It stars Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's commanding officer, and Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman as fictional members of the 54th.

The screenplay by Kevin Jarre was based on the books Lay This Laurel (1973) by Lincoln Kirstein and One Gallant Rush (1965) by Peter Burchard and the personal letters of Shaw.

During the American Civil War, Captain Robert Shaw, injured at Antietam, is sent home to Boston on medical leave.

The men learn that, in response to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy has issued an order that all black soldiers will be returned to slavery.

He continues to lobby his superiors to allow his men to join the fight, as their duties to date have involved manual labor for which they are being mocked.

General George Strong informs Shaw of a major campaign to secure a foothold at Charleston Harbor.

This involves assaulting Morris Island and capturing Fort Wagner, whose only landward approach is a strip of open beach; a charge is certain to result in heavy casualties.

The night before the battle the black soldiers conduct a religious service, and several make emotional speeches to inspire the troops, and to ask for God's help.

The courage demonstrated by the 54th resulted in the Union accepting thousands of black men for combat, which President Abraham Lincoln credited with helping to turn the tide of the war.

The title of the film recalls the "glory" for which the July 28, 1863, edition of the weekly Columbus Enquirer reported that First-Sergeant Robert John Simmons, mortally wounded at Battery Wagner, came to fight (Simmons himself wrote, in an account of the Battle of Grimball's Landing that was published in the New York Tribune on December 23, 1863: "God has protected me through this, my first fiery, leaden trial, and I do give Him the glory").

[6] Jarre's inspiration for writing the film came from viewing the monument to Colonel Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in Boston Common.

His screenplay was based on several sources, including the books Brave Black Regiment - History of the fifty-forth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (1891) by the 54th's Captain Luis F. Emilio, Lincoln Kirstein's Lay This Laurel (1973), and Peter Burchard's One Gallant Rush (1965), as well as the personal letters of Robert Gould Shaw.

[7][8][9] Jarre moved into Room 421 at the Gramercy Park Hotel and worked around the clock, writing the script in a few weeks on spec.

According to Fonvielle, Kirstein then got up, shook Ivory’s hand warmly, pulled him to his feet, said, “Jim, thanks so much for coming down,” and ushered him out the front door.

Opening scenes meant to portray the Battle of Antietam show volunteer military reenactors filmed at a major engagement at the Gettysburg battlefield.

The site's consensus states: "Bolstered by exceptional cinematography, powerful storytelling, and an Oscar-winning performance by Denzel Washington, Glory remains one of the finest Civil War movies ever made.

"[18] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film holds a score of 78/100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[19] Film critic Vincent Canby's review in The New York Times stated, "[Broderick] gives his most mature and controlled performance to date ... [Washington is] an actor clearly on his way to a major screen career ...

The movie unfolds in a succession of often brilliantly realized vignettes tracing the 54th's organization, training and first experiences below the Mason-Dixon line.

[8] He believed the production design credited to Norman Garwood and the cinematography of Freddie Francis paid "enormous attention to period detail".

To put it another way, why does the top billing in this movie go to a white actor?Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was not impressed at all with the overall acting, calling Broderick "catastrophically miscast as Shaw".

[20] Alternatively, Richard Schickel of Time described the picture by saying, "the movie's often awesome imagery and a bravely soaring choral score by James Horner that transfigure the reality, granting it the status of necessary myth".

[21] Desson Howe of The Washington Post, pointed out some flaws that included mentioning Broderick as "an amiable non-presence, creating unintentionally the notion that the 54th earned their stripes despite wimpy leadership".

[22] James Berardinelli writing for ReelViews, called the film "without question, one of the best movies ever made about the American Civil War", noting that it "has important things to say, yet it does so without becoming pedantic".

He thought the film took on "some true social significance" and felt the actors portrayed the characters as "more than simply black men".

Special DVD features include: interactive menus, scene selections, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 full screen versions, along with subtitles in English, Italian, Spanish and French.

It includes two discs featuring: widescreen and full screen versions of the film; Picture-in-Picture video commentary by director Ed Zwick and actors Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick; a director's audio commentary; and a documentary entitled, The True Story of Glory Continues narrated by Morgan Freeman.