1776

1776 (1972) I’ve always had a soft spot I my heart for this one, though I know it’s wildly inaccurate. I saw a stage production of it in Eugene, Oregon, before I saw the movie, and it seemed quite faithful. The Wiki article about it goes on and on about things that it got wrong, and things that we re-arranged for dramatic purposes. The fact is, we don’t know what happened in Independence Hall when the Declaration of Independence was debated, written and signed. The reason is simple. These men were committing treason. Keeping minutes of the meetings would have been unwise. We do know, however, and events outside the building, such as the fact that Martha Jefferson never came to Philadelphia to inspire old Tom in the writing. She was recovering from a miscarriage. In the play John Adams is portrayed (brilliantly, by William Daniels) as “obnoxious and disliked,” when he was actually praised by all the delegates. And they never gathered around to sign the Declaration at once, as depicted in the movie. However, that fictional scene had already been made immortal in a famous painting, which is re-created here in the final scene, but from a reverse angle.

None of it really matters to me. I found it to be an excellent dramatization of the myths surrounding the birth of this nation. Do I really care that most of the colonies, not just the Southern ones, were okay with striking the clause concerning slavery? No, I don’t, and framing it the way they did makes it a sort of nasty pleasure to watch Tom Jefferson lamely state that he has resolved to set his slaves free. (He never did, though he fucked some of them.) It also sets up one of the best musical numbers, “Molasses to Rum,” a solo by John Cullum that really does summon up the horrors of the auction block. I found the music to be pretty good, without actually having a hit. Still, this won the Tony for Best Musical that year. All the main parts are played by the actors who originated them on stage, and Daniels, Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin, and Ken Howard (who died a few months ago as I write this, 7/8/16) as Jefferson, are very good.