Customer Reviews

Sweet Liberty

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie made Alan Alda the patron saint of living historians and re-enactors of the American Revolution. It shows, quite clearly, how Hollywood distorts reality and factual information to create and sell what is simply a product like any other. The humor is subtle, the give-and-take in the dialog is quick and usually very witty. The bottom line of the film is that, to Hollywood, history means entertainment and if the facts have to be changed or embellished to make what they might consider to be a more entertaining product, then so be it. If you want to learn about history, watch the History Channel. If you want to be entertained by "history", watch "The Last of the Mohicans", "Braveheart", and "The Patriot". If you want to watch an entertaining, humorous version of how Hollywood treats history, watch and enjoy "Sweet Liberty".

I'm a Rev War reenactor, and this film hits the nail on the head when it comes to Hollywood vs History. In that sense it is very funny indeed, otherwise the story is a bit lame. However, having been around fanatics to whom every detail is of monumental importance as regards history, costuming etc., there are scenes in this film that make it all worth while.

If you plan to see Mel Gibson in "The Patriot", see this film first. According to my reenactor friends who worked in The Patriot, the similarities in what went on (and the final product)are remarkable!

Now repeat after me, "His hat is wrong!"

Alan Alda plays Michael a history teacher and author of the book "Sweet Liberty" which is meant to bring American history to a broader audience. Holllywood is now making a movie based on the novel shooting on the original scene of an important battlefield of the Independance War next to Michael's home town. But Michael's material is turned into a comedy completely ignoring the historical details. He ist told that to make a movie sell at the box office you need to show three things: rebellion, destruction of property and people taking their clothes off.

Michal tries to save his novel by trying to gain the confidence of the leading lady (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the leading man (Michael Caine) by a) making love to the former and b) practicing fencing with the latter. Embeded into the subplot of Michael's family affairs the story ends in a hillarious reenacting of the historical battle including Michael and the villagers acting as extras. And they give the Hollywood people what they asked for: rebellion, destruction of property and people taking their clothes off.

This movie is a must for everybody who likes Alan Alda. Unfortunately he is not often the leading man - but here we can enjoy his acting to extend. The fencing scenes with Michael Caine are simply wonderful!

Among my favorite films, my worn VHS copy of _Sweet Liberty_ is pulled off the shelf several times per year. I watch it when I need a gentle laugh and a reminder that even the best relationships can be flawed. Lillian Gish, Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bob Hoskins and Lise Hilboldt all give comfortable performances of real people - wacky, prideful, erudite, snobbish, emotionally retentive, self-absorbed, commitment-phobic, neurotic, philandering, Hollywood-esque, cruel, naive, loving and lovable. This is not an action film, but a pleasant 107 minutes of funny adult interaction. I hope a DVD version will be released.

This movie is a good kind of different from the start. We at first see Alan Alda fencing. When his opponent's mask comes off, lo and behold it is a female! Michael Caine as a conceited philanderer movie star is unforgettable, almost like in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but better. Lynn Thigpen from Godspell plays a small role. Lois Chiles from Moonraker plays Caine's married love interest. What they do on a roller coaster has never been tried before! And Mrs. Burgess, Alda's paranoid mother finds laughs in saying she won't eat any food until the poison in it is subdued with tv radiation. Again, this movie focuses on some of the untouched love angles, such as moving your mate's clothes into your apartment. The culture clash between California and North Carolina is something new too. SICK OF OLD REDONE MOVIES WITH DIFFERENT NAMES TRY Alda as Michael Burgess in SWEET LIBERTY!

First of all, I must tell you, Alan Alda is one of my favorites and I first remember watching this movie several times when it was running on cable in the 80's. That being said, as soon as I saw it on DVD, I got it. The movie totally worked and every actor complemented the film in their own way which made the film so endearing. Alda has proven once again that he CAN direct and create a film that can stand the test of time. My only criticism is not with the film but with the DVD format. IT would of been nice to have a theatrical trailer an some nice tit bits from the cast on the film but my main complaint is there are NO scene selections on the DVD. The thing is on a loop which has to play from beginning to end, then after the credits, it loops to the beginning of the film again. I never had that happen before on DVDs. That really cheapens a really good film like this. On the cover of the film it says Universal, with a name like that you would think your getting at least, the very minimum, a scene selection menu. Well anyway, I loved the film and I do recommend it for die-heart romantics and lovers of films that leave you with a great feeeling inside after the film is over. Also, the finale is a gas! So apropo with the American revolution!

Alan Alda will be forever sterotyped as Capt. Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H. This film, however is an excellent example of Alda's wide range of abilities. He writes, directs, and stars in this film. His character is a personifaction of the angst we all feel when we read a book and then go to the movie theater and find they've totally re-written the story. A fun movie to watch again and again.

Don't let the Marx Brothers-look of the SWEET LIBERTY poster (Writer/Director/Star Alan Alda with his pants off) fool you. SWEET LIBERTY's more endearing moments feature Alda, playing a history writer whose book is to be a motion picture, interacting with the Hollywood people he meets. Michelle Pfeiffer and the great Michael Caine shine as the actors; Bob Hoskins, as the screen writer, and Saul Rubinek, as the director, light up the screen as well. Extra credit to Alda for not writing his part as the total good guy; you will see what I mean when our small-town history buff tries to play a romantic lead.

If watching The Patriot made you want to pull the hair out of your powdered wig, you will roar with laughter and appreciation for Sweet Liberty.

Thanks to Alan Alda, now immensely popular with reinactors, you will see up close and personal just how Hollywood and its evil spawn view history. Believe me, its strictly a don't-let-history-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-story world, filled with contempt for the truth, and contempt for the audience.

At least we can have KARMA pay them back at the conclusion of Sweet Liberty, but we need more voices as eloquent and influential as Alan Alda to bring that payback into the real world.

I am a fan of most of the Alan Alda films, Sweet Liberty included. (A clue of this might be found in my sign-on name - "Hawkeye".)

Unfortunately, apparently this DVD is only the pan/scan version - modified to fit the soon-to-be-obsolete 3x4 TV screens.

My wait goes on for widescreen DVD's of some of the best of the ALAN ALDA films, including Sweet Liberty, A New Life, and especially The Seduction of Joe Tynan (my favorite of these three yet to be released)!

Come on studios - It's way past time to release these and many other classic (and still very popular) films of the 70's and 80's in WIDESCREEN!

Incidentally - I do not necessarily agree with all of Alan Alda's politics - but I find his expression of them to be sincere, honest, and intelligent. I do not agree with the reviewer that found a hidden guilt as the subconscious motive for Sweet Liberty. Yes, there were some "liberties" taken on M*A*S*H - however, I never found them to be insulting to the audience as would be the liberties taken in the movie-within-a-movie in Sweet Liberty. I believe that SL is more of a commentary on Hollywood's apparent inclination to twist facts to their own liking (and profit taking). M*A*S*H on the other hand, from what I have read and understand about the show, particularly after the first couple seasons, made a very real and concerted effort to research actual M*A*S*H units, interview patients and doctors, etc - in order to present the stories as authentically as possible. I may not have always agreed with the message, but I do not have any criticism for the way the message was delivered. This was not intended to be a review of M*A*S*H, but, since I consider it to be the best television show of all time, and a show which just gets better with time, and that got better with each subsequent season, I just wanted to reply to the reviewer that seemed to be criticising it.