland .... associate producer (6 episodes, 1985)
Chuck McLain .... executive producer (6 episodes, 1985)
David L. Wolper .... executive producer (6 episodes, 1985)

Series Writing Credits
Douglas Heyes (6 episodes, 1985)
John Jakes (6 episodes, 1985)
Paul F. Edwards (2 episodes, 1985)
Patricia Green (2 episodes, 1985)
Kathleen A. Shelley (2 episodes, 1985)

Series Original Music
Bill Conti (6 episodes, 1985)

Series Cinematography
Stevan Larner (6 episodes, 1985)

Trivia
Cost $25 million to make.

Took more than two years to make and involved -8,700 pieces of wardrobe (lead actresses each wore 28-35 different costumes) -940 scenes -540 page teleplay

It took over two years to film 940 scenes out of a script of 540 pages.

Since West Point today bears little physical resemblance to the Academy of 1842, the West Point scenes were filmed at Historic Jefferson College outside Natchez. Local military school cadets and ROTC students served as their 19th Century counter parts and were even granted permission to grow their hair for six months to insure the proper period look.

Living history groups with the special expertise to recreate the Mexican-American War battle of Churubusco (1847), filmed the battle in a field near Natchez, Mississippi. In mid-May, 1984, fourteen re-enactor units from a dozen states took a week's vacation from their regular jobs to stage what was to be the largest authentic encampment of Mexican War re-enactors ever held. More than 140 strong, they arrived at their own expense, bringing their own (and for the most part hand-made) period-correct uniforms, hand weapons and artillery, caissons, limbers, battery wagons, field ambulances, tenting and camping equipment. The production company provided water, hay, feed and straw for horses, reimbursement for powder, and made donations to each of the participating units.

Where the historic structures were correct but the furnishings were not, or where priceless antiques were so fragile they could not be used, the company brought in their own pieces, such as the bronze and marble statuary valued at more than $200,000 that decorated the house used for the New Orleans bordello run by the flamboyant Madam Conti (Elizabeth Taylor).

With the exception of military or servants garb, none of the main characters wear the same thing twice in the miniseries, except for Ashton who wears a purple dress for when she arrives, and departs Mount Royal.

Some of the 3,300 costumes were taken from storage at the Burbank Studios and Hollywood costume houses. One young extra even found a name tape marked "Mickey Rooney" sewn into his coat.

All Saints Chapel (the chapel ruins where Madeline and Orry met for secret trysts) was a built set.

Philip Casnoff was nearly passed over for the role of Elkanah Bent because the producers thought he was "too short". Casnoff won them over when he did a practice scene in which he slammed another actor against a wall and yelled at him viciously. Casnoff noted that to do that audition, he summoned his feelings of rage from being recently mugged in a parking lot.

The scenes which were filmed in downtown Charleston required very little set preparation... with one exception... truck loads of dirt had to be brought in to cover the cement-paved streets.

In the publicity shot of George and Orry in uniform that is used as the main art work for the DVD collection, one of the flags behind them is a US flag while the other is a Texas flag. The photo was taken during the filming of the Churubusco scenes, and the only flags available on set were the US and Texas flags.

The exterior shots of Mont Royal were taken at the mansion Boone Hall, while the interior were taken at another mansion, Stanton Hall.

According to an extra from the Book Two movie, the big Manassas scene where you see pandemonium among both the soldiers and the crowd, the wide angle shot was not staged - there was real panic. Something had gone wrong, a gun went off when it wasn't suppose to, somebody else ran a direction they weren't suppose and really caused a stir.

James Read's great-great-uncle, Sebaldus Hassler, fought and died with the Union Army, falling in battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on May 20, 1863. Read's great-great-grandfather, Sampson T. Groves, served in the First Ohio Volunteer Heavy Artillery until his honorable discharge on July 25, 1865, after which he lived to a ripe old age.

In preparation for the role of George Hazard, James Read spent several weeks at Patrick Swayze's horse ranch where Swayze taught Read how to ride horse back.

James Stewart final acting work in front of a camera.

According to Kirstie Alley in her memoir, she and Patrick Swayze fell in love with each other. But both were married and did not cheat on their spouses.

Goofs
Continuity
In the end of part 6, when George and Orry leave the Hazard mansion during the anti-southern procession: George is wearing a round Union-sympathy mark, but when they arrive to the rail station, the mark is flower-shaped.

After Orry throws Ashton out of Mont Royal he goes back to the study to pick up his cane. When he bends down to pick up the cane his tie is undone but is perfectly tied when he stands back up.

When Charles is seeing Willa in St. Louis and eating in the restaurant it shows them going for a walk and then returning to the restaurant. It shows his rank as Corporal in the first part of the scene and during the walk. Back in the restaurant it shows his rank much higher, possibly a Sgt. or higher. When leaving it shows him as a Corporal again.

Revealing mistakes
When Orry breaks up Charles's fight at the tavern, you can see Orry's waking cane bend when he hits one of the fighters on the back.

Watch this Clip

[extendedmedia]

Filming Locations
Boone Hall Plantation - 1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, USA
Camden, Arkansas, USA
(West Point assault scene)
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Greenwood Plantation - 6838 Highland Road, St. Francisville, Louisiana, USA
([LaMotte Plantation - "Resolute")
Jefferson Military College - Highway 61, Washington, Mississippi, USA
(West Point scenes)
Laramie Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
Louisiana, USA
Reader, Arkansas, USA
Simi Valley, California, USA
Stanton Hall - 401 High Street, Natchez, Mississippi, USA
(interior scenes of 'Mont Royal')
The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
The Calhoun Mansion, 16 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Walt Disney's Golden Oak Ranch - 19802 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA

North and South is the title of three American television miniseries broadcast on the ABC network in 1985,
1986, and 1994. Set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War,
they are based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes.
The 1985 first installment, North and South, remains the seventh-highest rated miniseries in TV
history.
North and South: Book II (1986) was met with similar success,
while 1994's Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III
was poorly received by both critics and audiences.

The saga tells the story of the enduring friendship between Orry Main of South Carolina Patrick Swayze
and George Hazard of Pennsylvania James Read, who become best friends while attending
the United States Military Academy at West Point but later find themselves and their families
on opposite sides of the war.
The slave-owning Mains are rural planters,
while the Hazards, who resided in a small Northern mill town,
live by manufacturing and industry, their differences reflecting the divisions
between North and South that eventually led to the Civil War.

User Review

Quote

One of the Best! I recommend this story to anyone.
2 April 2005
10/10
Author: wesley1864, North Carolina, USA

One of the best! As being a fan of the civil war, I was very pleased with the first installment of the North and South trilogy. Patrick Swayze gives and extraordinary performance, as well as James Reed and Leslie Ann Down. In watching this fabulous story unfold into a time never forgotten, the subjects of love, passion, grief, shame, harmony, and cruelty come to life. I was first introduced to this series when I was in the eighth grade. Being a young boy, you would think that I wouldn't have been interested in this civil war soap. To be honest, this story stole the hearts of every one in my class, and this is just the first book. I bought the novel and studied the likes and differences and it was awesome. I am 17 now and still enjoy the story, characters, subject, and remember the times of the civil war. As a movie director of the future, I will always enjoy North and South: Book One.