Highly Overrated But Still Good

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Saw the play on Broadway. Saw the movie. Incredibly moving story of the history of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Every part was perfectly cast.

When it was first released, the film was not a box office success. To be fair, though, the studio butchered the film after its debut -cutting more than 40 minutes, including one complete song and parts of several others. Based on the award-winning musical play, 1776 is one of the best-written musicals of all time. Watching the restored director's cut is an entirely different experience from what most people saw in their movie theater.The script humanizes and characterizes the founding fathers in a way never seen before, and seldom seen since. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from the letters and speeches of the characters (written before, during, and after the revolution). There are a few historical inaccuracies and embellishments, but the film by and large tells the true, and often unknown, story of how the Declaration of Independence came to be written.The score, by former history teacher and sometime-popular-songwriter Sherman Edwards is delightful. Contrary to some of the reviews posted here, there are several stand-out songs, including "Yours, Yours, Yours", "He Plays the Violin", and "Momma, Look Sharp". The score and orchestrations evoke the musical styles of the period, and provide a lot of the film's humor. 1776 holds an odd record in the theater world: the longest space of time between musical numbers (over 30 minutes). Some critics have suggested that the show should have been a straight play, rather than a musical, but the songs serve to lighten the mood and energize the storytelling, It would be a lesser show if they were -as evidenced by the very different audience reaction to the highly-edited release version where much of the music was cut. Sadly, the film's soundtrack album was horribly botched, with heavy reverb added to the mix, and has never been available on CD or in digital format. An expanded, remastered release is possible with the remaining sound elements, but not deemed commercial enough to warrant the expense.The cast is uniformly excellent, drawn almost entirely from the original and later Broadway and touring casts of the long-running hit. This is one of the very few times Hollywood allowed most of the principal cast of a Broadway show to preserve their performances on film. William Daniels owns the role of John Adams as few actors have ever owned a role. His scenes with Virginia Vestoff (Abigail Adams) are among the most beautiful and touching ever filmed. Howard DaSilva's Ben Franklin provides a great deal of common sense along with the comedy. He nearly wasn't allowed to do the film, but we are fortunate that he finally got to preserve his wonderful performance. (He had a mild heart attack during the Broadway previews and missed the opening night. Contractually, his understudy, Rex Everhart, got to record the original cast album, while DaSilva actually performed the role during the Broadway run.It is amazing that the film was ever made. 1776 was a virtually all-male musical (there are only two female roles) about history and politics, made at a time when traditional musical films were box-office poison. It had no big names, and no popular song hits. Jack L. Warner is often excoriated for cutting "Cool, Considerate Men", when really he should be lauded for preserving a classic American musical in what must be considered the most faithful film adaptation ever made.

In school we were presented with a stodgy version of history, so 1776 was immediately appealing simply for turning our American saints into human beings.Some of the songs are absolutely delightful, such as The Lees of Old Virginia, and the fairly perfect But, Mr. Adams. The story is involving and the characters well defined. William Daniels has his best role as John Adams, and Howard Da Silva is so perfect as Benjamin Franklin that it's hard to accept anyone else in the role.On the other hand, a lot of the songs are fairly forgettable, and some, like He Plays the Violin, are extraneous, which is a particular issue if your movie is overlong. While the second half is fun, the more serious second half sometimes drags, for all its admirable good intentions in showing the dark side of revolution. And to me, the letter exchanges between Adams and his wife seemed only mildly interesting.Watching the movie, I couldn't help thinking that it parts of it (like Adams and his wife) would probably work better on stage, although that's only a guess.This is well worth watching, but I wouldn't call it a truly great musical.

At the tender age of eleven, my mother elected to take my sister and I to our first Broadway show. I confess, this was not the play I wanted to see (a short lived production of Childs Play was my choice.) I finally acquiesced based upon the remarkable reviews this production had garnered. How happy I am that I did! This is simply the finest musical ever produced in the United States. From the very beginning, the characters draw you in to that world that was colonial America. The writing of the script is unbelievably well crafted, and even as a precocious boy of only eleven, I was able to clearly understand the overall plot (if not some of the more sophisticated historical references.) What has stayed with me more than anything else, is the enormous respect I gained for those brave men who challenged the most powerful nation on earth and risked their very lives to create The United States of America. This feeling builds through all three acts of the story, and culminates in one of the most emotional finales ever written. If you don't feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck when the final frame becomes the famous woodcut of the signing of the declaration of Independence, you have missed the point entirely.My mother finally (at age 70) became the college professor she was meant to be, and her first class was American government. She proudly used this film as her main AV aid. She continues to be amazed at how few people have seen it. Don't be someone who hasn't!