"Mr. Secretary, New York abstains-courteously."

Holidays were often the most enjoyable times to work at a video store. Often the television monitors throughout the store would feature all day showings of many classic holiday films, be it Christmas, Easter, or Halloween. In our store we often took things to the extreme, showing films with barely a passing reference to a particular holiday like New Years Eve, Groundhog Day and even Superbowl Sunday! And of course the Fourth of July was no exception. When you think about it, there are very few films that came out of Hollywood that actually dealt with the American Revolution. In recent years cable television has tried to play catch-up with films like The Crossing and Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor, but in the early part of the 20th century, Hollywood was more concerned with French revolutions then home grown ones. But one film that fit the bill perfectly each and every Independence Day was 1776, made by Columbia Pictures in 1972. The big-screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical from 1969, stars William Daniels as patriot John Adams, Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson. 1776 follows the Founding Fathers efforts to liberate America from British tyranny in the early days of July, 1776. Written by Oscar-winner Peter Stone and based on a story by Sherman Edwards (a former history teacher) who also wrote the music and lyrics, 1776 brings the boldest moments in our national history together with gripping drama and joyous song. Da Silva's Ben Franklin is a riot at times, and it's ironic that Da Silva, blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s during the communist witch hunt, went on to portray one of our most beloved national heroes. The casts earthy approach to the characters closes the distance between us and the Founding Fathers, they no longer appear as statues in stone but real people with every day hopes and concerns. The film saw little box-office business in 1972, the fact that it had been drastically cut by producer Jack L. Warner prior to release didn't help. Over the years the film has grown in popularity thanks to a Broadway revival, television airings and various home video incarnations. It's debut on VHS and Laser Disc in the early 1980s featured the cut 142 minute version with a simulated stereo soundtrack. Although sixteen-track master tapes were recorded for the film, they were never mixed and only a mono version ever made it to the movie theaters. In 1992 Pioneer released what has become the Holy Grail of all Laser Discs when it painstakingly restored a full 180 minute version of the film. Using recently found film and soundtrack elements from a storage facility in Kansas, Pioneer pieced together bits of film fragments including a completely new song "Cool Considerate Men" which had been excised from the film prior to it's theatrical release. Rumor had it that Jack L. Warner had cut the song due to negative reaction from the Nixon White House , but Director Peter Hunt discounts this as myth in his commentary on the disc. According to Hunt, the forty minutes cut by Warner had to do with trimming it for additional showings and daily schedules at movie theaters. At the time the Laser Disc was produced, no negative was believed to exist for the restored sequences. Some scenes appear grainy and even in black & white, but the final cut is as close to the original Broadway show as you'll ever see. "Cool Considerate Men" was restored thanks to editor Florence Williamson who had taken the film home in her purse shot by shot in fear that it would be destroyed by producer Warner, which was his practice over the years with unused footage. Then in 2002 Columbia released a DVD version billed as the restored Director's Cut, which featured a 166 minute version of the film. It restored some but not all of the original excised scenes, using a newly found negative which did away with the grainy and black & white footage contained in the Laser Disc. But the new cuts made by director Hunt are tragic. Whole musical reprisals and additional verses of songs are gone. For those lucky to have the Pioneer Laser Disc hold on to it, for it remains the only complete version of the film. Maybe sometime down the road Columbia Pictures or Pioneer will grant fans of the film a reprieve and release a final DVD version with the complete 180 minute cut of the film. Nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar, the film is beautifly shot by Harry Stradling Jr., and both the Pioneer Laser Disc and Columbia DVD versions are in the Widescreen format. Whatever version of the film you see this Fourth of July, you're sure to enjoy a lovingly told and superbly acted tale of our nations birth.

1776 [DVD](1972) DVD
Broadway's rousing musical celebration of the Founding Fathers and the birth of America was brought to the screen by legendary producer Jack L. Warner. The raucous, rancorous debate over independence comes to life with a cast that includes William Daniels as John Adams, Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson; with Blythe Danner, David Ford, Donald Madden. Restored director's cut includes the "Cool Considerate Men" sequence. 166 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English, French; audio commentary; theatrical trailers; screen test; interactive menus; scene access.