Thursday 4 March 2010

Revolution (1985)

So here it is - now you can enjoy the movie in its entirety. Filmed mainly in King's Lynn and Exmoor this lost a lot of money when it came out. Prompted the famous criticism 'What Revolution was this?'. I think it was an influence on Mann's 'Mohicans' - particularly the Indian scenes which were shot in Wales I think. Quite a starry cast. Mohawks were a London street gang of the 18th century - I don't think they existed in New York. Funny how Pacino is the only one with an American accent. I remember reading a piece, that I don't have anymore sadly, by the historical advisor about how he just went to G Gedney Godwin and bought one of each thing and then traced the manufacturers of the various items - many from the UK and then got multiples. I expect G Gedney Godwin were chuffed. Reading the Imdb it seems this film is gradually picking up some good responses. Maybe its time has come. I remember when everyone slagged off 'Barry Lyndon' and then Kubrick died and it became a 5 star unmissable classic.

3 comments:

  1. I think the only way that Revolution will be a 5 star classic is if they remake it. IMO they might have banked too much on Pacino drawing in ticket sales. Pacino has created some memorable roles over the years, but this one was/is a big flop. Some of the costuming is okay but imagine what could be done today with current special effects technology. One thing about period films is they get folks interested in learning more. ~Gary

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  2. The battle scene was certainly ahead of its time. The handheld camera did a fantastic job of making you feel like you were there. Sadly, the random percussion rifle was rather jarring, and the overly sentimental music drained a lot of feeling from the scene.
    If they had chosen to go with the narration of the son, rather than Pacino, I think it would've added a helluva lot of life to the film.

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  3. Here's a little "gee wiz" info. The young (at the time) actor that played the older version of Al Pacino's son in Revolution went on to play Sgt Johny Martin in the popular HBO series Band of Brothers. ~Gary

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