Revolution (1985)

Revolution (1985)
by Hugh Hudson

Revolution (1985)
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Product details

Actor: Al Pacino, Dave King, Donald Sutherland, Joan Plowright, Nastassja Kinski
Director: Hugh Hudson
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued
Running Time: 126 minutes
Release Date: 1999-06-01
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Revolution (1985)

Movie Review: I guess its a matter of tast
Summary: 5 Stars

I think its easily the best movie about the American Revolution. The A&E videos of TV pressentations of "The Crossing" and "Benedict Arnold" are also very good. While how good it is is a matter of opinion, anyone who thinks that Gibson's silly movie is better doesn't know much about American history. This movie has the feeling of the 1770s and the criticism of Pacino's and Kinsky's accents is amusing. The residents of the americas came from every corner of the earth and regional accents were numerous. Who knows how anyone sounded?

The real disappointment is that the available Portuguese region one dvd has very disappointing video quality. But at least it IS widescreen. But I am looking forward to a decent U.S. release. I suspect the dvd import is pirated.

But its great how controversial this movie is among those who care.

Movie Review: A real movie
Summary: 5 Stars

What if Michael Mann met George Washington? In contrast to the stale old celebrations of the mythology of the American Revolution, this is a tension, action and character filled portrayal of the most exciting time in America.

I wish HBO could do this quality of production over the same ten hours that they wasted on the John Adams series.

This story starts and ends in New York City, but the scenes of the battles and the sites of the Revolution, including Valley Forge and Yorktown, are stirring and patriotic, without being cheap and glorified high-mindedness.

The sound track is inspiring and the action is endless.

When you think of great chase movies such as the "Last of the Mohicans," "Heat," "Apocalypto" and "Raiders of the Lost Arc" you might not think of Revolution in that genre -- but it is -- and it is just as thrilling and even more if you are inspired by the Enlightenment and the American Revolution.

This is a truly patriotic movie. It makes you proud to be an American.

I think this may be one of Al Pacino's best roles. He fits the character very well and he gets to show all his grit and determination without over acting -- which happens in some of his films like Godfather III.

I am very enthusiastic about this movie. I think it is the best movie yet made about the American Revolution. It is the Mozart of the Revolution. I only wish we could see hours and hours of this kind of cinema and acting. It is a really inspired piece of movie making. Yet it goes well under the radar.

I hope the movie is shown in schools to inspire school kids, so they can have a chance to be like we used to, and get excited about "Guns Along the Mohawk." I find myself just sitting with the DVD and reviewing various scenes.

I recommend you buy this movie if you have any interest in the Revolution and the Enlightenment. It is a cannot miss enjoyment. If you miss anything, just rewind until you are happy and keep watching for a very complex and emotional retelling and recreation of the Spirit of '76.

You can count on me on this one.

Movie Review: Terrible
Summary: 2 Stars

Dis the Patriot if you like but it is ten times this film this rotten tomato could ever be. It had potential, it had actors, it had a "feel" of the times but plot, dialogue, character development or simple interest it had not. And what was with that goober on Donald Sutherland's face?However, there is one assault scene during the battle on Long Island that is the most accurate portrayal of British open field tactics I have ever seen. Hardly enough to save the film. Take a pass on this one.

Movie Review: The best yet...
Summary: 4 Stars

I guess you either love this movie or hate it. I loved it. I have a degree in history and I am combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan. This is best portrayal yet of the American Revolution. War is dark, dirty and complicated... so are the soldiers who experience it. The movie captures this, and Al Pacino nails the plight of the common foot soldier.
Yes, there are some fact errors, but none as glaring as the ones found in "The Patriot." How does anyone alive today have any knowledge of the accents used in 18th Century America? If you are that picky about details, you probably should stick to reading books. I also long for a perfect movie about the American Revolution. Until someone makes it, this movie works for me.


Movie Review: Haunting and real, a cinematic work of art
Summary: 5 Stars

I chose this film over Gibson's The Patriot for my son to view as part of his course on American history and literature, with no regrets.

The film has a Dickensian feel - narrow dirty alleys in New York and Philadelphia, rain and mud and overcast skies and rugged raw landscape out in the countryside, fires in nooks and crannies of the old cities in the night, characters on the British and American side coming and going until you are dizzy, the filth and grime and misery of war, the apparently hopeless cause gradually coalescing into something able to endure and transcend. Unlike The Crossing - which is also a fine film - Revolution centres on the ordinary people caught up in the war, not the officers and commanders. Nothing here about grand strategy or noble ideals, just the blood and pain and confusion and astonishment of birth. Impeccable acting and sets, this film made me feel dread and discomfort and discouragement as well as scraps of hope - having experienced a few mobs in my own life, and the edge of war, the mob scenes and battle scenes they staged in this film made me uneasy at the noise and chaos and random violence. I have a very great hunch the American Revolution would have looked this way to me if I had been caught up in it.

As Platoon captured the fear and confusion of war in Vietnam without a great overarching perspective, so too does Revolution, although that great overarching perspective of the ideals of American independence is not utterly buried and lost, there are important scenes and some significant dialogue that bring it to the fore throughout the film without turning the script into a July 4th celebration.

No Hollywood formula wrap here. And the theme Mel borrowed of a reluctant father fighting for his son started with this movie, not with his. The difference between Mel's film and Pacino's is that Pacino's really is a work of art, a piece of great cinema, and the story of a father and his son and the revolution in this film is far more credible and enduring and profound. It moves more slowly at times, yes, but the movement gathers such momentum and force that the imagination is far more powerfully impacted than would have been the case otherwise.

Revolution is for those who like great theatre and the acting and scripts that are part of that sort of entertainment and its flesh and blood and depth. Lots of heart and soul here. Five stars.

Summary of Revolution (1985)

This big and sometimes messy movie achieves the seemingly impossible: it demythologizes the American Revolution and lets us see it in a completely new light. Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) has directed a starkly beautiful, powerfully visceral portrait of war from the point of view of the little people who are swept along in its wake. Al Pacino is Tom Dobb, a poor, illiterate trapper bringing up a young son when rebellion breaks out in New York. Dobb's small boat is requisitioned for the war effort, and he and his son become reluctant conscripts. It takes six months and some truly vile treatment by the British before the conflict becomes personal for Dobb and he makes the American cause his own. The Dobb family's tale intersects that of British Sergeant Major Peasy (a formidable Donald Sutherland) and his own son. As the tide of the war turns, the enemies' fortunes are reversed. Tom's love interest, Daisy McConnahay (Nastassja Kinski), is a fiery beauty who breaks from her family of wealthy Tories (British sympathizers) to fight for freedom. Kinski is wonderful as a living Lady Liberty, and Pacino has some extraordinary moments of raw emotion as Dobb. The film's highlights include authentic, grisly re-creations of famous Revolutionary War battles, including Yorktown and Valley Forge. This movie will draw you in, gradually but inexorably, as it creates its convincing and compelling world. --Laura Mirsky

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