The War in the West on film!
In the spring of 2011, Rick was part of the filming of "Shiloh, Fiery Trial". He worked as an assistant to Keith Willingham, who was the reenactor coordinator for the film. Rick also portrayed a Union officer in two separate scenes and a Confederate soldier in two others. The video plays in the visitors center at Shiloh national Military Park each day the park is open. The film also aired on PBS television in 2012.
There is one poignant moment during, "Shiloh; The Many Faces of War", where Rick's character, Dr. Finas Bell, has a confrontation with the infamous reporter Albert D. Richardson. His employer, Horace Greely, the publisher of the New York Tribune, has sent Mr. Richardson to Tennessee, to write stories that will vilify all things Southern. This fact filled exchange is an eye opener to little known historical accounts.
In the 2007 film, "Shiloh: The Many Faces of War", produced and directed by Rick Revel, the second day battle sequences are of epic proportions. After a flush victory on the first day battle of Shiloh, the Confederates face a stinging defeat on the second day. A sense of sympathy is felt as the battle weary Confederates, fight against Buell's "fresh to the field', Army of the Ohio.
In June of 2008, Rick was asked to plan an event for the Battle of Parker's Crossroads Association. The park could no longer hold a full blown reenactment because of new state guidelines in Tennessee. Rick's solution was to call the event a military demonstration, with a battle scenario recreation every two hours during the day. Each scenario was a chronological sequence taken from the actual battle in December, 1862.