Sometimes age has it's advantages. I was around to experience our country's Bicentennial in 1976, I spent it with my family at Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Disneyland was wall to wall people that day and the weather was a scorcher. The fireworks were a blast as usual, and Mickey, Donald and Goofy led the parade down Main Street, USA dressed as Minute Men. Well a lot has changed in America since that day, to name just a few: Our House of Representatives brought articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and abuse of power, but it was really because he couldn't keep his pecker in his pants, we saw New York City decimated by terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 and we've elected our first President of color, Barack Obama, in 2008. But I wish to call to your attention this day to a movie that made little noise when it was released in November 1972, ' 1776 '. |
| Gwyneth Paltrow's mom as Martha Jefferson |
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| Ben, Tom and John contemplate the consequences of independence. |
The film was produced by a Hollywood old timer, Jack L Warner. The former studio chief [ from the 1920's to the 1960's ] of Warner Brothers studios was friends with then President Nixon. It was Nixon, who didn't cotton to ' Cool, Cool Considerate Men ' feeling it being a knock on conservatives in 1970's Washington, that brought pressure on Warner to cut the song. Warner did cut it, but not before the scene had been filmed. Warner not only ordered the scene cut from the film but that the negative of the scene be destroyed. Fortunately a film editor on the film saved the deleted scene and it was restored for the DVD and subsequent television showings. I was happy to see this as I feel it's one of the best songs from the score. I hoped I could find a film clip from YouTube to share but I couldn't. However I did find this sound clip:
' 1776 ' presents us our founding fathers as human. Adams is obnoxious and disliked, Franklin is horny yet philosophical and a newlywed Jefferson aches for his wife, Martha, played by a delectable Blythe Danner. It is the only movie I know that deals with the painful birth of our country in a humorous and fairly accurate way [ except that our founding fathers couldn't carry a tune ]. One big history lesson I got out of this is that the southern states refused to sign the declaration unless the slavery clause be removed. By removing it congress planted the seeds of the War Between The States, surely our country's bloodiest hour. I wonder today what law congress wants to stop or repeal [ Obama care, Roe Vs.Wade ? ] and the consequences it may have 50 or 60 years from now. The parallels between our congress then and our congress of today [ as Adams says they ' piddle, twiddle and resolve: nothing's ever solved' ] is scary. As history shows time and again, this country is only successful when we progress, not digress. How this country got started and how close we came to not getting it started is an amazing history lesson that this movie brings home in a touching, humorous and altogether winning way. I say ye 1776!! Happy 4th of July everyone!
While I've had at least one graduate school professor dismiss this show as fluff (her specialization was colonial and Revolutionary America) I've always enjoyed it. I never saw it on stage but bought and listened to the cast album many times before I saw the movie. While much of the original cast is in the film, the cast ALBUM does not have Howard da Silva, whose voice is so distinctive, and so it is Rex Everhardt whose voice I am more familiar with.
ReplyDeleteAs well, my favorite song from the cast album is "Cool, Cool Considerate Men" with the wonderful voice of Paul Hecht rather than the poor rendition in the film by Donald Madden. Madden just cannot carry the song and it only picks up when the chorus is singing full voice.
As much fun as this show/film is, much of it is drawn from the mind of the writers, not from history. If you return to contemporary sources, Adams wasn't disliked (until MANY years later, after his presidency colored perceptions); Jefferson wasn't exactly a newlywed, as he'd married Martha in Jan. 1772, four and a half years earlier. However, that doesn't change the accuracy of John and Abigail Adams's devotion to one another, or Mrs. Adams' pleas for John to return home. If you read the John and Abigail Adams letters you'll encounter some of the exchanges between them depicted in this film.
As someone who spent years studying history I might be accused of nitpicking over the "dramatization" of events presented in film. But I rather like historical fiction, as I recognize it as such. Maybe viewing a film based on a historic event or person will lead someone to find out more about the REAL story. And there is nothing wrong with that!