1776 (1972)

In May 1776 the Second Continental Congress is meeting in Philadelphia but, much to the frustration of thee delegate from Massachusetts John Adams (William Daniels), aren't doing much of anything. Adams is pushing for the Colonies to declare their independence from the oppression of Great Britain but is met with opposition from John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. Dickinson is still hoping for reconciliation with England. Not helping matters are the dispatches from General George Washington, all of which paint a bleak picture. The debate is so intense that it is decided that a declaration of independence must be unanimous, something that seems doubtful at best.

Originally a Broadway musical, 1776 was brought to the big screen in 1972 by Jack Warner and Columbia Pictures. It was the last movie Warner produced. It's also one of the few musicals to import virtually the entire Broadway cast into the movie.

As a movie, 1776 is a mixed bag. As a musical, it's a bit of a failure to be honest. It's not that the tunes are particularly bad as much as they are just there. None of them are particularly memorable. I finished the movie a little over an hour ago and already I can't particularly recall the lyrics. As a side note, I feel La La Land suffers from the same problem. He Plays the Fiddle and Cool, Cool Considerate Men might be the most memorable and even they aren't something you're going to be singing afterward.

On the other hand, the overall story of the debate and indeed the scenes of the debate itself is fascinating stuff. Truth to tell, I feel this would have been as good or even better a movie had it not been a musical but just a straight telling of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. There's not too many movies about this time period in American History to begin with. Most of those movies deal with the battles of the Revolutionary War. So to actually get a movie that gets into the politics of the period is a rare treat indeed.

The cast is pretty engaging if occasionally hammy. Ken Howard acquits himself nicely enough as Thomas Jefferson. Daniels goes a little too far as Adams to prove his oft-quoted line of being obnoxious and disliked. Donald Madden's John Dickinson is a little more restrained. But for pure unadulterated ham so thick you can feed a family of 12 a holiday dinner with it, look no further than Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee. Perhaps the best member of the cast is Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin. He's a delight to watch and steals the majority of the scenes he's in.

Of course, there's historical inaccuracies all over the place, but you find that in any historical fiction. Even Titanic (1997) got some things hilariously if not offensively wrong. Then again, perhaps the mere fact that it is a musical makes the mistakes more forgivable than in a straight out drama.

Sadly for Jack L. Warner, 1776 was produced in a time when movie musicals were hopelessly out of vogue. As a result of that fact and the fact that the songs themselves are nothing to write home about, the movie was a legendary flop. 45 years later it is a little better appreciated by cinema buffs I doubt it will make anybody's list of top ten musicals. On the other hand, if you're a history buff, this is a movie well worth watching.