John Adams (HBO Miniseries)

Perhaps not as historically accurate as some would like, but I still thought they did an exceptional job of potraying both the events of the period and the lives of John and Abigail Adams.

HBO's special miniseries and projects have been the gold standard in quality television productions in the last decade. They have delivered many popular portrayals of American history, such as the notable mid-90s TV movie with Gary Sinise as Harry Truman, and the recent FDR bio "Warm Springs". The former work made use of David McCullough's excellent biography, and now comes "John Adams", following McCullough's book the same. The result is a quality production overall, though it is a bit slow in places.

Adams was a major player in the American Revolution, and his contribution is deservedly celebrated here, though his life presents some challenges to filmmakers; in particular, he was not really a presence in the field (so no big battle scenes or such moments of martial heroics), so the main drag comes after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when Adams is shuffled off to the Continent to impotently lobby for aid from Europe.

The basic outline of the story begins in Boston in 1774, when lawyer John Adams is recruited by the British to defend the soldiers under arrest for the famous Boston Massacre, when protestors were gunned down. The question is whether their captain gave the order to fire. This first episode plays out like a legal drama; in episode two, the scene shifts to Philadelphia, and we get a new rendition of the familiar scenes of the Declaration being argued-over and drafted, and meet figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Episode three, the weakest of the seven in my opinion, sees Adams in Frnace, doing little of consequence and bemoaning his separation from his beloved wife Abigail. Adams his little talent for diplomacy or the foreign French court, and he often finds himself getting in the way of the more skilled Franklin. Upon his return to the United States in the final episodes, he must deal with the maddeningly inconsequential role of the Vice President, the rivalry between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, his troubled presidency (with the focus being on the prospect of war with France), family squabbles (most of all his drunken failure of son, Charles), and, finally, his physical decline in retirement.

The title role is essayed by Pail Giamatti, who is a rather interesting choice for the main character in a 19th century drama; he is not the sort of heroic type one might expect. This is suited to the Adams of the story, who is, for all his positive qualities, frequently petty and short-sighted, given to bursts of anger. His wife Abigail is played by Laura Linney, who sometimes skirts too close to being a stereotypical Supportive Wife, but other times is accorded more in the way of emotion and personality variance (and Linney is a great actress). Other performances of note are Stephen Dillane as Jefferson and a drole Tom Wilson as Benjamin Franklin.

Given that the story pans from 1774 to 1826, the actors require extensive use of age makeup, and the stuff used here is very good. Giamatti, in particular, spends the last few episodes as an extremely believable elderly Adams. Being HBO, the series makes a point of giving as 'realistic' a setting as possible, rather than the spotless look of movies like "1776". Bad teeth abound as Adams grows older. The series begins and ends with two especially memorable moments of period gruesomeness: the first, a grisly tarring-and-feathering of a British loyalist, the second a wince-inducing depiction of a 19th century mastectomy.

There is a rather bizarre scene where Adams rants about historical inaccuracies in the depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which seems out of place, given that this miniseries takes liberties with history as the average production does (right down the Adams' rant itself, ironically, which he did not give). It's hard to know what to make of that moment.

Regardless, this is overall a very interesting piece of work.

John Adams is an honest and engaging exploration of an extra-ordinary, everyman with lots of flaws, foibles, and virtures. More than anything else, the movie touched me personally and provided an opportunity to examine my own life and how I might do better. Paul Giamati and Laura Liney made me believe they were John and Abigail Adams as real people, not historical figures. With the exception of David Morse, playing George Washington, I felt that I was seeing the real people behind the historical figures, contradictions and all. The quality of the sets, costumes, and re-enactors was very high. The only real criticism that I have is that I think the mini-series could have been shortened a bit. Some scenes just went on longer than necessary to make the point.

There are two main criticisms of the HBO miniseries based on David McCullough's biography of John Adams, and I don't understand either of them. The first is that the miniseries makes Adams less admirable than he was in the book. Frankly, that was my main criticism of the book--that McCullough tended to gloss over Adams' well-documented character flaws. To my mind the miniseries presents Adams pretty much as he must have been--vain, petty, quarrelsome, yet also strong, brilliant, courageous, and incorruptible. I find I love the man all the more for his flaws, because he overcame them so wonderfully to become a truly great man.

The second criticism is that Paul Giamatti is unconvincing as Adams--a slam that to me is totally unfounded. Who did they want as Adams--Harrison Ford? I think Giamatti was the perfect actor to play Adams, and his performance is as wonderful as I expected it to be. Laura Linney is equally superb as Abigail Adams--if both she and Giamatti don't take home Emmys this year, it will be a screaming injustice--and the entire cast is first-rate, including Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, David Morse as George Washington, Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin, and Sarah Polley, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kevin Trainor and Samuel Barnett as the Adams' children.

Everything about this miniseries seems absolutely right; this is the first drama I've seen about the American Revolution that to my mind captures the look and feel of 18th-century America. And I still can't get the soaring, touching theme music out of my head (two composers, Rob Lane and Joseph Vitarelli, are credited with the music). "John Adams" is an enthralling miniseries, one of the best in the history of the medium.

I enjoyed this miniseries so much that I just had to buy it. I have since shared it with the rest of my family, and the response is always the same: Amazing attention to detail, and captivating from start to finish. It pulls you back in time, and you can almost imagine yourself back when our country was struggling to free itself from the yoke of England's Monarchy. It was such a turbulent time to live, when the peoples' desire to be independent could have led to charges of treason against the Crown, and their deaths by hanging.

We are given insight to how the Congress was formed, and how it worked. The election of the President and Vice-President was quite interesting in how it was accomplished.... so much less complicated than what we have today! Politics in general hasn't changed much, though....

The producers have gone to great lengths to make the sets as close as possible to the actual places they are portraying. The actors have been transformed to what we today acccept as how these historical figures actually looked. If you want more detail, you can switch on the program that gives facts about the times, the people, the places, the customs, etc... as the movie plays. It is similar to what the miniseries "ROME" offered, and gives so much more information than from just watching the movie. There are also subtitles for those that need them.

The performances of Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Stephen Dillane, and the rest of the cast, are top notch. Without the chemistry they project on screen, it could have been just another mediocre historical movie. But they bring these historical figures to life, making them unforgettable!

I recommend this DVD set to anyone who loves history, or to anyone who wants to learn a little more of how our country was back in its infancy.
It is truly worth the price, which, I might add, Amazon.com beat every place else, hands down!