I just watched it last weekend. I adore that movie, and one day I may manage to see it on stage. Although not with Brent Spiner (?!?) as John Adams. Much as I love his acting, that's just so wrong!
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Great movie. It got me through my Physics exams this summer. I sat on the couch and studied between the songs.
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imdb needs to partner with netflix so you can go straight from imdb to the movie's netflix page and add it to your queue.
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I love that show and that movie. I own the movie, and the Brent Spiner cast recording (Spiner is fantastic, rivka; I don't know what you're griping about), and I have acted in the show. So I couldn't agree more with the recommend, but I'm curious: what prompted it?
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I appreciate the link. I had started to look at specific actors who were in it, but got distracted after Ken Howard (who, my goodness, looks very different!) the other day.
John Cullum I knew where I knew him from -- Northern Exposure and E.R., mostly. But while William Daniels certainly sounded familiar, it took looking through his IMDB listing to place where I recognized him from. Of course! He's K.I.T.T.!
And while Blythe Danner sounds about the same, she's another who looks very different without the long hair! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by SteveRogers: I had to watch that movie in my history class in 7th grade.
And I originally watched it as part of my 9th grade history class. Which was considerably longer ago . . .
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: I own the movie, and the Brent Spiner cast recording (Spiner is fantastic, rivka; I don't know what you're griping about),
To start with, he's too tall for Adams.
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It's so funny to see actors a long time ago. We were watching The Santa Clause a month or so ago and I saw Bernard, the head elf, and said, "Hey, that's Charlie from Numb3rs!" (Also Mr. Universe.) My husband was skeptical, until he looked it up, and I was right! (I usually can't place someone when I see them in something different, but he has very distinctive features and mannerisms.)
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I saw Spiner on Broadway, and he was great.
There is a scene in the movie that never quite reached me, where Adams finally relents to the removal of the slavery clause, when Daniels (as Adams) says "Now sign, damn you!"
Adams is supposed to be obnoxious and disliked, yet Daniels throws the line away, like he's just frustrated. The other character just goes ahead and signs.
Spiner said the same line, and you could feel the tension as he realizes that he is so abrasive that "Sign, Damn you!" is enough to piss off the southerners so much that they won't sign even with slavery restored, just because Adams is so obnoxious. The whole issue of independence could have been lost just because of Adams' personality.
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I had the pleasure to play Martha Jefferson in a local production of the musical about five/six years ago...i *adore* this musical. I was such a little theatre nerd at the time, too...i had basically the whole show memorized....the one day Dickinson was late to practice and i filled in for him!
It remains one of my absolute favorite musicals Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: That doesn't leave much studying time.
I got a B+ and I was the only non-science major in the room. Thank you, John Adams!
Growing up we only had a VHS that my parents had recorded off the tv a LONG time ago. It was quite a shock when I got it for Christmas last year and there was an extra song. Atleast as scary as "Cool Conservative Men" is, no song has traumatized me as much as "Molasses and Rum." I remember fast-forwarding through that scene when I was kid.
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"Molasses to Rum" is great -- it has helped me remember the details of the Triangle Trade since high school! And John Cullum has a marvelous singing voice.
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William Daniels also was in the TV Show Boy Meets World--as the principal of John Adams High School! Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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A couple of years ago I read the biography “John Adams” by David McCullough. I’ve always liked the movie "1776" a lot. So when I started the biography I thought it would ruin the movie for me. On the contrary. I like the movie even better now.
I was surprised to learn how accurate the musical is. No no, not “accurate” in terms of historical events. The playwright took the normal literary license we’ve come to expect of historical genre movies. But in terms of capturing the personalities of the characters and the spirit of the events depicted, it was surprisingly close to what McCullough reported in the biography.
One thing I found way interesting is that Adams was always AFRAID that he was unliked and perceived as obnoxious. But in reality he was highly respected by his peers. To be sure, he detested dissembling and had the habit of “telling it like it is” or at lease how he saw it. . . .oh, and another thing, he loathed slavery more than dissembling and he actually practiced what he preached about it. . . .
Anyway, great book, great movie, great music.
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If you liked the movie, and "John Adams" you should pick up "1776" by McCullough as well.
I love this movie, it's easily in my top three all time. I have the cast recording from the original Broadway performance, so I have William Daniels in mine .
I'm glad they added Cool Considerate Men back into the movie, that especially, and some other tidbit scenes, were really cool to see.
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My brother rented the movie and I watched it this weekend. Not being much of a theater buff (too poor), this is the first I've really heard of it, though now that you mention it, I remember you saying that you were in the play.
Of course, now I have to get the DVD to see the missing song, since the VHS version apparently doesn't have it.
quote: And John Cullum has a marvelous singing voice.
That has got to be the understatement of the year.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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William Daniels played the obnoxious and disliked heart surgeon Dr. Craig in the show St. Elsewhere. There was an episode where they were in Philadelphia for a conference or something, and at one point, Dr. Craig turns to the camera and sings out, "It's hot as hell! In Philadel-phia!" It was absolutely classic.
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I too saw that movie/musical for the firs time in my 11th grade history class. I love it! It was on TV and I made my wife watch it with me. She humored me, but I could tell it was not her cup of tea. It made me want to go out and buy it on Amazon.com.
Some time ago I almost bought it for a girl I was interested in on her birthday. My best friend talked me out of it, and its a good thing too, that girl and I didn't work out so to speak.
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Huh. I wonder how many people have made careers out of being obnoxious and disliked? Besides radio pundits, I mean.
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I"m not sure I'm getting your question. People who are generally obnoxious and disliked are almost by definition not going to be able to be around people, which precludes almost every job on the planet.
Most of the people that are not generally obnoxious are specifically obnoxious to the other side, and so, of course, are loved by their side. I would guess in that regard that there are many careers that afford opportunities to be obnoxious about one group or another. If nothing else, there's always the Nazis, though I note that there are still plenty of groups out there that find them to be the ultimate in high style and jolly good times.
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quote: I've had vanilla ice cream on warm apple pie. mmmmm!
You ever had your violin played?
I heard that song last night and I was like O_o. That has to be one of the most bawdiest double entendres I've ever heard. And what made it great is the aura of absolute joy whatsername had on her face while she was singing it.
Then again, maybe she was just talking about his violin and I am a naughty, naughty boy who needs to be chastised.
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: You ever had your violin played?
THAT's a rather personal question!
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: I heard that song last night and I was like O_o. That has to be one of the most bawdiest double entendres I've ever heard. And what made it great is the aura of absolute joy whatsername had on her face while she was singing it.
Then again, maybe she was just talking about his violin and I am a naughty, naughty boy who needs to be chastised.
Yeah, that and the spoken exchange between Adams and Jefferson during But Mr. Adams made me think, "They let us watch this in <insert name of extremely conservative Jewish high school here>?!?" But we didn't GET the violin song back then (heck, we went around singing it for weeks!), and the other is fairly chaste.
In any case, all the persons involved were married. To each other. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I saw it on a 6th grade field trip (in 1976).
When Franklin says "That's all right John, they'll clean it up when they write the history books," the whole school howled.
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Every stage rendition I've seen very much plays up the double entendres as intentional. Lots of thrusting of walking sticks and such.
Don't go too far out of your way to see the movie's version of "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men." While it's a good song and a good scene in the show, the movie's staging of it was weird and, IMO, ineffective.
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: And what made it great is the aura of absolute joy whatsername had on her face while she was singing it.
"Whatsername" is Blythe Danner. Gwyneth Paltrow's mother. I like Gwyneth Paltrow, but her mother so outclasses her.
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