1776 (1972)

I watched a number of the patriotic movies TCM broadcast on July 4, and
that, of course, included 1776.

I've noted before that this isn't one of my favorite musicals, but there
are a number of good songs and one great one. The book is adequate, not
great.

It's one of the few times that a Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway
musical largely used actors from the Broadway cast and not Hollywood
actors. They even kept Broadway actors for most of the smaller roles.

The performances, though, are truly excellent. William Daniels was a
wonderful character actor who specialized in playing John Adams, and in
one television miniseries, John Quincy Adams. On series television, he
was Mr. Feeney and the voice of K.I.T.T. I've never read how Knight
Rider was produced, for the show relied upon Daniels and David
Hasselhoff playing off each other. Was Hasselhoff even there when
Daniels recorded his lines?

I cannot imagine Benjamin Franklin looking like anyone but Howard da
Silva.

I guess one of the problems I've always had with the show is that Jefferson
(Ken Howard) has too little personality. We actually learn about the
character from the song sung by his wife Martha (Blythe Danner in the
movie and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow's first on screen appearance, heh) "He
Plays the Violin". We see nothing of Jefferson's profoumd philosophy nor
consultation with works of the great authors of the Age of Enlightenment
who greatly influenced writing of the Declaratation of Independence.

Adams' personality is larger than life, but probably resembles his
disillusionment after he was an unpopular president and not the true
leadership and high esteem he would have been held in at the time of
the musical.

Franklin's dialogue is largely his own witty quotes.

I've read a bit about the play, that Sherman Edwards likely began
working on it in the late '50s. He's a fascinating character, a jazz
pianist and popular music composer who played for famous big bands, did
his WWII service, got a history degree and was briefly a high school
history teacher, then returned to jazz and composing. The musical came
out of his history background although plenty of facts were changed for
dramatic reasons.

The show stopper "Molasses to Rum to Slaves", which is about the
Triangle Trade of New England merchant vessels and thus their complicity
in the import of African slaves to the Carribean and the South. It's
sung by Rutledge of South Carolina and the leader of the southern
colonies. John Cullom performed on both Broadway and in the movie,
although on Broadway, he was a replacement cast member in the original
run of the show. I've read that this song was earlier in the show but
moved to a more prominent position near the end of Act II.

Also, Edwards had a thought about making the character black to
emphasize more the the high-pocracy although that idea was discarded.
There is no evidence, let alone a suggestion, that Rutledge had any
black ancestors.

When I first saw Northern Exposure, at first, I hadn't realized that
Holling was being played by the same actor.

I paid more attention this time to one of the songs I dislike, "Is Anybody
There?" which I find self indulgent and a cliched dramatic device. After
Adams sings that others want him to quit, he sings the lyric

For I have crossed the Rubicon

Oops.

I can't believe I never noticed that before. Caesar crossing the Rubicon
is a metaphor for having made the final committment to a course of
action after which one is unable to turn back.

But Caesar had defied the Senate's orders. The Senate had ordered him to
stand down as they feared he intended to become a populist dictator and
destroy the Republic.

Isn't that the opposite of what the American Revolution intended to
achieve?