Band of Fathers
I’ve been squeezing an hour here and there to catch up on HBO’s “John Adams” miniseries. After tonight I’ll be only three (or four?) episodes behind.
The show has one flaw typical to most every historical drama: the historical figures always seem to work their most famous aphorisms into casual conversation. But you know what? It’s forced, but it if done well it works.
And that’s “John Adams” in a nutshell. It’s forced sometimes, but done well enough that you don’t care. Sometimes you even get swept away in the patriotic drama of it all.
Paul Giamatti might seem an unlikely choice to play John Adams, and he probably is. To me, William Daniels in the sillier-than-silly (but wonderfully so) “1776,” will always be Adams. But Giamatti really inhabits the role, even if he does seem too often too modest. But still: Kudos.
But the biggest kudos (do they come in sizes?) go to Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin. He never goes for the laugh, but always lets you see the good humor behind the spectacles.
If there’s a weak point, it’s Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson. Dillane does what he can with the part, but as written, the character lacks fire. I never found myself believing that this was the guy who penned the Declaration of Independence.
Finally, who would have picked David Morse to play George Washington? An unlikely, but inspired pick. HBO and HBO2 will be showing the miniseries near-endlessly, so set your TiVo if you already haven’t.
UPDATE: Almost forgot. Laura Linney as Abigail Adams? It’s the best thing she’s done since “Mystic River” and she absolutely blew me away in that movie.
Another little detail I enjoyed in this miniseries is that the character’s teeth get progressively darker in color the older they got. It always bothered me when watching historical pieces that the characters always had bright, shiny white teeth.
Oh you are so, so wrong about Dillane’s Jefferson, but you’re only a few episodes in, so that explains it. Ben Franklin set my teeth on edge. What a pompous ass. His casual cruelty to Adams was unforgiveable.
Joan,
I read Franklin’s “cruelty” as “nudges in the right direction.” But, as you said, I’m only a few episodes in. So I could very well be wrong about that.
I couldn’t agree more with you review. You’re dead on.
The thing I most enjoyed about the series is that it makes the assumption that the audience actually knows some American history. What a concept! For example, there are only casual references to the Boston tea party and it’s place in the timeline. Could you imagine if a major network tried to pull that off. The makeup people would go on strike because thay wouldn’t be allowed to dress-up the colonists as indians. They’d probably treat the whole story like a high school history class and totally lose the characters.
I especially like honest characters (in the earlier episodes) such as how Sam Adams is portrayed as somewhat of an SOB.
It’s a good 4 out of 5 star series.
I got the impression from the book that McCullough didn’t like Jefferson and I don’t blame him……..
It seemed to me McC’s dislike oozed from the pages…..
I didn’t like the character either, he sounded to me like he had an Irish or Scottish accent….
That I cannot believe……
I HOPE that HBO or another channel puts 1776 on film………….
No doubt about it — Sam Adams was an SOB. A very *American* SOB. He wanted his revolution and he got it, no matter how much rabble he had to rouse.
I caught the last two episodes the other night when i was visiting my mother’s. I largely agree with VP’s review. I only saw one scene each with Jefferson and Washington and came to the same conclusions.
1776 has been available on DVD for some time, and it includes scenes that were originally cut at the behest of Richard Nixon.
RPD: “1776 has been available on DVD for some time, and it includes scenes that were originally cut at the behest of Richard Nixon.”
Now THAT’s creepy…
Outstanding series. Have seen the first four parts, waiting to get the last three. I liked the interaction between Paul Giamatti (Adams) and Laura Linney (his Mrs) there appears to be an honest chemistry there, and it works. Tom Wilkinson as Franklin is spot on, just the proper mix of politician, diplomat, and revolutionary gadfly. I have mixed emotions about Stephen Dillane’s Jefferson. He seems to come across as almost petulant as the Declaration is being dissected by Franklin and Jefferson, but appears to come into his own a bit more when interacting with Mrs Adams, later in the series. Still, I would have thought him a bit more extroverted then he seems to have come across. David Morse as George Washington was an inspirational choice. The more I see him in the series, the better I like him as such. He does seem to be almost a bit “cartoonish” at the start, but as his character fleshes out, it positively glows.
I don’t know what inspired HBO to produce and present this series, wither it was a case of “a blind pig finding the accidental acorn”, or someone actually giving a positive nod in the general direction of (good) historical drama, but whatever the case, it works!!
This should be required viewing for every history/civics (do they still have these) /social science class across the country.
Better giamatti than Billy Crystal who voices Adams in a “cartoon” called “Liberty Kids”. My boys love that series, which is suprisingly good, considering all the flaming libs involved…
The series “Rome” was pretty damn awesome, until they ran out of money late in the second season. But I disagree with you on the aphorisms; I was on the lookout for how the series would handle “et tu Brute” and the other various Shakespearisms (actually, Plutarchisms) and the way they did it was nothing short of inspired.
… I mean, on principle, finding creative ways to use the old cliches would be good. If the Adams series was just trying to touch bases then yeah, that could be clumsy and distracting.