A Few Words About A few words about...™ 1776 -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[jim_falconer]

I was just at the recent NYC Center production of 1776. It was outstanding! The interview with william daniels and Lin was in the playbill. Great read

 

[Charles Smith]

So was I, and to hear the Encores! orchestra play the original full orchestration of 1776 was an answer to a prayer. And while no one will ever replace the uniqueness of William Daniels, I believe Santino Fontana is today's John Adams. A concert performance never to be forgotten.

 

[jim_falconer]

Agreed. It think my favorite part of the experience was to see that 30-piece orchestra, on stage and directly behind the actors. Watching all those string instruments move in unison, to "He Plays The Violin" was a joy to behold. I left that performance on pins and needles.

 

[PMF]

Well, yesterday was the 4th of July.
Were I programing AMC, I thought to myself, I would put out on the airwaves "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "The Music Man" and "1776".
And so it was, I decided to check the movie guide out.
I turned to AMC and saw this "no-brainer" triple-feature theme WAS, indeed, a part of the day's event.
But, man, oh, man; they still blew it.
Instead of an accessibly all-day event, they decided to first show "West Side Story" in the afternoon and some other movie.
Thankfully, I own all 3 films and lived my day without frustrations.
But I feel sorry for those who got stuck with the programing.
8:00 PM: "The Music Man"
11:00 PM: "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
1:00 AM: (meaning July 5th) "1776"
How stupid was that?
For those who go to work the next day, they didn't have the chance...and neither did "1776".

 

[Jack P]

Those who are fans of "1776" must see this YouTube item that I never thought I'd see again. In the late 70s, Howard Da Silva played Franklin again for a 20 minute movie to be shown at the Franklin Court Museum in Philadelphia. The movie aired continuously there into the 1990s I think and was then retired for a new movie, but someone got hold of a copy from the Parks Service and has put it up on YT. It's like watching a post-script to "1776" itself.

 

[PMF]

Let me better sum up my last Post:
I feel that AMC should have honored "1776" with a Prime-Time; or, at the very least, a family friendly afternoon viewing, during yesterday's 4th of July line-up.
After all, if they're going to showcase it, then they also should have embraced it.
There's plenty of other days and time to show the masterful "West Side Story"; but yesterday was not it.
In light of the beautiful restoration of "1776", it's high time that newer audiences had a better chance to discover and/or stumble upon it for the first time.
What was AMC thinking?

 

[B-ROLL]

Let me better sum up my last Post:
I feel that AMC should have honored "1776" with a Prime-Time viewing, during yesterday's 4th of July line-up.
After all, if they're going to showcase it, then they also should have embraced it.
There's plenty of other days and time to show the masterful "West Side Story"; but yesterday was not it.
In light of the beautiful restoration of "1776", it's high time that newer audiences had a better chance to discover and/or stumble upon it for the first time.
What was AMC thinking?

I was shocked to hear that the former American Movie Classics was running films at all. I guess firecrackers turn the Walking Dead into Mad Men !

 

[PMF]

My mistake.
It was TCM.
[My apologies to AMC].
But both my point and the spirit of it all, remains the same.
So, to be more specific, the line-up was thus:

1:30 PM: The Devil's Disciple
3:00 PM: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
5:15 PM: West Side Story
8:00 PM: The Music Man
10:45 PM: Yankee Doodle Dandy
1:00 AM: 1776

I can go along with the inclusion of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"; but TCM should had bumped "The Devil's Disciple" and "West Side Story" to the July 5th a.m. schedule, instead.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I was shocked to hear that the former American Movie Classics was running films at all. I guess firecrackers turn the Walking Dead into Mad Men !

By the way, did the July 4th presentations air commercial free?

I'm just curious as I know AMC started airing commercials in the early '00s, but PMF's timeslot listings didn't appear to allow time for these, unless the films were heavily edited!

CHEERS!

EDIT: Never mind, I just spotted PMF's new corrected post indicating TCM, not AMC airing these!

 

[PMF]

TCM's showing of "1776" on July 5th - at 1:00 a.m. - is tantamount to airing "A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion" on Black Friday; "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on New Year's Eve; and "Groundhog Day" on February 3rd.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Sometimes, there's just no time. I'm thinking of watching 1776 tonight, as I finally acquired the BD.

 

[B-ROLL]

My mistake.
It was TCM.
[My apologies to AMC].
...

I can go along with the inclusion of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"; but TCM should had bumped "The Devil's Disciple" and "West Side Story" to the July 5th a.m. schedule, instead.

Did they edit it for language? It may have been on later for that reason they ran it later?

My recollections of 1776 goes back it's original run on Broadway when (if my memory is correct) snippets would appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and later the Tonys. I remember when the movie came out ... and then went. I think a local TV station ran a highly edited version of it. I don't remember watching much of it.

In 1976 some corporate sponsors sponsored performances of the play put on by a community theater. It was my Sophomore year in high school, We were literally loaded on buses and brought to the theater to watch the play.

In addition to high schoolers, the sponsors also had third and fourth graders in the front rows. The first "Hell" comes out of an actor's mouth and the kids say "UMMM" (code for "you said a bad word'). The same thing for "Damn" and then "Goddam"! It took about four utterances of each word before the kids realized the show was full of those and other "bad" words. Then i think they dropped the S-bomb and it took several minutes for them to quiet down enough to continue the play....

And in this version the reference to "Saltpeter" was clearly to Mr Adams to in the vernacular "take a cold shower."

 

[B-ROLL]

Sometimes, there's just no time. I'm thinking of watching 1776 tonight, as I finally acquired the BD.

I think you will enjoy it and try not to laugh too hard at Mr Franklin's observations about Congress ...

 

[PMF]

Well, I'm just talking about program scheduling.
With what gets on regular television, these days, I don't think "1776" is at all risqué.
I remember when "All The President's Men" garnered a PG-13 rating.
Due to the historical importance of that film they let it slide; whereas the language used would had normally garnered an "R" rating.
But, make no mistake; if you remove "The Devil's Disciple" and "West Side Story", you've got plenty of time.
Next year, the line-up ought to be "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "1776", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and then, "The Music Man"; starting around Noon to 1:00 PM.
No matter, I was only thinking of those poor old viewers who don't even own their own BD's of these great looking titles.

 

[Matt Hough]

Those who are fans of "1776" must see this YouTube item that I never thought I'd see again. In the late 70s, Howard Da Silva played Franklin again for a 20 minute movie to be shown at the Franklin Court Museum in Philadelphia. The movie aired continuously there into the 1990s I think and was then retired for a new movie, but someone got hold of a copy from the Parks Service and has put it up on YT. It's like watching a post-script to "1776" itself.

I had never seen this; never even knew of its existence, but now I've seen it and am VERY grateful you provided it for us here. Very informative and enjoyable. (I did miss Amos the Mouse's interactions with Ben, but I guess there is only so much you can squeeze into a 20-minute historical featurette! ).

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Well, I'm just talking about program scheduling.
With what gets on regular television, these days, I don't think "1776" is at all risqué.
I remember when "All The President's Men" garnered a PG-13 rating.
Due to the historical importance of that film they let it slide; whereas the language used would had normally garnered an "R" rating.
But, make no mistake; if you remove "The Devil's Disciple" and "West Side Story", you've got plenty of time.
Next year, the line-up ought to be "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "1776", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and then, "The Music Man"; starting around Noon to 1:00 PM.
No matter, I was only thinking of those poor old viewers who don't even own their own BD's of these great looking titles.

All the President's Men actually has a PG rating: http://filmratings.org/search.html?filmTitle=all+the+president's+men&x=37&y=4
PG-13 was implemented in 1984 and a film would have to be resubmitted to get that rating. The PG rating in the 70s and into the early 80s had more "teeth", if you will; some PG titles actually had brief nudity.

 

[jim_falconer]

I saw the PG rated Jaws in 1975 at the age of 13, and the film terrified me beyond belief. There is no way such a violent film gets a PG rating today. With all the decapitations and amputations, the film might actually have warranted an R rating today.

 

[Dr Griffin]

I saw the PG rated Jaws in 1975 at the age of 13, and the film terrified me beyond belief. There is no way such a violent film gets a PG rating today. With all the decapitations and amputations, the film might actually have warranted an R rating today.

We are the same age. I saw Jaws that summer too. The Quint death scene was seared into my brain at age 13.

 

[Steve...O]

Has the restored 1776 DCP been shown at any theaters other than the TCM festival ?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Has the restored 1776 DCP been shown at any theaters other than the TCM festival ?

The Film Forum in NYC showed it over the weekend.