This 1989 film, directed by Edward Zwick, was an early example of cinematic synergy, with an excellent script based on a pair of nonfiction accounts, some excellent direction, and a stunning cast, most of them future all-stars: Matthew Broderick as the white leader of the North’s first all-black volunteer company in the Civil War, and with some of those soldiers played by Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher.