1776 is a 1972 American musical drama directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone is based on his book for 1969 Broadway musicals of the same name. The track score was compiled by Sherman Edwards. The film stars William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Donald Madden, John Cullum, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner.
The parts of the dialogue and some lyrics of the song were taken directly from letters and memoirs from the real participants of the Second Continental Congress.
Video 1776 (film)
Plot
While General George Washington is fighting against the British Empire on the battlefield, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia weighs the time on trivialities and constantly refuses to start debating the question of American independence. The leader of the independence faction was John Adams of Massachusetts, who constantly pushed the issue to have caused their struggles to a standstill. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania leads the opposition expecting reconciliation with Britain. During his quiet time, Adams summons the image of his wife Abigail Adams, who lives in Massachusetts and gives him insight and encouragement (this conversation is based on letters between spouses). Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania suggested other colonies that support independence should submit a proposal.
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia volunteered to go to Williamsburg, Virginia to get authorization from Virginia Colony to propose independence. Dr Lyman Hall arrived to represent Georgia, and soon, he was interrogated by his fellow colleagues regarding his views on independence (with Dickinson framing as "treachery"). A few weeks later, Lee returned with a resolution, and the debate about the question began. However, in the midst of the debate, Caesar Rodney falters with cancer and is brought back to Delaware by fellow delegate Thomas McKean, leaving the anti-independence George Read to represent Delaware.
After a heated discussion, the question was called without a majority of the positive votes present. The New Jersey delegation, led by Reverend John Witherspoon, arrived just in time to provide the support of the independence vote. In a move intended to defeat the resolution, Dickinson called for a ballot that requires a unanimous vote for the part. The vote ended with a tie between the colonies, New York abstained as it did in every vote. It was ultimately decided to support unanimity by John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, who argued that any colonies who objected would fight for Britain against independence. Stalling to raise support for the resolution, Adams and Franklin called again for a delay, justifying their vocation by stating the need for a declaration depicting their grievances. Once again bound and finally decided by Hancock, voting was successfully postponed until the document could be written.
Hancock appointed a committee that included Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, and Thomas Jefferson (after Lee refused because of his promise to serve as governor of Virginia). Jefferson refused because he wanted to go back to Virginia to see his wife, Martha, but others presented a stronger reason for avoiding responsibility; they argue that Jefferson's diplomatic qualities and superior writing skills are required to make declarations. Jefferson developed the writer's block for losing his wife, so Adams sent for Martha: "It just occurred to me that the sooner the problem is solved, the sooner we will." After meeting him, Adams and Franklin are pretty taken with Martha. While maneuvering for the unanimity required for a vote on independence, Adams, Franklin and Samuel Chase from Maryland visited the Colonial Army camped in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the request of General Washington, to help convince Maryland.
When they returned to Philadelphia, the declaration was read and then debated and changed. Jefferson agreed to most of the changes to the document, much to Adams's growing concern. The debate reached the head when the Southern delegation, led by Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, quit the Congress when the clause against slavery was not removed. Adams remained adamant that the clause remained, but Franklin urged him to allow the passage to be erased so that they could reach the first vote on independence and the establishment of a nation, delaying the enslavement of the enslaved to another. Adams abandoned the final decision for Jefferson, who was reluctant to admit. After removing the clause, 11 of the 13 colonies now support. New York no longer (because its delegates have never been given special orders by an unorganized New York legislature).
The question is up to the Pennsylvania Colony, whose delegation was surveyed at the request of Franklin. Franklin's voice was for the declaration, but Dickinson was opposed. The result is now in the hands of their Pennsylvanian judge James Wilson. Wilson always followed Dickinson's lead, but in this case Wilson voted in favor of the declaration, securing his share, so that he would not be remembered by history as a man who chose to prevent American independence. After receiving news of the destruction of his property from General Washington, Lewis Morris eventually withdrew the New York abstentions and agreed to sign the document. Finally, with the Declaration of Independence ready to be signed, Hancock put his signature first, whereas others (including New Yorkers) put them to the Declaration, establishing the United States on July 4, 1776.
Maps 1776 (film)
Cast
- Delegate
- More
Music number
- Overture
- "Sit down, John" - Adams, Congress
- "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve" - ​​â € <â €
- "Until then" - Adams, Abigail
- "The Lees of Old Virginia" - Lee, Franklin, Adams
- "But, Mr. Adams" - Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Sherman, Livingston
- "Yours, Yours, Yours" - John, Abigail
- "She's Playing the Violin" - Martha Jefferson, Franklin, Adams
- "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men" - Dickinson, The Conservatives
- "Mama Look Sharp" - Courier, McNair, Leather Apron
- "The Egg" - Franklin, Adams, Jefferson
- "Molase to Rum" - Rutledge
- "Praise" - Adams, Abigail
- "Is Someone There?" - Adams
- End
Soundtrack
The original movie soundtrack album was released in 1972 by Columbia Records on LP vinyl format. It contains all the music numbers listed above with the exception of "Cool, Cool Considerate Men" and "Praise". This soundtrack also contains an edited version of some music numbers that are presented in full on laser and DVD releases. Although the recording of Original Broadway Cast was released on CD in 1992, the film's soundtrack does not.
Production
Jack L. Warner bought the movie rights for a musical for $ 1.25 million.
Many of the original Broadway cast members, including William Daniels, Ken Howard, John Cullum, and Howard Da Silva, took their roles for the film. Ralston Hill, Ron Holgate, David Ford, Charles Rule and others repeated their role from Broadway production, marking their only appearance in the big screen movie. This was a decision made by Warner after he made a mistake by rejecting Julie Andrews for the 1964 adaptation film My Fair Lady supporting Audrey Hepburn.
1776 is also the only film from Donald Madden, who is not in the original Broadway cast.
The exterior was filmed at Warner Ranch in Burbank, California, the former Columbia Columbia headquarters, where they built the entire Philadelphia Colonial street. Most of the colonial devices were destroyed by fires in the mid-1970s.
The fountain that was seen during the music number "The Lees of Old Virginia," with Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, was well known by television viewers as a fountain that was visible during the initial credit of the TV series < i>. This fountain is still across the street from the Bewitched house and I Dream of Jeannie.
The interior was shot in an old Columbia studio on Gower Street in Hollywood. 1776 was one of the last films taken at Gower Studios before the 1971 Warner/Columbia merger.
In the release of home and original video, the film is rated G; following the recovery of parts cut off by producer Jack L. Warner, the DVD was rated PG. The Laserdisc version, not printed, contains additional recordings and background music that is not in the DVD release. The 168 minute version is considered the preferred version of director Peter Hunt, hence the moniker "cut director". The film is a Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
"Cool, Cool, Considerate Men" was cut from the film before it was released and was not included in the soundtrack recording or on the first VHS tapes and laserdiscs. The recording, some poor physical quality, was restored for the next laserdisc and DVD releases.
Political change
According to the Los Angeles Times, "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men 'song describes the conservative Revolutionary War era as a power-hungry wheedler focusing on wealth maintenance." According to Jack L. Warner, film producer and a friend of US President Richard Nixon, Nixon requested that the song be removed from the film. Nixon apparently saw the song as an affront to the conservatives of his time, for he advocated that conservatives were the ones who hindered American Independence when they danced in a minuet singing the song that included the verse,
To further complicate things as mentioned above, the song is outdated, since the terms "right" and "left" in politics were not created until the French Revolution.
Warner's efforts to comply with Nixon's demands had initially been rejected by Hunt's director during production, only for songs to be removed post-production while Hunt was on vacation. Warner also wants the original negative of the shredded song, but the movie editor keeps it in unchanged storage. The trailer has been released in theaters with the number "Male Attention" as its center; Warner has a trailer that is pulled and re-edited. Hunt was later mentioned in a 2015 interview that Warner, on his deathbed, told a friend that he regretted editing the scene, believing he had destroyed the film's structure as a result of the editing. Just a few decades later the song was returned to the movie.
When Broadway musicals would be presented to Nixon at the White House in 1970, before the film was made, his staff pressured the producers to cut the song; their request was rejected.
Historical accuracy
According to The Columbia Companion for American History in Film , the history of "[i] naccuracies covers 1776 , though only a very disturbing bit." Because Congress is held in secret and there is no contemporary record of the Declaration of Independence debate, the playwright creates narratives based on later accounts and guesses, creating the necessary scenes and dialogue for storytelling purposes. Some dialogue is drawn from words written, often years or even decades later, by people who are actually involved, and rearranged for dramatic effects.
The film specifically distorts and dispels the views of the Central Atlantic quakers, represented by Dickinson. Although in the film Dickinson is portrayed as a loyalist, and John Adams is seen making a point of objection about the tax abuse of George III of the United Kingdom, including regressive taxes and "taxation without representation", and all to fund war and lifestyle Kings, unfavorable people, Dickinson Letter from a Farmer in Pennsylvania who originally made this point. The physical battle between Dickinson and Adams is depicted, in which Dickinson calls Adams "lawyer" a nickname, which makes no sense because Dickinson himself is a lawyer.
Also, despite the heavy focus of the film on John Adams, John Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, only Martha Jefferson and Abigail Adams and their marriage were portrayed, although Dickinson's wife Mary Norris Dickinson became the only couple present Philadelphia during the convention. (Franklin's common law wife, Deborah Read, had died a year earlier). Although originally the film used the actual correspondence between Abigail Adams and John Adams as the basis for dialogue, it romanticized his views later on. The film also repeats the relationship Martha Jefferson in particular, which describes her coming to the convention, when she had just recently suffered a miscarriage and also dealt with complications of pregnancy and unauthorized diabetes in Virginia. The disappearance of Mary Norris and the marriage of Dickinson to him is also very distorted because Quaker marriages such as Dickinson and Norris are more egalitarian than some other founding cultures (including Adult-style Aditan-style Aditan wedding, where Abigail Adams objects in his letters are cited in the film) and by definition not tied to gender stereotypes.
Another departure from history is that the separation from Great Britain is done in two steps: the real vote for independence came on 2 July with the approval of Lee's independence resolution. The words of the Declaration of Independence - a declaration to the world on the reasons for the necessity of division - were then debated for three days before being approved on July 4. The vote for independence does not depend on some parts removed from the Declaration, as implied in the film (and drama), because Congress has voted in favor of independence before debating the Declaration. By drama, the playwright combines two events. In addition, some historians believe that the Declaration was not signed on July 4, as shown in 1776, but was signed on August 2, 1776. Others indicated that the final official copy of the document signed by the delegates was not on one date, but for several weeks and months, starting in July but not completed until the end of September. The authors <1776 asked the delegates to sign the Declaration on July 4 for dramatic reasons.
The Liberty Bell at 1776 is shown being sounded as a delegate signed the Declaration on July 4; However, this is also for the dramatic effect. The cliffs of the Independence Hall church towers were structurally unstable, and Liberty Bell was silent, having been relegated to the upper chamber of a brick tower. The smaller bells, used for the toll hours, may have sounded on July 8, for public reading of the Declaration.
Many characters at 1776 are different from their historical counterparts. The drama center is John Adams's portrayal as "annoying and disliked." According to the biographer David McCullough, however, Adams was one of the most respected members of Congress in 1776. Adams's frequently quoted description of himself in Congress as "annoying, suspicious, and unpopular" is from a letter written 46 years later in the year 1822, after his unpopular presidency may have colored his view of the past. According to McCullough, no delegate described Adams as annoying in 1776. The historian Garry Wills earlier made a similar argument, writing that "historians recount the memory of John Adams without sufficient skepticism," and that it was Dickinson, not Adams, who advocated unpopular positions. in 1776.
For practical and dramatic purposes, this work does not depict all of the more than 50 members of Congress present at the time. This version of John Adams, in part, a combined character, combines real Adams with his cousin Samuel Adams, who was in Congress at the time but not depicted in the drama. Although the drama describes Delaware as Caesar Rodney as an old man who was dying of skin cancer (which would eventually kill him), he was only 47 years old at the time and continued to be very active in the Revolution after signing the Declaration. He is not absent from voting due to health; However, the game was accurate because he arrived "at the right moment," after miles 80 miles the night before (an event described in Delaware's 1999 State Quarter) without help, rather than with the help of other delegates. Furthermore, Richard Henry Lee announced that he was returning to Virginia to serve as governor. He never became governor; his cousin Henry Lee (who was anachronistically called "General 'Lighthorse' Harry Lee," the rank and nickname obtained later) eventually became governor (and father of the General Confederation Robert E. Lee). John Adams is also described as a man who dislikes Richard Henry Lee, but according to McCullough, Adams shows nothing but "respect and admiration for tall and powerful virgins." He did not like Benjamin Franklin, contrary to what he described.
Martha Jefferson never traveled to Philadelphia to be with her husband; he was very ill during the summer of 1776, just had a miscarriage. The playwright created the scene "to show something of Jefferson's young life without destroying the unity of arrangement." James Wilson is not an obscure milisetep depicted in dramas and movies. The real Wilson, who had not been a judge in 1776, had been careful to support independence on an earlier date, but he supported the resolution of independence when it emerged for the vote. The swing sound decided Pennsylvania was actually cast by John Morton, who was not portrayed in music.
A quote attributed to Edmund Burke by Dr. Lyman Hall in the key scene with Adams is a paraphrase of a real quote by Burke.
The song "Cool Considerate Men" is anachronistic; the terms "right" and "left" in politics were not used until the French Revolution of 1789. John Dickinson, described as an antagonist here, was motivated primarily by Quaker roots and his respect for the British Constitution, having lived in England for 3 years in the 1750s, an. He was no richer than some members of the pro-independence faction, and freed his slaves in 1777. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "his name will be sanctified in history as one of the greatest forces of the revolution".
The film also yearns for the objections some people have of the Declaration which states the basis of "human rights" based on "natural law" derived from supernatural beings. Quaker-based populations in mid-Atlantic, represented by Dickinson, object to this conception. Dickinson's objections to the Declaration must be done with this, as well as the fact that he and his base prefer civil disobedience to war as a means, and the view that the colonies are too mature and the egalitarian mid-Atlantic culture will be rejected by the enslavement of the Southern and patriarchal New England, John Adams, at the base of a new country. The film also omits the fact that Dickinson, having refused to sign the Declaration, arranges on the preparation of the Confederate Article, which is based on the "rights of Persons" without any references except laws made by humans and the sole reference to "men" are in the context of gathering soldiers. This base is then used when Articles are converted to Constitution but then completely eliminates the word "human" and only uses the word "People."
Musical also deviates from history in the depiction of his attitude about slavery. At 1776 , after a dramatic debate on slavery, the southern delegation walked out in protest against the Declaration's denial of slave trade, and only supported independence when it was removed from the Declaration. The strike was fiction, because the debate over the words of the declaration came after the independence vote on July 2, and it appears that most of the delegates, north and south, supported the abolition of the clause.
The musical portrays Edward Rutledge as the leader of the opposition to the anti-slavery clause in the original draft Declaration of Jefferson. However, while we know that, according to Jefferson, the clause was opposed by South Carolina and Georgia, plus the unnamed "northern brothers"; it's all that is known about the opposition to the clause. Rutledge was a delegate from South Carolina, but there is no historical evidence that he played any role - much less the leadership role - in opposition to the clause. This musical recognizes the complexity of colonial attitudes toward slavery in the dramatic song "Molasses, to Rum, to Slaves", sung by Rutledge's character, which illustrates the hypocrisy in the northern curse of slavery since northerners profit from triangle trade.
Thomas Jefferson portrayed in a musical saying that he had decided to free his slave, something he did not do, unless some slaves were released after his death 50 years later. The musical also portrays Franklin as claiming that he is the founder of the first abolitionist organization in the New World; Franklin, who did not become an abolitionist until after the American Revolution, became president of the Pennsylvania Elimination Society in 1785. Actually Dickinson released his slave in 1776, conditionally at first, and fully in 1787 when the Constitution was ratified.
In both his drama and his film, John Adams sarcastically predicted that Benjamin Franklin would receive from grandchildren too much of credit for the Revolution. "Franklin hit the ground and jumped out - George Washington, fully grown, and on his horse Franklin then energized them with his magical lightning rod and the three of them - Franklin, Washington and horses - did the whole Revolution all by themselves." about Franklin in April 1790, right after Franklin's death, though the mention of the horse was a funny touch added by the music writer.
James Wilson is portrayed as his subordinate to the Dickinson opposition to independence, just changing his voice so he will not be remembered unkindly. In fact, Wilson is considered one of the leading thinkers behind the American cause, consistently supporting and arguing for independence, although he will not vote until his district is attacked.
Critical reception
Vincent Canby from The New York Times observed, "The music is very unappealing.The lyrics sound as if they have been written by someone who is high on root beer, and this book is a known history - compressed here, stretches there - which has clogged up and moves to a standard that does not inspire Broadway.But the screen version of Peter H. Hunt of 1776 ... insists on being so entertaining and, sometimes, even moving, that you may also stop rejecting it. This reaction, I think, represents a clear victory of the emotional association over matter... [It] is far from being a landmark of music cinema, but this is the first film in my mind that approaching seriously treats an extraordinarily deep chapter American history. "
Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave 1776 two stars and stated, "This is an affront to the real man that Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and the rest.. The performances are trapped inside This role, as you might guess, is pretty horrible There are good actors in this film (especially William Daniels as Adams and Donald Madden as John Dickinson), but they are forced to buffer and posture so much that you are wondering if they ever scratched or spit or whatever... I can hardly bear to remember the songs, let alone discuss them.I may not, really bad this movie does not take advantage of its right to pursue happiness. "
Awards and honors
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Movie Movie - Music or Comedy but lost to Kabaret . Harry Stradling Jr. nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography but lost to Geoffrey Unsworth for Cabaret .
The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in this list:
- 2006: AFI Largest Musical Movie - Nominated
Home media releases
The film was released on video cassettes and laserdisc in the 1980s, and on DVD in 2002. The DVD version was released as "Cut Director Recovered" and contains unreleased clips and is not available in videocassette versions, including "Cool , Men Think Cool "The music numbers and dialogue that accompany them. Although not printed, the laser disc contains an additional four minutes of material that is not available on DVD.
The film was released on Blu-ray 4K-master on June 2, 2015. It contains two comments: an all-new commentary, with directors Peter H. Hunt, William Daniels, and Ken Howard, as well as DVD version comments with Hunt and Peter Stone alone. It also contains two movie versions: DVD's "Cut Off", and "cutting extension" adds an additional 2 minutes and 44 seconds to DVD edition time. It also includes two deleted and alternative scenes with original filmmaker, screen test and theatrical release trailer.
Comic book customization
- Charlton Comics: 1776 (March 1973)
See also
- List of American films in 1972
References
External links
- 1776 on IMDb
- 1776 at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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