John Adams (DVD, 2008, 3-Disc Set)

If anyone missed this fabulous miniseries on HBO, I encourage you to buy it. This is certainly an example of what television could be if it had a brain and could think in ideas of more than 2 syllables.

There are many films and shows about the beginnings of our separation from Britain. Some are excellent, some only so-so, some downright awful and full of errors, some so badly worked over they are hardly recognizable. That is not the case with this piece of work.

Based on the book by David McCullough (who has a command of language and sense of history that is unmatched) this is not simply a story of our second President; but a real narrative of birth of the United States of America. The pain, mistrust, the divisions among the colonies, the doubts of those who set the fire and lit our way to Freedom.

Farmer John Adams, his beloved wife, friend and companion Abigail are brilliantly brought to life by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. They are depicted as human beings, subject to all the problems, arguments, differences of opinion and longing that we all feel. This love relationship suffered much. Adams' separation from wife and children led to disfunctional children and a relationship sometimes filled with doubt and sadness. Following Adams through his lifetime, his flaws appear regularly - and sometimes he is a most unlikeable fellow. But, his quest for freedom from Britain burns like a warm fire on a cold night..... The scene of his formal encounter with King George of England rates right up there with some of the best 15 minutes of film anywhere, anytime.

Benjamin Franklin is knocked off his pedestal. This man was truly a genius and the whole fight for Independence would have taken a different track were it not for him. He was, however, a raconteur who's love for and fascination with the ladies was astonishing.

Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton, General Washington (amazingly performed by David Morse) and all the characters involved in our Independence are in this wonderful film. Not all of them are likeable all the time.

Cinematography is unsurpassed. Sets, wardrobe, lighting - all take you there, on the spot, and makes you believe.

I absolutely loved the John Adams mini-series and have watched it twice since purchasing it 1 1/2 mo. ago. With the exception of John Adams, I loved the casting, Abigail especially. No part has ever, ever been played better than this one by Laura Linney. John Adams: while the acting was good, I'm not convinced he was acting like John Adams and felt they could have selected better. However, I so much appreciated him being portrayed warts and all. In a world of people casting aspersions on John Adams, he was his own worst enemy. While recognizing that he was obnoxious, he continued to be so. While intellectually superior to most of the educated world, he was socially and emotionally inept and seemingly unable to either recognize the need to/or maintain a relationship except with Abigail (who apparently saw him at a deeper level) and to a lesser degree, Thomas Jefferson. I'm in the habit of being able to see the actors in persons playing the lead roles and it took until the second viewing to accustom myself to the man playing Adams. It should be noted that I'm in the minority on this one as Paul Giamatti won Best Actor in the Emmy's for that role. The makeup was wonderful! Skin tones were shown to be varied, as they are. You can see freckles and red spots. Abigail, who we often saw in close-ups, is all the more beautiful for it. Just the fact that noses and cheeks were red from the cold was a big extra. The man cast as Sam Adams had a mouth that pulled straight up on top. Did he look like that? Don't know, but he could have. The point being, the character was an American hero we were predisposed to like but not played by a Hollywood handsome. The little twit from South Carolina, hard to imagine someone that arrogant with so little reason and you saw both in the movie. Gen. Washington is such a huge name in our history yet he's seldom the subject of historical entertainment(?). He was portrayed as an enigma yet believably so. There weren't enough dates posted. I'm fairly familiar with history but got lost in time. How long was J A in Paris and Holland? How long were he and Abigail in England? I had to think about the kids' ages, remember how old Quincy was when he went to Russia, etc.; that was confusing. It could be that no one else would care about that but I did. I ended up respecting Adams' contributions to the beginning of our country but know it would have been difficult to have served on a committee with him. He carried the burden of never being wrong. I had been predisposed to liking Abigail for her famous note to John about not forgetting the women. Because of the movie, I saw the tremendous humanizing and level-headed influence she had on the man who was the second president of the United States, but first, one of the foundation blocks of the beginning of our country and I admired her all the more for it. Finally, I fell in love again with Thomas Jefferson, that man of few spoken words. I had started David McCullough's book prior to my sister recommending the movie. I now have to finish it to see how the movie compares. I highly recommend purchasing it, for it's high entertainment value and all the historical education that you'll end up enjoying.

Overall, this was very well done with amazing attention to detail in scenery, lifestyle, actual history & founder's quotes spoken by the actors. There is occasional artistic license from hollywood, but the ideals of liberty and the basic history of the founders are strongly represented. The only things that were mysteriously kept out of this hollywood creation is the massive amount of documented religious speech and activity among the founders and early congress. (Did you know that after independence was won, congress actually had bibles printed for use in schools?! Not in the movie.) All religious quotes and influence on our constitution was left out as well, but many important facts are in the production and more was added with a "facts are stubborn things" option that lets you see more of the historical reference info on the bottom of the screen as you watch. There is much more to the story than even a 7 part series such as this can include, but you will get a good sense of the founders sacrifice, risk, knowledge and character from it. You can learn more if this inspires you to read non revisionist versions of history in books, documents and websites. Obviously, most of the attention is given to the story and ideology of the Adams' with less insight into what the others were experiencing at pivotal points in the history of the Revolution. I was really hoping to see more vivid attention given to the struggles and hardships that Washington & the continental army were experiencing during the war as well, but the production is called "John Adams" and the Washington story is really too enormous to present in a few minutes! I thought that the acting was very impressive. The method of filming was great too. It's as if you were standing there, witnessing the events as they took place and you really get a sense of life without the luxuries we have today.

With all of the attention to detail in most aspects, I was surprised to hear Ben Franklin say that an original line in the Declaration of Independence "Smacks" of the pulpit! I've never seen that terminology used by our founders and there is actual, historical dispute as to whether Franklin or Jefferson himself changed that line from the draft to the final version, which is in Jefferson's writing. The film has no mention of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence line condemning the king's introduction of slavery to the colonies (later voted out by 2 colonies)before unanimous signatures were gained, although it does hint at the dispute. It's amazing to look back on this time in our history with amazement and gratitude for the sacrifices that were made for that and future generations. It's nice to see it given strong attention. It really wasn't that long ago that our country's freedom was fought for and won through a war that lasted 8 years. Tom Hanks has stepped up again to put the spotlight on those who have honorably defended freedom. He did a very impressive job. Very real. I'll be keeping this. You won't see it as an ebay auction from ME!

It made me explore this time period even more! Search ebay for "The American Heritage Series". I've seen some of the series on youtube and it's loaded with documented info. I've also read these books (available on ebay) .. The Real George Washington by Jay A. Parry, The Real Thomas Jefferson (American Classic Series)by Allison, Maxfield, Cook, Skousen, The 5000 year Leap by Skousen.... The John Adams DVD made me a history buff! I recommend it.

For those of you who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you will like. As for me... I was drawn to JOHN ADAMS in hopes of learning something new and something true about the man and his ideas and his times. Instead, we are offered a historical love story stripped of much of its history and context. HBO took David McCulloch's excellent historical biography of America's second president and created a mini-series that is 90% John & Abigail and only 10% American History. John and Abigail were colonial farmers & rustic philosophers partly responsible for a radical new experiment in self-government. But HBO tries not to hold any of that against them. Instead, the filmmakers chose to concentrate on their REALTIONSHIP. As a vehicle meant to dramatize ideas and history, JOHN ADAMS is sadly lacking. The lavish costumes, manners and incidental details are there. Its just that there is no there, there (to paraphrase Gertrude Stein). No context, nothing -- or virtually nothing on which to hang the rudimentary "facts" we think we know about the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers. Confined to Adams' viewpoint, the film stumbles badly. Its like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Momentous events unfold far away, off screen or not at all. Domestic events occur almost in real-time and always in excruciating detail. See JOHN ADAMS for the performances, (uniformly excellent); for the CGI wizardry (amazing) and for the costumes and make-up (accurate). Then read McCullough's book for the real history and ideas. That is probably the point anyway: synergistic marketing, they call it. I just call it history without history.

We bought the DVD of the miniseries for my mother-in-law's birthday. She had read and loved the book and now loves the series. I saw the miniseries first and am now reading the book, with Paul Giamatti's voice in my head whenever I read Adams's words. The series immerses you in the feel and look of the times, and you come to realize how amazing it was that these people had the courage, insight, and determination to create a new country in the face of opposition from what was then the greatest power in the world.

I was never a fan of history in high school, but if the classes had been as interesting as this, I'd've paid much closer attention. As it is, movies and books such as John Adams now fascinate me.

The performances are consistently excellent. Benjamin Franklin comes off as the clever, charming gentleman you'd expect from his writings. Thomas Jefferson is the clever, creative genius whose friendship with Adams waxes, wanes and waxes over their lifetimes. The contrast between George Washington's (David Morse) quiet dignity and John Adams's feistiness is striking, and Laura Linney is simply marvelous as Abigail, the wife who truly completed Adams.

The series moves at a slower, low-key pace during the second half, as the revolution has ended and the story lacks the excitement of battles and danger; but this is a plus, as we get to see the arc of a life played out as it actually occurred (in all likelihood), and the nuances of the performances carry us through the quieter passages.

Along with Saving Private Ryan, this is a film that you should watch as much to see what our forefathers had to face as to be entertained. I think I'll borrow my mother-in-law's copy to watch again when I finish the book!