Wednesday, July 6, 2011
EITHER A LOVING CELEBRATION OF THE SQUIRMY HUMANITY OF THE GREAT BUT FLAWED MEN WHO CREATED A NATION OUT OF HUNGER, IDEALISM, AND A DESPERATE YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE, OR IT’S A SECRETLY SUBVERSIVE CRITIQUE OF NATIONALISM THAT DEPICTS THE BIRTH OF A NATION AS A SERIES OF COMPROMISES FROM MEN IMPROVISING MADLY IN THE MOMENT: Nathan Rabin reviews the "surprisingly smutty" 1776 for his My Year of Flops series. He's right, of course: it's a loooong movie, but one saved by the performances of its leads and the triumphant nature of its finish. We, of course, are fans here.
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I think it's both, for what it's worth (and as many times as I've seen the movie, I did learn one thing from that article; I didn't know Blythe Danner was five months pregnant with Gwyneth Paltrow when she filmed her scenes).
ReplyDeleteThat's correct: Gwyneth Paltrow plays Jefferson's daughter Patsy in both this film and 1995's Jefferson in Paris.
ReplyDeleteThat, my friend, has the makings of an excellent trivia question.
ReplyDeleteExcept, if we have to get technical about it, Blythe Danner was pregnant during the filming; her character was not. So wording the question will be tricky.
ReplyDeleteThis played quite a bit on the local PBS station when I was a kid and my dad had the soundtrack in heavy rotation around the house. My stuffed lion was named Richard Henry Leo specifically because of my early fandom of 1776.
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