The world, for all intents and purposes, is a cesspool, and it always has been. However, occasionally history produces groups or individuals that manage to raise their eyes above the drudgery of the everyday, and realize that the status-quo does not have to be so. Besides the well-known figures that recorded history has burned into the popular mindset, there are those - let’s call them little guys, for lack of a better descriptor - who worked from the sidelines - unheralded but just as essential to the progress of history. A fictional account of individuals like this, Disney’s 1957 film Johnny Tremain, serves as a good reminder of the kind of spirit that the United States of America may need now - today more than ever.
Based on the 1944 young-adult novel by Esther Forbes, the film dramatizes the beginnings of the American revolution as seen through the eyes of a young silversmith’s apprentice. The title role is played by 17-year old Hal Stalmaster, a talented young would-be star who, I was shocked to learn, only has six acting credits to his name. While not the best teenage actor I’ve seen, Stalmaster has that indefinable element of charisma that makes one instantly believe him in the role of the reluctant young patriot. Johnny is an interesting character, not so much for his transformation from business-minded bystander to a rebellious Son of Liberty, but for the fact that he comes across as such a likeable protagonist despite his rather passive role in the film. That’s not to say he isn’t involved in the story - far from it, as Johnny is the one that signals to his fellow dissenters to proceed with the planned “Boston Tea Party,” before joining in himself. Yet Johnny’s primary role in the story is to serve as a “fly on the wall” for the audience, a cypher in which to witness the events leading up to the revolutionary war. It’s a tried and true device with which to pull audiences (and children) into historical reenactments, focusing the narrative from a relatable, “common person” point-of-view.
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| Hmmm ... that barista spelled my name wrong! |
The rest of the tri-cornered hatted supporting cast all do a bang-up job of invoking the spirit of the time period (in spite of a few decidedly Californian accents.) It’s somewhat jarring to see Luana Patten (playing Priscilla Lapham, the granddaughter of Johnny's master,) familiar from prior appearances in Disney’s Song Of The South, Fun And Fancy Free and So Dear To My Heart, suddenly go from “cute little girl” in those prior films to a 19-year old love interest here. Patten and Stalmaster share a fun chemistry, treating each other more like annoyed siblings until war breaks out. Also startling was the post-film realization that Johnny’s fired-up freedom-fighter friend, Rab Silsbee (who dies in battle in the original book, but makes it to the end of the film version unscathed - YE OLDE SPOILERS,) is played by a very young Richard Beymer - later of West Side Story and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
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| Youth looking for hope... |
The famed Sons of Liberty are played by a roster of character actors, including a dedicated Jeff York as James Otis, who passionately delivers the story’s well-known soliloquy that the patriots “will give all we have . . . even life itself - only that a man can stand." Surprisingly, the British are portrayed in a fairly sympathetic manner, with the honorable Major Pitcairn (played by Geoffrey Toone) noting, somewhat unbelievably, “we have been vanquished by an idea - human rights.” I’m more partial, however, to an exclamation by a befuddled redcoat earlier in the film, heard to exclaim “the impudence of these gawking Yankee doodles!”
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| Bloody yanks! |
Early in the film, Johnny’s hand becomes deformed during a smelting accident - an accident which came as a result of several pig-headed choices by everyone other than poor Johnny. First off, the despicable businessman Jonathan Lyte (played by Sebastian Cabot - we’ll get to him momentarily) brings in a broken cup, wishing it to be repaired more quickly than Johnny’s past-his-prime master, Mr. Lapham (always curmudgeon Will Wright,) can manage. Needing the money (and over a barrel, as Lyte is their landlord,) they accept the job. Johnny, determined to get the job done right, wishes to work on the cup after shop-hours, but Lapham demands that he read the Bible instead, preaching humility above pride (the hypocritical old zealot.) In order to get the job done, Johnny skips church on Sunday to work on the cup, aided by Priscilla and her mother (Virginia Christine.) Panicking when the town constable is spotted at the end of the street (as it was apparently against the law to skip church - this being the “religious freedom” the pilgrims sought in the new world,) Mrs. Lapham knocks over the mold full of molten silver onto Johnny’s hand. The burn is so severe, that it fuses his fingers together. No longer able to continue his apprenticeship (and despite the fact that he is a bright, hard-working young man who's able to read,) no one in town will hire him on due to his small handicap; in other words, what the world would still be like today if American industry was free of regulation.
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| They should call this movie "Johnny Deformed." |
The aforementioned Mr. Lyte, haughtily played by Disney favorite Cabot, is truly a despicable asshole - the very definition of a fat-cat. A brief subplot involves Johnny revealing to the businessman that they are distantly related, presenting a Lyte family heirloom (given to him by his mother) as proof. Lyte, in return, has the youth arrested for robbery, and at the following trial (in which Johnny is defended by Josiah Quincy, a compatriot of fellow-silversmith Paul Revere; the Sons of Liberty believing in free legal counsel,) demands that Johnny be hanged for his alleged crime. Johnny is only let off because the level-headed judge believes Priscilla’s testimony that he had confessed his secret lineage to her prior to the date of the supposed burglary. A bloated, quick-to-anger toddler in adult’s clothing, Lyte feels that his word as a winning and wealthy businessman should be justification enough for his despicable behavior.
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| At least he's not orange... |
As a red-blooded American (whatever the hell that means,) watching the film unfold I couldn’t help but feel a bit of the old “Spirit of ‘76” bubble up from some spot in my gut I’ve tried my best to smother. Understanding that Johnny Tremain is a family film made in the unenlightened 1950s by a big company headed by a staunch anti-communist, I still had the overarching feeling that a story like this - focusing on the patriotic spirit of the events portrayed (rather than the absolute historical fact) - may be what’s needed today. I hold no pretentions that this (or any) movie accurately portrays history as it happened, since the past is just as complicated and miserable as the present - and I don’t think anyone should depend on movies (or theme park shows,) be they from Disney or anyone else, to learn about history. Instead, they should be seen as a means to inspire those interested into seeking out further readings from which to glean a better understanding of history.
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| A 6pm ADR just opened up at the Liberty Tree Tavern! |
While the high-minded founding fathers portrayed in the film were no doubt as biased and bigoted in reality as posterity has documented, it is the spirit of their words that has been echoing across the centuries. Those rebellious individuals, who were unafraid to stand up to an out-of-touch group of too-rich and too-powerful tyrants, declared their independence by proclaiming that “We (a collective pronoun) hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (perhaps originally indicating male landowners, but expanded to be inclusive of everyone in the following years - a fact that's clear to anyone with half a brain) are created equal…” And remember, these statements were not followed by an asterisk, or some footnote that said “except Women, Homosexuals, Transgendered, Blacks, Mexicans, the poor, the uninsured, news reporters, or anyone who pisses off the current leadership.” While the words as written by the founding fathers unfortunately weren't initially all-inclusive, the sentiments and spirit are what must be taken to heart and put to practice now, providing us guiding lights that glow as hopefully as the lanterns hung upon the Liberty Tree did back in the 1700s; a glow that should shine much brighter than the dim light of a cell phone screen displaying the reprehensible ramblings of an entitled coward spewed onto social media.
So my apologies if I’ve offended anyone from my soap-box - but it is my blog, after all - so I can say whatever the hell I want. I can thank the First Amendment (and some long-dead but long-remembered patriots in tri-cornered hats) for that.
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