The DVD Report #9

There was a time not so long ago when holidays in America meant more than a day off from work. Now, aside from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, what holidays do Americans really celebrate? Certainly not the 4th of July (Independence Day), except as an excuse to watch fireworks displays or, in some cases, set off their own.

For those of us who are still so inclined, we can celebrate with TV specials, or better yet, curl up with an old movie on DVD from the days when the holiday was celebrated on screen.

For years, from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, TV stations across the country commemorated the day by playing Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) starring James Cagney in his great Oscar-winning performance.

The film, of course, is not about the 4th of July per se, but about the musical dynamo George M. Cohan who, as the song says, was born on the fourth of July. He was actually born on the 3rd, but why let a simple fact like that get in the way?

Cohan’s music has remained popular to this day, having been featured in the 1968 Broadway smash George M!, starring Joel Grey (Cabaret) as Cohan and the recent off-Broadway hit George M. Cohan Tonight!. “Give My Regards to Broadway” is sung in the 2006 Oscar nominee Little Miss Sunshine, “Harrigan” was featured in 2001’s L.I.E. and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” in 1998’s Primary Colors. But it is the Cagney film which remains the most popular exponent of Cohan and his songs, many of which stirred the troops in World War I as the film stirred the home front in the early days of Word War II. Warner Bros.’ The Special Edition DVD of this film has numerous extras including footage of the real Cohan and an in-depth analysis of Cagney’s career.

Yankee Doodle Dandy managed to hold onto its place on AFI’s current list of the 100 Greatest American Movies despite the fact that many higher-ranked films from the previous list have fallen off, yet another tribute to its staying power.

For a real look at the holiday and the meaning behind it, though, look no further than 1972’s 1776, a faithful rendering of the Tony Award-winning musical that doesn’t seem at all stage-bound. Directed by Peter H. Hunt, whose subsequent career has been largely on TV (Touched by an Angel, Baywatch), this was his only major film, but that fact should not detract from your enjoyment. Nor should the fact that film has a largely no-name cast, though William Daniels (TV’s St. Elsewhere, Boy Meets World) who plays John Adams, Howard Da Silva (The Lost Weekend, Mommie Dearest) who plays Benjamin Franklin, Ken Howard (TV’s The White Shadow, Crossing Jordan) who plays Thomas Jefferson, and Blythe Danner (Sylvia, The Last Kiss) who plays Mrs. Jefferson are all familiar faces.

The film is both literate and absorbing. Sherman Edwards’ entire score is done in the various musical styles of the day, yet nothing seems a bit old-fashioned. One quibble I had with the film when it first came out was that the conservatives’ minuet “Cool, Cool Considerate Men” was cut because then President Richard Millhouse Nixon objected to it. Sony’s Restored Director’s Cut puts it back in where it belongs. And like it was on stage, it is now a highlight of the film.

Another musical in which the 4th of July plays a prominent part is 1973’s Tom Sawyer, directed by Don Taylor (Damien: Omen II, The Island of Dr. Moreau) with a score by the Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, The Happiest Millionaire). Johnny Whitaker (The Biscuit Eater, Napoleon and Samantha) is Tom, Oscar winner Celeste Holm (Gentleman’s Agreement, All About Eve) is Aunt Polly, Warren Oates (Two-Lane Blacktop, The Hired Hand) is Muff, Jeff East (Huckleberry Finn, Superman) is Huck and future Oscar winner Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs, Contact) is Becky Thatcher. They’re all a delight as is the infectious score. Sadly, MGM decided to release the film on DVD in a rather dull-looking pan-and-scan version even though the film was released in widescreen on laserdisc. Perhaps Fox, which now releases MGM’s catalogue, will correct this egregious error.

If those three films aren’t enough to satisfy your need for music on the July 4, you can always watch1962’s The Music Man in which Robert Preston (S.O.B., Victor/Victoria) delightfully reprises his Tony Award-winning role as Professor Harold Hill and Oscar winner Shirley Jones (Oklahoma!, Elmer Gantry) essays the role of Marian the Librarian under the direction of Morton DaCosta (Auntie Mame). Future Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code) is Marian’s stuttering little brother, Winthrop and there are just enough fireworks to make you glad you decided to stay indoors.

If you’re in the mood for more serious fare, the film to turn to is 1989’s Born on the Fourth of July, for which Oliver Stone (Platoon, JFK) won his second Best Director Oscar and Tom Cruise (Jerry Maguire, Magnolia) picked up the first of his three acting nominations.

The story of war hero-turned-anti-war activist Ron Kovic was originally planned as a film in the late 1970s with Al Pacino as Kovic and William Friekdin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) set to direct, but the project fell through. Charlie Sheen, who had previously starred in Stone’s Platoon and Wall Street was Stone’s first choice for the role, but helping both Paul Newman in The Color of Money and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man win Oscars, Cruise went after the part with the ferocity of an actor ready to take home his own little golden man. He might have, too, if it hadn’t been for another actor who also excelled in a handicapped role, Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot.

Cruise is excellent throughout, going from naïve high school student to patriotic soldier to disillusioned paraplegic veteran. There is a scene near the end of the film that mirrors one in the first Oscar winner, Wings, made some 52 years earlier, but it isn’t a rip-off, it really happened to Kovic. The scene, which I won’t describe for those of you who haven’t seen both films, is equally memorable in both productions.

The holiday is celebrated in a lengthy sequence in 1939’s Young Mr. Lincoln during which Lincoln meets future wife Ann Todd for the first time at a parade and participates in a log-splitting contest. Later in the day a death occurs, leading to the murder trial that forms the crux of the film. As the future president, Henry Fonda (12 Angry Men, On Golden Pond) had his first great screen role, one of many in which he was directed by John Ford (My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache). The supporting cast includes Oscar winner Alice Brady (My Man Godfrey, In Old Chicago), Richard Cromwell (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Jezebel) and Ford perennial Ward Bond (The Quiet Man, The Searchers).

The Criterion Edition contains numerous extras including an in-depth 1992 BBC special on Ford’s early career presented by Lindsay Anderson (If…), interviews with Ford and Fonda conducted by Ford’s grandson and essays on Ford by the great Russian director, Sergei Eisenstein (Ivan the Terrible, Alexander Nevsky) and Lincoln by poet Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass).

An Independence Day celebration also figures prominently in 1953’s Shane, directed by George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant) and featuring mythic performances by Alan Ladd (This Gun for Hire, The Carpetbaggers), Jean Arthur (The Talk of the Town, The More the Merrier), Van Heflin (3:10 to Yuma, Airport), Brandon De Wilde (Hud, In Harm’s Way) and Oscar winner Jack Palance (Panic in the Streets, City Slickers). Ten-year-old De Wilde is introduced in the film, though his follow-up film, The Member of the Wedding, in which he recreates his Broadway role, was actually released earlier.

The DVD includes commentary by George Stevens Jr., but the transfer print looks a bit washed out. It could stand an upgrade.

Shane remains on AFI’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies while Stevens’ once more popular A Place in the Sun and Giant have fallen off.

A completely different approach to the holiday is taken in 1996’s Independence Day. This film, which combines the sci-fi and disaster genres, was directed by Roland Emmerich (Stargate, The Day After Tomorrow) and established Will Smith (Men in Black, The Pursuit of Happyness) as a top action star. Bill Pullman (Lost Highway, Igby Goes Down) is the President and Mary McDonnell (Dances With Wolves, Passion Fish) is his First Lady. It’s fairly mindless fun.

Of course, if you don’t want to sit at home and you don’t want to go out to see a fireworks display you can always go the movies and see Live Free or Die Hard which takes place over a 4th of July weekend.

Peter J. Patrick (July 3, 2007)