Midnight Review of the movies for 4th of July

It's midnight and I have watched the last film of my 4th of July film festival for this year! Al Pacino in Revolution was the WORST! The sound quality was horrible, the whole plot was grim and grimmer, and Nastassia Kinski was a dreadful casting choice. The scenery was authentic looking and that's all I found worthy in this awful film.

April Morning was EXCELLENT! You had such a feel for the authenticity of the way the townspeople were forced to alter their way of life to respond to the British crackdown, their reluctance to fight, their struggle to find a way to fight and survive. In a way, it was a metaphor for the entire war situation, farmers and artisans and shop keepers forced to become soldiers, guerilla fighters. The acting was good and the scenery authentic.

The Scarlet Coat was also terrific - I had read a good deal about Benedict Arnold, Peggy Shippen, and Major Andre', and I found the whole spy aspect interesting. I had read about that before as well nnd found the film true to the reading and research I had done. It was well done in every way - great diction, filming, casting, and acting and very authentic.

Drums Along the Mohawk was a favorite though it did have that early family style Disney quality, still it was moving and a different view, the frontier view with each side vying to win Native American Allies to their side to fight for them, though both sides were really enemies of the Native Americans in the end.

I wanted to end the night with The Crossing with Jeff Daniels but I couldn't rent it from amazon. As Imentioned in my first post, I really like TURN, though I could only enjoy it when I watched it on my laptop because, again, it was so dark and murky in the filming and the diction wasn't very clear. The older movies were much much better at that. Actually I think the best thing is to watch them ALL!

Fourth of July for the 245th year is now over, so Goodnight friends and fellow Amerians! Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

I did find The Crossing for FREE, streamng, and it was very good. It made me think a good way to watch the movies is geographica, starting with April Morning (Lexington and Concord), Drums Along the Mohawk (upstate NY)then The Scarlet Coat (Benedict Arnold and West Point, NJ), the Revolution (the City of New York), Then the Crossing (North Jersey) and finally, the Patriot. I have to say, I spent a lot of time with tears running down my cheeks - so much suffering! I did find Mary Silliman's War, also streaming and free, and it was slow moving but very interesting on the theme of kidnapping for prisoner exchange. Themes are another good way to watch - the spy theme, the theme of victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, and so on. Happy Viewing movie and American Revolution Fans!