Who else watches 1776 every year? — Page 3

This film is such a shining example of how a movie musical should be done.

WELL SAID, H. Higgins. I deeeefinitely agree. It's such a beautiful show in such surprising ways. It's not typical Broadway. It's not typical history, though it's mostly factual. It's not dark, it's not a sob story, it's not heartbreakingly romantic, it's not wet-your-seat funny... but it is shadowed, stirs tears, makes you sigh a little, and there is much laughter to be had by those who get the jokes. I'd like to think of it as an intelligent musical. It is what it is, and it doesn't need our help to be fabulous.

I'm glad there are lots of others out there who think the same way about it... so many of my friends hate it after having to watch it for a class in middle school.

The funny thing about this show is that it's not underrated -- I think those who know it really do appreciate it and love it -- yet somehow it always seems to be overlooked in lists of favorites. Watching it again last night, I just kept thinking "this really is one of my favorite movies" - it's never boring, it's laugh out loud funny parts, and the performances are just incredible. My favorite performance is Franklin - the absolute JOY he takes in bawdy comments or wit is infectious. If Franklin really was like that, how much would you have liked to have known him??

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Was she a name then that would have drawn people in? I mean, the film hardly needs it (William Daniels was known already), but even if she is a weak link, it's a ten minute scene (if that) that you could skip if you wanted to - though I do LIKE that song...

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Watching it now. What a lovely film, and what a lovely way to spend the 4th!

Happy Independence Day, everybody!

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My favorite line has to be this one...

Adams: "Franklin smoked the ground with his miraculous lightning rod... and out sprang... *points with cane* George Washington. Fully grown, and on his horse. Then the three of them -- Franklin, Washington, AND the horse -- conducted the entire revolution all by themselves."

Franklin: "..........I like it."

Was she a name then that would have drawn people in?

I don't recall knowing who she was, when I saw it. I knew Daniels. Not only had I seen the stage production with him, he also had a television series that I liked, as a kid, CAPTAIN NICE.

Although I saw Buckley on stage, I'm not comparing one to the other. I really don't care that Buckley isn't in it, just that Danner is. I think that Buckley was considered a trouble maker by director Peter Hunt.

Updated On: 7/4/06 at 06:18 PM

Sad...according to the clerk in the DVD section at Tower Records, 1776 is out of print. That explains why I've had so much trouble trying to find a copy. Guess I have to order it from amazon and wait a few days.

Mcfan2, the DVD does NOT contain everything that the laserdisc has. Almost, but not quite. Very disappointing. And, as was mentioned earlier, the sound is nowhere near as good on the DVD as on the laserdisc. What is there, looks very nice and clear (although there seems to be a bit of a brown hue to the whole thing, like the DVD of STAR! - which also looks better on laser.)

George Hearn as Dickinson?? *dies* I want to see him do Rutledge, too.

I can't believe they're not making new copies. That's so sad.

My theater prof. told me once that that scene is the longest scene in any musical without singing. Anyone think of any longer ones?

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The original script was published in a paperback version in about '76 and included amazing notes on the show, including a section titled (I think) "Things omitted, things made up, things changed" where the authors ran down all the things that weren't 100% accurate-- Such as the ending, which depicted a non-event (the congress signing the declaration) which never happened (Members of the congress signed as they could, one member not signing it for at least a year) but the authors defended by saying "Sure it never happened, but everyone THINKS it did-- so much so that there is a painting depicting it happening" (which is used projected on a scrim at the end).

The amazing things are the events depicted that are completely true: Adams letters, as mentioned above, Franklin being carried into congress by convicts whom he hired and frequntly dismissed with "All right men, back to prison with you!", the flies, the Rum, the debate over whether to pay for a mule that dropped dead while hauling for congress and even G. Washington's dispatches, which were constructed using his exact words (including reports of "every able-bodied whore" assembling to follow the US army.)...

As the authors say, this is so amzingly interesting, why do US History teachers teach it as if it were dull as dishwater???

Aw, ShbrtAlley my 6th grade history teacher showed it and it actually got me interested in the Revolutionary War and the signing. I loved it.
I revisited it for my 16th birthday party. It's amazing. And a few years later, I notice more and more how beautifully written it is. I know it's good, because yes, wea ll know the ending but there is such amazing suspense. It seems so boring, at first I was reluctant to see it, but I forgot how much it is about characters, individually and united.
Beautiful.

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