Product Details

• Actors: Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski, Joan Plowright, Dave King
• Directors: Hugh Hudson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 1, 1999
• Run Time: 126 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790741970
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,889 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This big and sometimes messy movie achieves the seemingly impossible: it demythologizes the American Revolution and lets us see it in a completely new light. Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) has directed a starkly beautiful, powerfully visceral portrait of war from the point of view of the little people who are swept along in its wake. Al Pacino is Tom Dobb, a poor, illiterate trapper bringing up a young son when rebellion breaks out in New York. Dobb's small boat is requisitioned for the war effort, and he and his son become reluctant conscripts. It takes six months and some truly vile treatment by the British before the conflict becomes personal for Dobb and he makes the American cause his own. The Dobb family's tale intersects that of British Sergeant Major Peasy (a formidable Donald Sutherland) and his own son. As the tide of the war turns, the enemies' fortunes are reversed. Tom's love interest, Daisy McConnahay (Nastassja Kinski), is a fiery beauty who breaks from her family of wealthy Tories (British sympathizers) to fight for freedom. Kinski is wonderful as a living Lady Liberty, and Pacino has some extraordinary moments of raw emotion as Dobb. The film's highlights include authentic, grisly re-creations of famous Revolutionary War battles, including Yorktown and Valley Forge. This movie will draw you in, gradually but inexorably, as it creates its convincing and compelling world. --Laura Mirsky

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most unjustly maligned films of all time., August 10, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

The makers of Revolution made a few mistakes along the way, but those have been dwelt upon at length and are sufficiently summarized in the comments of other reviewers. What this movie did right was to show a fast-paced chronology of the American Revolution through the eyes of ordinary individuals actually caught up in the torrid flow of events. As a history major, I loved the details that they where able to throw into the two hours of viewing while also establishing characters that you could actually care about. It is a dificult task to please everyone when you put forth a work of historical fiction and the fact that they were able to trace much of the war while also telling an original story that crossed through events is worth praise. Casting Pacino as a Scottish trapper may not have been the best choice, but regardless, as a Pacino fan I still feel that this is one of his most emotionally satisfying roles and I think it's a shame he was so badly lashed for venturing out into new territory as an actor. I would highly recomend this movie to any history lover or any Al Pacino fan. Once you get beyond his attempt at a Scottish accent Pacino is brilliant and gives a moving performance, including a closing speech that still gives me chills.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Effective and Entertaining Movie, October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This movie has consistantly been trashed by numerous professional and amateur reviewers alike. Even Leonard Maltin, my personal favorite movie guy, rated it a "BOMB". I can`t understand why. Although it isn`t a perfect film endeavor, it does tell a story that`s never been told before...but obviously in a manner that many found extremely annoying at best. Aside from New York and L.A. movie houses, I don`t believe this film was released nationally at any time. Personally, I thought it was a very different type of movie, but effective and entertaining in a strange way. It gave me a feel for the time period, including an appealing atmospheric identity. Being an ex-NewYorker and exposed to the famous Revolutionary battlefields, that still exist throughout the metro area, I felt an aura of actually being present in that time period, with events occuring on both surrealistic and realistic levels. Al Pacino is a born/raised New Yorker and I believe captured the essence of his character very well. Pacino gave a solid portrayal of an 18th. century individual caught up in a violent period of American history....and lets not forget, without the hindsight of knowledge and understanding a contemporary person has of those past events and occurances. This movie has been unfairly criticized and overly maligned in my humble opinion. A unique film deserving of more praise then it has been awarded. See it for yourself.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A better movie than most think, May 31, 2002

By	Adam Cole "adamjoncole" (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am surprised at the bad press this incredible film received. The suggestion that "The Patriot" was a more accurate reflection of the American Revolution is laughable - talk about pure Hollywood. "Revolution" far surpasses "The Patriot" in both its beauty, realism and emotional depth. This film didn't try to romanticize the war, or make it out to be exciting and noble. The film is stark and harsh. One can't watch it without thinking about just how horrific it could have been to live in those times.
I'm also confused by the arguments about Al Pacino's character being "Scottish." I've seen this film several times and I never had the impression that he was playing anything other than an uneducated man with a poor grasp of pronunciation. I can accept that he might have been speaking with an extremely watered down Irish accent (watered down by being away from the country of origin for many years perhaps), or even a point halfway between the typical North American accent and the English-Irish accent that the former was derived from - a sort of "Proto-American" accent. But what no-one seems to have noticed is that everybody else in the film also had this accent! (Unless you count the Tories and the English). I found Al Pacino's performance highly convincing, and if anything, I think it is some of his best work.
In short, if you want to see a good film about the War of Independence - a film that doesn't try to make it into a box office exercise (e.g, "The Patriot") - I could not recommend "Revolution" highly enough.