Irwin Winkler was an award-winning producer. He won an Oscar for “Rocky” and was nominated for three other pictures. In the 1980’s he had the same idea as many war movie lovers. He wanted to make a movie about the Revolutionary War. He had trouble getting financing, but eventually he basically paid for it himself. It was not a wise decision. He got Hugh Hudson to direct. The movie was filmed in Great Britain. The film’s release was rushed to make the Christmas season and to qualify for Oscars. That seems laughable now. The movie was met with universal scorn and was a huge bomb. It cost $28 million and made less than $360,000. Instead of Oscars, it was nominated for four Golden Raspberrries – Picture (losing to “Rambo”), Director, Actor (Stallone topped Pacino), and Score. Hudson blamed the disaster on the rush to release. 23 years later he released his director’s cut as “Revolution Revisited”. It has narration by Pacino. Hudson trimmed ten minutes from the original. Let’s see if those ten minutes were the reason the original version sucked.
The movie opens in July, 1776. A statue of King George is pulled down and the Declaration of Independence is passed around. But that does not concern Tom Dobb (Pacino). The fur trapper has no dog in this fight. He encounters the upper-class lady Daisy (Nastasska Kinski) who is a patriot. She and other rebel women demand Dobb give his boat to the patriot cause. He refuses. He leaves his son Ned (Dexter Fletcher) behind when he goes into town for business. Before you can say “Yankee Doodle”, he enlists as a drummer boy. This drags his father into the war. When the British attack NYC, the father and son are in the front line. And soon they are running away from the vaunted Brits. Five months later, Ned is still a drummer boy, but for the Redcoats. He has been conscripted by the evil Sergeant Major Peasy (Donald Sutherland) and daddy is determined to get him back. Their paths keep intersecting with Daisy. We get stops at Valley Forge, Philadelphia, and Yorktown. Spoiler alert: the colonials win in the end. Symbolized by a plucky fur trapper with great hair.
I have not seen the original, but if it is worse than the director’s cut, it must be really bad. But then again, the added narration is possibly the worst I have ever heard. If Pacino thought it would distract viewers from his acting, he was wrong. He was miscast as Dobb and suffering from pneumonia during the shoot didn’t help. His hair does the best acting in the movie. He has no chemistry with Kinski (who was another odd casting choice). Speaking of which, Daisy’s story would have been more compelling than the Dobbs. Donald Sutherland is wasted as a stereotypical villain. In a smack of stunt casting, Annie Lennox plays Liberty Woman. In a strong omen that the movie sucked, she was dubbed for a song at the end!
The actors are not helped by the truly revolting dialogue. The plot matches the dialogue and acting. It was a huge mistake to cover five years. There are large gaps in the chronology and we are left to wonder what is happening to the characters in the gaps. (We do get the impression that Dobb doesn’t age.) The scenes that we get often drag on and on. Occasionally a battle scene is thrown in. The first big set piece looks like it was based on the Battle of Brooklyn. The tactics are fairly well depicted, but since the Continentals are routed quickly, there is not much to it. We get to see Peasy wield a pike! That may have been appropriate for a Sergeant Major, but we waited years for a Revolutionary War movie to get this? The movie closes with Yorktown and the inevitable showdown with Peasy. By this time, the reluctant rebel fur trapper is a sharpshooter. Talk about full circle. If you’re expecting to learn about the British taking of NYC, Valley Forge, and Yorktown, forget it. The movie does little to inform about its title.
If you are unlucky enough to have seen the original, I would suggest you don’t stay on the opposite of a roll by watching “Revolution Revisited”. The project was ill-fated from the beginning. The filmmakers who green lit it are still scratching their heads. The fiasco did severe damage to the British film industry. And to Pacino’s career. He was so impacted by the disaster that he took a four- year hiatus from movies. Most people forget that he was the Nick Cage of the 1980’s in his inability to make good choices in his roles. And his inability to avoid the enticing lure of scenery to be chewed.
GRADE = D-
Your review fits well with my memories of watching this film. Not one I would recommend.
ReplyDelete