Any discussion of films and TV series about the American revolution has to start with a caveat. There have been historical movies for as long as there have been movies, but films and TV series about the great founding event of the US have been thin on the ground, certainly until the 21st century.
In 1917, an American director was even prosecuted for making Spirit of 76, a film about the revolution that criticised America’s new ally Great Britain. It wasn’t until 1985 that Hollywood tried a big budget retelling of the American revolution, with Revolution (1985).
Sadly the Al Pacino vehicle, while spectacular, had an incoherent storyline and was an unmistakable flop. It was another 15 years before Hollywood tried again with The Patriot (2000). The Patriot was more financially successful but arguably even less popular among the historical community (including myself).
Amid all these flops, however, a few gems emerged in a different medium – television. I’m a historian of the American revolution and these are my favourite ways the story has been told on TV.
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1. Turn: Washington’s Spies (2014-17)
This four season AMC TV series stars Jamie Bell as patriot spy Abraham Woodhull, who was a leading figure George Washinton’s successful spy network, the Culper Ring. The series was based on the book Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose (2006).
The series has 40 episodes, and each one is action packed. For me, it conjures up the secret war of the revolution brilliantly. The series explores some of the most intriguing characters of the war of independence, but most interesting for me was Ksenia Solo’s interpretation of Peggy Shippen, an American woman who spied for the British then married patriot hero Benedict Arnold and helped him defect to the British. This is a major plot line in the later seasons.
The series’ main villain was British officer John Graves Simcoe (Samuel Roukin), whose historical counterpart was a very different character to the one portrayed in the series. His memoir is one of the key primary sources for the British experience of the war of independence. I have been lucky enough to read Simcoe’s handwritten copy.
2. John Adams (2008)
This wonderful HBO miniseries stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams, the power couple of the American revolution. The series is based on the book John Adams by David McCullough (2001). Linney and Giamatti both won Emmy awards for the show and brilliantly portray their complex but likeable characters.
While John Adams is in the title, his wife Abigail has an equal role in the series. My favourite scene is where Abigail puts herself and her children in smallpox quarantine in revolutionary war Boston. This happened as shown and sheds light on the bizarre quarantine regime where people would sew small particles of smallpox spores into their skin and shut themselves away for at least two weeks in the hope of catching a lighter version of the disease but building immunity.
The series creates a great picture of two hugely influential figures in the American revolution and the history of the US. The couple arguably established many of the key features of the role of president and first lady. They wrote each other thousands of letters in their 54 year marriage but the most fascinating is Abigail’s letter to John on the eve of the Declaration of Independence (John played the key role in getting it passed by Congress). She urges John to “remember the ladies”. It is a hugely important early feminist document, which is now widely used as a teaching aid.
3. Franklin (2024)
This Apple TV+ miniseries is based on the book Dr Franklin Goes to France: How America Was Born in Monarchist Europe by Stacy Schiff (2005). It chronicles Benjamin Franklin’s attempts to get an alliance with France during the war of independence.
Directed by Tim Van Patten and featuring a strong performance by Michael Douglas in the titular role the series covers some of the same historical ground as John Adams. Both Adams (played by Eddie Marsan) and Franklin spent much of the revolutionary war in Europe attempting to secure alliances with the European powers.
This series is very entertaining and gives a warts and all picture of Franklin as a septuagenarian. For an account of the young Franklin, his autobiography is well worth a read and it also gives a great picture of life in colonial Pennsylvania.
4. Liberty! The American Revolution (1997)
If there was just one film or TV series that inspired me to study, write about and teach the American revolution, it was this six-part documentary. It reached me at exactly the right time – about a year before I began my final year undergraduate course on the American revolution.
The series contains contributions from some of the key historians of the American revolution, such as Pauline Maier, Gordon Wood and Bernard Bailyn. It also has readings of the words of participants on both sides of the American revolution by actors including a pre-fame Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The wide-ranging coverage spawned an excellent tie-in book.
While it did not neglect to show the diversity of the American revolution, more attention could have been paid the contributions of women, African Americans and Indigenous Americans. Historian Gary Nash’s book the Unknown American Revolution (2005) was one of key works in recognising this diversity. There have been other documentaries on the American revolution but it was this one which shaped the course of my career in history.
5. Hamilton (2021)
While technically a televised stage show (available to watch on Disney+), Hamilton is undoubtedly the most popular work of media with an American revolutionary theme. Drawing on Ron Chernow’s biography of the first US treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical tells the tale of it’s eponymous founding father with amazing energy and humour.
I have been intrigued by the musical’s anti-hero/villain Aaron Burr since reading Gore Vidal’s novel Burr (1973) as a teenager and Leslie Odom Jr. does a wonderful job at bringing across the conflicted third vice president. Jonathan Groff, meanwhile, nearly steals the whole film as George III, despite only appearing for a few minutes.
The film covers the years 1776 to 1804 without seeming to miss many momentous events. While the best way to see Hamilton is live, until there is a big-budget film adaptation this is only way to enjoy the show with the original Broadway cast. Historically, it takes some liberties – Hamilton was not as enlightened on slavery as the musical suggests for example – but it gives a wonderful impression of the revolutionary era.
Do you have a favourite television show about the American Revolution that didn’t make our list? Let us know in the comments below.
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Stuart Salmon is affiliated with Universities and Colleges Union (UCU).
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
