ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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This is one of my favorite musicals, not to mention the fact that it's a great comedy as well. I'll bet the Russians are insanely jealous of the fact that our Founding Fathers were not only wise and noble, they were also sexy, funny, and had fine singing voices!

God Bless America!

And if He really wants to do the job right, He can bless this trailer and the excerpt with one of the great songs from the movie

Enjoy!

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________________1776 Original Movie Trailer


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______1776: Sit down, John! (1972 Film Version)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[MetroPolly]

Agreed all the way,bud. I try to watch this movie every 4th of July. It's a little long, but you don't notice since it's so much fun.

BTW, in case nobody knew, there was one number that until recently was left out of showings of the film and even from home video. Luckily,"Cool, Considerate Men" has been restored and I think it's one of the best numbers in the whole thing.

[Bud Brewster]

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I have the director's cut DVD with that song and lots of scenes that were cut out for years. Great movie.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

A nice movie from a great stage musical. I was lucky enough to see the original production on Broadway in 1968 and then I was privileged to appear in 3 1/2 productions myself, in 4 different roles.

It's a brilliantly constructed show and will give patriotic shivers to the coolest and most blas?? of Americans.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Gord Green]

Although not completely historically correct (about as accurate as HAMILTON, which I also love!) this is one of my all time favorites. Along with GETTYSBURG I watch it every 4th of July.

The cuts from the movie were made by recommendations from Dick Nixon upon a preview at the White House. He objected to the criticism of conservative members of the Congress.

Wiser heads saw to the replacement of some of the best moments in the film.

[Bud Brewster]

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I enjoyed the heck out of 1776 yesterday, a great movie with wonderful songs and spectacular performances by the entire cast.

IMDB has 42 trivia items for this movie, many of which are interesting and amusing.

Enjoy!
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~ According to the writer/director's commentary, John Adams' actual quote following Franklin's urging to remove the slavery clause from the declaration was "If we give in on this issue, there WILL be trouble 100 years hence." The commentary stated that the quote was NOT used because it sounded too much like hindsight. Adams' forward looking prediction missed the first battle of the Civil War by only 15 years.

Note from me: This is mighty impressive. John Adams' conviction that slavery should be ended as soon as possible turned out to be absolutely justified.

Although Jefferson, during the debate on the slavery clause of the Declaration of Independence, tells John Dickinson that he has already resolved to free his own slaves, Thomas Jefferson never did that during his lifetime (although arguably he did free some of his slaves after his death, or gave the discretion to his surviving daughter).

Note from me:~ Jefferson is presented as a great guy in the movie, but this item lessens his greatness a bit in my own opinion. I can't really give Jefferson much credit for being against slavery if he kept his own slaves until he died and then left their fate to the whims of his daughter.

That's like a rich man claiming that having a lot of money is bad, so he instructs his heirs to give it all away . . . after he's dead.

~ The final shot required the camera to pull back to show the entire Congressional chamber. However, there was not enough room on the set for the camera truck to pull back far enough.

Since the sound stages being used were slated to be demolished after production ended, and this was the final shot being done, a large hole was made in the wall - with the camera truck protruding outdoors after pulling all the way back. As it turned out, the sound stages were never demolished and the wall was rebuilt.

Note from me: That final scene is very powerful. The screen grab I made from that shot was taken about 2/3rds of the way through the long "pull back" so that the people weren't too small to provide details.





These next two items are related.

~ All of the exchanges between John Adams and Abigail Adams are based on the real letters they wrote to each other while John was away. He called her his "dearest friend" and their letters ended with "Til then".

~ In the song Is Anybody There, sung by John Adams, the lyric "Yet, through all the gloom, I see the rays of ravishing light and glory" were from a letter by the real-life Adams to wife Abigail the day after the Declaration was adopted.

Note from me: The use of the letters between John and Abigail Adams to provide dialog and song lyrics is a big plus for this great movie.

~ Despite previous reports, Blythe Danner (Martha Jefferson) was not pregnant with Gwyneth Paltrow during filming. Production took place from October 4th, 1971 to early December 1971, and Danner gave birth to Gwyneth on September 27th, 1972, nearly a year after production ended.

Note from me: Raise your hand if you think Gwyneth is absolutely adorable!





~ On the laserdisc commentary, director Peter H. Hunt says that originally he had not planned to cast Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin in the film version, because of how difficult the actor had been during the Broadway run of the musical.

However, he relented and let Da Silva reprise his stage role in the film when the actor promised to cooperate and begged to play Ben Franklin in the movie as a legacy to his grandchildren.

Note from me:~ Mr. Da Silva has many of the best lines in the movie. His casting as the wise Obi Wan "Ben" Franklin was brilliant.

~ The Rev. John Witherspoon (portrayed by James Noble), delegate from New Jersey, is a real life ancestor of actress Reese Witherspoon.

Note from me: How couldn't I resist the chance to post a picture of Miss Whiterspoon!





~ During the filming of Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve, William Daniels sucked on ice cubes so as not to give away the fact that the night was freezing cold, rather than a humid summer evening in Philadelphia.

Note from me: Those Hollywood people are SO clever! This sounds like something Bill Nye the Science Guy would suggest!

~ In this film, Blythe Danner plays Martha Jefferson, the wife of Thomas Jefferson. In Jefferson in Paris (1995), her real-life daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow, plays Patsy Jefferson, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson.

Note from me: This is just plain cool!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

In the late 80's when I was managing a store in Ossining NY I met Howard Da Silva as he was a resident of that town. I told him how much I loved his Ben Franklin and he reminded me that he also played Nikita Kruschev and joked that they were two sides of the same coin (Howard Da Silva had been blacklisted during the McCarthy 50s and was pro socialism.)

When I was working there I got to meet a lot of celebrities in a "outside the industry" setting. Peter Falk, Itzack Pearlmen, and porn star Seka come to mind, but my favorite had to be Anne Francis. I can say that I got to kiss Alta on the cheek! So that's Lieut. Jerry Farnum, Captain Adams and .....Me!

[Krel]

Thomas Jefferson did try to free his slaves. However he was not allowed to by law.

It should also be mentioned that Ulysses Grant owned slaves, including one he kept as his personal valet.

Robert E. Lee did own slaves, which he had inherited. He freed them in 1862, one year after the War of Northern Aggression began. He beat his Northern counterparts by about 4 years.

David.

[Gord Green]

Krel, your point about Jefferson is interesting.

Since slaves were property their value made up most of Jeffersons net worth. To free them he would be in essence bankrupting himself and his daughter.

There were liens on his property that the slaves were in essence collateral for, so he could not sell them or free them by law.

[Pow]

But I kept waiting for Captain Nice to show up.

[Bud Brewster]

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Because of this thread, I now realize that it's easy for me — a child of the late 20th Century — to unfairly judge the people of the 1700s for their actions during an age when slavery was both the cultural norm and the law of the land.

But the intelligent and well-informed comments above have made me realize that I unfairly judged Thomas Jefferson. His noble efforts to change this nation resulted in my own good fortune, and I now live in a land which offers equality to people of all races.

My personal contribution to America's civil rights includes 18 years as a public school teacher in both Georgia and North Carolina, and throughout that time I was honored to have students of all nationalities. I watched these children interact with admirable fairness while they treated each other as complete equals — close friends and classmates who accepted their differences and celebrated their diversity.

I'd like to thank Gordon Green and David (Krel) for providing me with their intelligent comments on this subject. They have expanded my knowledge on the subject and focused my understanding of it's historical importance.

If more All Sci-Fi members were like them (as well as several I haven't named), I could just sit around all day and read the threads on this board while I got smarter and smarter — and never have to post a thing!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)