- Joined
- Mar 5, 2021
Number two is 1776, a film I’ve seen approximately thirty times... which is 25 too many.
Not because the movie isn’t good, it's one of the most structurally efficient and intelligently scored musicals in the canon. The gimmick here is that basically every guy in Congress gets a line. The protagonist is John Adams, played by Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World. Adams is extremely correct, but so shrill and miserable that he begins to hurt his own cause.
Ben Franklin is played by Howard Da Silva (The Great Gatsby) and he rules. No notes. This is one of the only screen Franklins that isn’t just a sweaty Santa Claus. Equal parts Rabbinical uncle and KGB handler.
John Dickinson is the villain. He is unfortunately just a better orator than Adams. He absolutely dominates Congress even though he's one part of Pennsylvania's three man delegation.
Jefferson shows up. His main trait is “severely horny,” and his only emotional arc is getting laid.
The rest of the Congress is filled out with some familiar salty actors from 70s television. There’s the delegate from Rhode Island who is in a permanent state of being pissed out of his skull; the pervert from New Jersey who flips his vote when Adams bribes him with ale and whores; Caesar Rodney who is cancer ridden but still shows up to to vote; Richard Henry Lee (VA) who is a Charlie Wilson type character; and a suite of other one-liner psychos.
Special shoutout to John Cullum as the delegate from South Carolina, who performs the showstopper about slavery, it’s basically the "Be Prepared" of the American mythos.
Adams gets some comic relief in the form of Abigail, his wife, whom he writes letters to and who responds with variations on “stop being a little bitch.” Jefferson’s wife is played by Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom, and while she is undeniably hot in the role, it’s impossible not to retroactively hate her.
People love to criticize 1776 as jingoistic and whitewashed, which it is. It also makes some bleak points about democracy and the futility of compromise. And even though Adams wins in the end, you can tell the show's not entirely sold on the idea that that was a good thing. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour musical about how change is nearly impossible in America unless everyone in the room is bribed, horny, or dying. Biggest laugh in the show still comes from the New York delegate explaining that his government is too dysfunctional to actually vote on anything, so he just abstains.
Anyway, great musical, GOATed cast, and it’s the most accurate civics lesson I ever got.
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