Movie Review – 1776

1776 (1972) – America’s Founding Fathers and the history around the creation of the Declaration of Independence are turned into a musical.  The personalities and conflicts that eventually led to one of the greatest documents in American history come together in song and comedy.

This is an interesting movie in many ways.  Most of the story is pretty well known to most viewers.  The cast are solid B-actors (Howard Da Silva, William Daniels, Ken Howard) plus veterans of the stage version of the show.  Yet somehow it never quite comes together.

First, there’s something just a little uncomfortable with this pivotal moment in our history being treated as musical comedy.  1776 alternates between some pretty fair history and typical musical silliness. Richard Henry Lee gets particularly short shrift as the comic relief.  On the other hand, they do a really nice job with the profound love between John and Abigail Adams.  Based on actual correspondence between the two it brings a nice human aspect to the otherwise acerbic Adams. In the end though, it all just feels a little wrong.

Second, this musical feels like it has no musical numbers in it.  The soundtrack lists 15 songs but I never would have guessed that.  By far the biggest problem facing this (or any musical) is what some folks call the “parking lot song”.  It’s the song you walk out humming or singing.  1776 simply doesn’t have one.  There are a couple of fun songs but you forget them almost immediately. That’s death for a musical.

At the end of it all, what you have is a fun little musical that just might teach you a little about American history (although you should be very careful with that, the authors took some serious liberties with the actual history).  It’s certainly a fun way to spend a couple hours.

Rating – *** Worth A Look