The story of the American Revolution against the British crown in 1776 was the subject of this 125-minute, $50 million epic that very few people wanted to watch.
Director Hugh Hudson placed his two central characters, Tom Dobb (Al Pacino) – the (supposedly) Scottish trapper – and Daisy McConnahay (Nastassja Kinski) – the young firebrand who abandons a comfortable home to join the rebels – against a constant background of collective action.
Hudson forever loses his principals in the noisy swirl of street protests, field hospitals, society parties and battle scenes.
There seem to be no more than ten shots in the whole film that contain less than three people, and the nearest thing to an intimate scene – an encounter between Tom and Daisy, three years into the war – has background action so busy it must consciously be intended to rob them of their privacy.
The result, sadly, is less a revolutionary fresco than a film that looks as though it has been shot by a second unit director: a series of big, big scenes, meticulously planned, fluently filmed, but lacking in focus – awe-inspiring but also somewhat numbing.
Tom Dobb
Al Pacino Sergeant Major Peasy
Donald Sutherland Daisy McConnahay
Nastassja Kinski Mrs McCannahay
Joan Plowright Mr McCannahay
Dave King Sergeant Jones
Steven Berkoff Corty
John Wells Liberty woman
Annie Lennox Ned Dobb
Dexter Fletcher Young Ned
Sid Owen Lord Hampton
Richard O’Brien Lord Darling
Paul Brooke Merle
Eric Milota Betsy
Felicity Dean Amy
Jo Anna Lee Cuffy
Cheryl Miller Israel Davis
Harry Ditson Bella Davis
Rebecca Calder Abby
Theresa Boden Ben
Cameron Johann Ahab
Danny Potts Sergeant Marley
William Marlowe Captain Lacy
Stefan Gryff General Washington
Frank Windsor Tonti
Skeeter Vaughan Honehwah
Larry Sellers Ongwata
Graham Greene Sergeant Malin
John Patrick Doctor Sloan
Malcolm Terris Clowski
Steve Kligerman Bill
Adrian Rawlins Captain Cray
Manning Redwood Carrie
Kate Hardie Roger Otis
Richard Hicks Marcel
Tristram Jellinek Pierre
Lex van Delden
