I could not decide while watching this movie if I was going to like it or if I was going to have to turn it off haha. I usually give movies at least 25 minutes to persuade me to keep watching it. I pushed stop on this one. It was not terrible, just not for me. I felt it dragged a little bit, and the time on the movie is over 2 hours so I thought I cannot sit and feel dragged through this movie for 2 hours haha. Oh well.

Somewhat amazingly, I just watched "1776" for the first time though I've known about it since basically it's inception. Oddly enough, I found it essentially unwatchable as a true musical, but very moving and extremely well done as a play. Many of the acting performances are truly outstanding, but only the great John Cullum can actually sing (of course he's a fine actor also). The version I saw on TCM also seemed extremely long. I will never see it on the stage, now.

When it was first released, the film was not a box office success. To be fair, though, the studio butchered the film after its debut -cutting more than 40 minutes, including one complete song and parts of several others. Based on the award-winning musical play, 1776 is one of the best-written musicals of all time. Watching the restored director's cut is an entirely different experience from what most people saw in their movie theater.The script humanizes and characterizes the founding fathers in a way never seen before, and seldom seen since. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from the letters and speeches of the characters (written before, during, and after the revolution). There are a few historical inaccuracies and embellishments, but the film by and large tells the true, and often unknown, story of how the Declaration of Independence came to be written.The score, by former history teacher and sometime-popular-songwriter Sherman Edwards is delightful. Contrary to some of the reviews posted here, there are several stand-out songs, including "Yours, Yours, Yours", "He Plays the Violin", and "Momma, Look Sharp". The score and orchestrations evoke the musical styles of the period, and provide a lot of the film's humor. 1776 holds an odd record in the theater world: the longest space of time between musical numbers (over 30 minutes). Some critics have suggested that the show should have been a straight play, rather than a musical, but the songs serve to lighten the mood and energize the storytelling, It would be a lesser show if they were -as evidenced by the very different audience reaction to the highly-edited release version where much of the music was cut. Sadly, the film's soundtrack album was horribly botched, with heavy reverb added to the mix, and has never been available on CD or in digital format. An expanded, remastered release is possible with the remaining sound elements, but not deemed commercial enough to warrant the expense.The cast is uniformly excellent, drawn almost entirely from the original and later Broadway and touring casts of the long-running hit. This is one of the very few times Hollywood allowed most of the principal cast of a Broadway show to preserve their performances on film. William Daniels owns the role of John Adams as few actors have ever owned a role. His scenes with Virginia Vestoff (Abigail Adams) are among the most beautiful and touching ever filmed. Howard DaSilva's Ben Franklin provides a great deal of common sense along with the comedy. He nearly wasn't allowed to do the film, but we are fortunate that he finally got to preserve his wonderful performance. (He had a mild heart attack during the Broadway previews and missed the opening night. Contractually, his understudy, Rex Everhart, got to record the original cast album, while DaSilva actually performed the role during the Broadway run.It is amazing that the film was ever made. 1776 was a virtually all-male musical (there are only two female roles) about history and politics, made at a time when traditional musical films were box-office poison. It had no big names, and no popular song hits. Jack L. Warner is often excoriated for cutting "Cool, Considerate Men", when really he should be lauded for preserving a classic American musical in what must be considered the most faithful film adaptation ever made.

It's easy to see why 1776 (1972) has attained and kept its cult following throughout the years. One of the last big Hollywood musicals, it is also among the best of that period.If you thought a musical about the creation of the Declaration of Independence would be sleep-inducing, then you would be wrong. The well-drawn characters, witty dialogue, and good humor will keep your interest throughout.Of course, there's also drama and romance. The film never lets you forget the consequences of war and the looming threat of the English. The signing of the Declaration at the end of the film is not pictured as a moment of total triumph; the bell tolling in the background and the music lend a gravity to the moment. In fact, there is a lot of poignancy in this otherwise delightful film: Martha Jefferson's song "He Plays the Violin" has lyrics which foreshadow her premature death by childbirth and "Mama Look Sharp," sung by a shell-shocked young soldier, is heartbreaking.The songs are mostly fantastic and catchy ("Till Then" is a little too sappy for me) and the performances are mesmerizing. How can one even pick a favorite? Howard Da Silva makes a funny Benjamin Franklin and I never failed to laugh when Ron Holgate's Richard Henry Lee showed up. But like most people, my favorite performance is that of William Daniels as John Adams. He was just perfect, literally perfect (or maybe, literal-Lee perfect... ha ha).There are a few things in this film which are not so perfect though: at two hours and forty-five minutes, it does drag sometimes. There are moments where the film goes 30-40 minutes without any musical numbers, which feels jarring. Overall though, this is a fine musical, well-produced and acted.