Taking Liberty (1993)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Stuart Gillard

Writers:

John Watson (story) &
Pen Densham (story) ...

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Independent Nell Prescott gets involved in intrigue and heroism during the American Revolution and meets Benjamin Franklin along the way. |

Plot Keywords:

Benjamin Franklin | American Revolution | British | War Of Independence | Independent Film

Cast

Barry Bell	...	Baron Von Wolfsburg
Jason Carter	...	Major John Simco
Eric Close
Shirley Anne Field
Jim Gloster
Ed Grady
Michael Harding		(as Mike Harding)
Shannon Kenny
Brad Moranz
Stephanie Morgenstern	...	Sarah
John Allen Nelson
Alan Sader
William Morgan Sheppard		(as W. Morgan Sheppard)
Lee Spencer
David Ogden Stiers	...	Benjamin Franklin
Sophie Ward	...	Nell Prescott
David Warner	...	Sir Leopold Linwood
Billy Leonard Williams

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

Company:

RHI Entertainment

Trivia:

Filmed as a TV pilot on location at "Old Salem" a living history museum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Salem was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1753.

Taking Liberty, Indeed!

"Taking Liberty" does just that -with military and political facts, social strata, clothing, food, drink, music, all the day-to-day minutia of 18th century Colonial life. Within the first three minutes of the opening credits, we are treated to the unbelievable sight of a Tory woman riding astride. Never mind that she's wearing petticoats, too: it just would not have been done, certainly not by a woman of her class. David Odgen Stiers may be well-cast as Benjamin Franklin, aka "Poor Richard", but the part as written reduces this incredibly significant and complex man to a cartoony caricature, one surrounded by gewgaws and experiments gone awry and prone to spouting pithy parables and folksy sayings masquerading as wisdom. Some of Franklin's words are, in fact, incorporated into the narrative to give some color and shading to the times. Points to the movie for that, but beyond that bit of grounding, this is purely made-for-TV tosh.

It's bad enough that we have become so ignorant of our own beginnings of a nation, the hard truths buried under bunting and masked by a mythology of our own making, but it hasn't become quite so awful as to let pseudo-history such as "Taking Liberty" stand in for the real deal. Alan Alda once said that making a movie about the American Revolution was an exercise in futility - and then he went and made a movie about making a movie about the American Revolution. "Sweet Liberty" took certain liberties of its own, but it does offer a glimpse as to why Rev War movies are difficult, to say the least. If you cannot take yourself seriously, then you must take yourself completely lightly. Instead, "Taking Liberty" wants us to take their zipped-up-the-back dresses and button-down-the-front shirts as seriously as it wants us to take a Benjamin Franklin played for laughs. Were it not for the ever-hammy, scenery-chewing David Warner as Sir Leopold, this turkey would be utterly unwatchable.

RevWar reenactor types, however, may LOVE this movie, as it is a non-stop gagfest of farby clothes, fabricated history and outrageously inappropriate and anachronistic conduct. Good for a laugh but not much else.