April Morning

1988 "One Day in History... One Shot... Heard 'round the World."
6.4| 1h40m| en| More Info
Released: 24 April 1988 Released
Producted By: Samuel Goldwyn Company
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A teenager grows up during the onset of the American revolution.

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Samuel Goldwyn Company

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Reviews

Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Staci Frederick Blistering performances.
OllieSuave-007 This is a made-for-TV movie adaptation of Howard Fast's novel "April Morning," one of the few assigned novels I enjoyed reading in school - a story about Adam and Moses Cooper and their involvement in the battle that initiated the American war for independence.From what I remembered in this film, the teleplay does follow the novel pretty well and it is a fascinating movie that I thought included some decent acting, interesting history overview of the American Revolution, some exciting action and suspenseful elements. Just the part where Adam Cooper (Chad Lowe) attempt to conquer his fear and fight alongside his fellow soldiers in battle is intriguing to watch.The setting, make-up and costumes used in the film represented that period in time very well. Though a movie based on war, there is an absence of gore and graphic scenes, which makes it suitable for a larger audience including children. In addition, Director Delbert Mann took great care in making the movie interesting minus all the excessive gore and violence and, instead, relied on the substance, history, drama and character impact.Overall, this is one of the few war movies I could remember that I've found suitable and enjoyable for the entire audience.Grade B
ma-cortes This TV film is based correctly on historical events developed in April 19,1775 , beginning hostilities for a shot was fired and starting the American Revolution, skirmishes among the British troops and the colonial militia were in Lexington and Concorde(Massachusetts); the deeds are the following : The first battle of the American War of Independence was in Lexington,northwest of Boston.Anticipating a rebellion ,The British general Thomas Gage sent 800 troops to seize stores at Concord and arrest John Hancock and John Adams ,two prominent American rebels.The rebellious were warned by Paul Revere(Vlasta Vrana).An advance party under Major Pitcairn encountered a party of about 50 Minutemen ,American rebel militia troops,on Lexington Common.They refused to disperse when ordered to do so,and Pitcairn ordered his troops to open fire. Eight Minutemen were killed and the remainder retired.Fervants patriots(Tommy Lee Jones,Chad Lowe and Robert Urich) against redcoats were led by Salomon Chandler(Rip Torn). The British party turned back for Concord and was later ambushed ;it was only saved by reinforcements sent out from Concord .The total losses in two actions were 73 British killed and 174 wounded,49 Americans killed and 39 wounded.The movie is a good adaptation upon the notorious historic events and based on a Howard Fast's(Spartacus) novel . The film is produced by Robert Halmi Jr from ¨Hallmark , Hall of fame¨ TV , which has produced several films and series about historical happenings and known personages , as : Cleopatra, Odyssea(Ulises), Hercules , Jason and the Argonauts, Joan of Arc, Lion in Winter( Henry II and Leonor Aquitania), Prince and pauper( Henry VIII and Edward VI ), among others . The movie is well directed by Delbert Mann (Marty). The flick will appeal to American history buffs.
vchimpanzee On April 18, 1775, along a Massachusetts road, Solomon Chandler is secretly delivering shot and gunpowder to colonists who want to stand up to the British. He is captured and beaten by Redcoats.The people of Lexington are divided on how exactly to handle the situation, but if the British are coming, they want to be ready. 15-year-old Adam, whose father does not respect him, wants to join the militia. Amazingly, Adam's father does not try to stop him. His mother fears Adam will be killed if the circumstances lead to gunfire.Eventually, the people are warned that, in fact, "The British are coming!" (This exact quote is not in the movie.) The men have to be ready for anything. Those who know history have some idea what will happen next.Tommy Lee Jones did a great job as Moses, though he was somewhat more low-key than Agent K or Samuel Gerard. The fact that he came across so differently than those more outspoken characters proves he has acting skill.Rip Torn gave the standout performance here as Solomon. Most of the other actors playing Americans also did a good job. I couldn't help but feel the British were portrayed as buffoons, but this was nothing like "Hogan's Heroes".I thought a little too much time was devoted to the relationship between Adam and Ruth. I did like Ruth, though.What is important here is that this movie makes the American Revolution personal. Regardless of how much a man wants to be free, can he actually shoot and kill another human being? What if that other human being wants to kill him? Was all the killing really necessary, or could the situation have been handled better? The face-off in Lexington that April morning was an impressive thing to watch. Perhaps no one had to die that day, but we all know that would have been unlikely. I won't say exactly what did happen there, but before the movie was over, at least one major character lay dead on the field of battle.I would recommend this movie for high school or even junior high school history classes. The violence was not that explicit, and it was necessary to the story.
George Parker "April Morning" tells of the skirmish between colonial militia and the English army at Lexington, MA which is regarded as the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. The film is a melodramatic made-for-tv drama which spends more time with fictional accounts of the April 19th battle than it does with matters of history and warfare. Obviously conceived to be palatable for prime time viewing and sell commercial products, this film is a poor American history lesson. Nonetheless, poor may be better than none at all.

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