I was watching the Gettysburg 90s movie trailer earlier (not much else to do between football games on a Sunday) and thought about how "empty" a number of scenes were without background action. It could have been much better had it been made with either more extras, a larger budget, or some CGI help. That got me thinking about how they have edited Star Wars again... and again... and again... to the point where the original ones almost look like they were made in 2011 or so.
Could you... or would you... do the same to Gettysburg? Maybe add another line of men here and there around Pickett? Perhaps increase the number of dead and wounded on the fields. You could add some scenes (just as Star Wars did) to establish scenes better and add more flavor to the movie. The movie's soundtrack is top notch so you would not touch that. But it might be nice to have more period music.
One trick often used was to film using tight shots to fill the screen. Or using smoke and hills to block the larger picture from being seen. Also, where are the dead and wounded of Pettigrew and Trimble?
Blasphemy to edit Gettysburg? Probably. But more or less blasphemy than to edit Star Wars? Debatable. Just be happy they haven't edited out the Rebel flags from the movie and replaced them with inoffensive skull and bones flags or something.
