While laid up this weekend I came across a movie on netflix about the men on Lexington Green and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of historical accuracy. While there are several glaring inaccuracies, the majority of the movie is pretty spot on. Its worth a watch if you have unforseen free time.
Its called "April Morning" and stars Rip Torn, and Tommy Lee Jones.
Disclaimer: It's from 1988 so you'll have to endure through some pretty bad acting when it comes to death scenes and a horribly sappy teenage love story.
Sounds good. I love '80s movies!
Queued. Thanks for the tip!
For those of us who don't have Netflix, this is available on Amazon too. I have not bought it yet because I was waiting for a review by an Appleseeder first. ;)
I read the book that (I assume) it's based on. Picked it up in the Battle Road visitor's center, actually. It was obviously aimed at the teenage market, probable for high school English classes. Not a bad demographic to wake up, when you get down to it.
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Will order from Netflix today ,thanx for the recomendation.
Bought the movie on reccommendation from one of our Shoot Bosses. It covers the basics on what a young man from Lexington would have experienced. It does not cover Concord. I do not recall any glaring historical errors. Some charactors are composites. I would probably give it 3 stars out of 4 for the history and 2 out of 4 for the presentation They had to weave in something of a love story, it was made for TV.
The movie "April Morning " does not show up on my version of netflix :wall:
Wolfhound- The issues i had with the movie centered mostly on the scene depicting Lexington Green and the deployment and actions of the Regulars. When compared to historical fact there is a couple things that stand out especially considering the government troops reaction and deployment towards the "defensive posture of the Lexington training band". Secondly the depiction of a radical hot-headed loner firing the first shot not only has no historical basis, but is also antethema to Appleseed's rendition that the "provincials" repeatedly only used deadly force in self defense up until the march on the North Bridge led by Davis and the men of Acton.
As a long time enthusiast and amateur scholar 18th century North America I understand that it is very likely that it will never be proven who fired the first shot. However despite Appleseed conjecture that it must have been a lobsterback considering the casualty tolls there is no solid proof of which side, or third party, fired the infamous "shot heard 'round the world". The movie puts it on an avowed citizen instigator and warmonger which, for my part, i find particularly distasteful and outlandish.
Johnnyappleseed- The movie was buried in my netflix queue. I only found it because I was terribly sick and very bored. It was in my "violent period" section. If you cannot find it try a general seach by name. If that still fails you I have confirmed for myself that it is indeed on amazon. I only promote this movie so because it is by far the best and most accurate rendition of the acts of the Lexington training band that I have ever seen. Personally 5th graders should be watching this instead of keeping up with the "twilight" soap opera but... I digress.