1985’s Revolution opens on July 4th, 1776.  The Declaration of Independence has just been published.  The streets are full of people celebrating.  A statue of King George is pulled down.  In her carriage, the wealthy Mrs. McConnahay (Joan Plowright) turns up her nose to the enthusiastic rebels, including the fanatical Liberty Woman (Annie Lennox).  Mrs. McConnahay’s daughter, Daisy (Nastassja Kinski) is intrigued by this idea of freedom and equality.

Fur trader Tom Dobbs sails his boat into Hudson Harbor.  Tom is Scottish, illiterate, and very much a man of the 18th Century.  However, he’s played by Al Pacino, who was none of those things.  After Revolution was released to desultory reviews, Pacino took four years off from the movies and watching this film, one can see why.  Pacino is miscast as Dobbs and, as a result, he gives the type of truly bad performance that can only be given by a great actor.  Unable to disguise the fact that he had the accent of a modern-day New Yorker, Pacino resorts to mumbling the majority of his lines.  Tasked with playing a character who has no idea how to deal with the history-making events in which he finds himself, Pacino alternates between a blank look and with bulging his eyes like a madman, proving that it’s far more difficult to play an uneducated character than an educated one.  Why cast Pacino, who can be one of our most exciting actors, as a character who can barely speak and who has neither the intensity of Michael Corleone or the subversive wit of Tony Montana?  Due to Pacino and Kinski having zero chemistry, the scenes where Tom falls in love with Daisy are almost painful to watch.

The film follows Tom as he and his son, Ned (Simon Owen when the film begins, Dexter Fletcher by the time the action moves to Valley Forge), as they find themselves conscripted into the Revolutionary Army.  Eventually, Ned is abducted into the British army and serves as a drummer boy under the sadistic watch of Sgt. Major Peasy (Donald Sutherland).  The idea behind the film isn’t a bad one.  It attempts to portray the American Revolution through the eyes of the average citizen.  Instead of focusing on the Founding Fathers, Revolution tries to tell the story of the everyday people who found themselves in the middle of the war.  Tom loses his boat and (temporarily) he loses his son.  Fortunately, this is one of those films where people are constantly running into each other by chance, regardless of whether it makes any sense or not.  Daisy goes from seeing Tom in New York to randomly coming across him in a field to eventually finding him in Valley Forge.  It’s not because she’s specifically looking for him.  Instead, he just happens to be there.

Why does Revolution fail?  A lot of it comes down to Pacino’s performance, though Pacino certainly isn’t the only talented actor to give a not-quite good performance in Revolution.  (Donald Sutherland has never been more wasted in a film.)  The script is full of dialogue like, “My mouth belongs where I place it.”  (Pacino gets stuck with that one.)  Hugh Hudson directs in a leaden manner.  Towards the end of the film, there is one brilliant sequence where Tom wanders through the streets of New York and, for a few minutes, the film comes to like with a spontaneity that was previously lacking.  Unfortunately, it’s just one sequence in a very long movie,

To be honest, we could use some good films about the American Revolution and I’m not talking about elitist nonsense like Hamilton.  No taxation without representation.  It’s still a good message for us all.

Previous Icarus Files:

1. Cloud Atlas
2. Maximum Overdrive
3. Glass
4. Captive State
5. Mother!
6. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
7. Last Days
8. Plan 9 From Outer Space
9. The Last Movie
10. 88
11. The Bonfire of the Vanities
12. Birdemic
13. Birdemic 2: The Resurrection 
14. Last Exit To Brooklyn
15. Glen or Glenda
16. The Assassination of Trotsky
17. Che!
18. Brewster McCloud
19. American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally
20. Tough Guys Don’t Dance
21. Reach Me