Not only do I recognize that historical fiction is fiction, and TV movies aren't Hollywood blockbusters, but I also quite liked Jakes's "North and South" series. Unfortunately, so much about "The Rebels" just lacks effort.
The narrator describes the Knox expedition setting out in November (across Massachusetts / far northern New York) as they march across lush grassy fields under green leafy trees, hoping it will snow for the return journey - which then IS appropriately wintry. Did autumn go on strike?
Some plot twists are farcical: Don Johnson's character, a barfighting drunken playboy - who (by his own admission) has never believed in or accomplished anything - needs something to do after an injury, so he's elected to Congress. This is attributed to the influence of Jefferson (who didn't meet him until afterward) and Washington (who'd given him a five-minute mission briefing). Andrew Stevens was sidelined with a fever even earlier in the journey, resulting in his unanimous election as commander of a militia company (of which he was not even a member).
The dialogue alternates between common modern speech and pretentious, bombastic attempts at historical idiom - as though a 9th grade English class patched together a 1775 script after finishing their unit on Shakespeare.
Costumes are sometimes accurate, and sometimes stereotypical 70s used-car-salesman fabrics. Most of the famous historical figures look OK (except for Lafayette, who's straight out of Mme. Tussaud's), but the hairdressers put a great deal of effort into spraying and blowdrying the fictional heroes into giant 1979 coiffures.
A writer of historical fiction can get creative with dialogue using a fictional character or lesser-known real person, or make the effort to find a historical figure appropriate to the style or sentiment. Any number of characters could believably refer to the British commander as "Billy Howe" or tell Congress they "don't give a damn" - practically anyone BUT the well known gentleman planter, George Washington, who gets these lines. John Hancock - a rebel before there was a rebellion, famous for first (and most ostentatiously) signing the Declaration of Independence - is depicted as a waffler who dismisses Johnson's desire for independence as youthful impulsiveness.
Just a creepy aside, but Johnson has a bed scene with an actress who (according to this website) was 15 at the time.
The narrator describes the Knox expedition setting out in November (across Massachusetts / far northern New York) as they march across lush grassy fields under green leafy trees, hoping it will snow for the return journey - which then IS appropriately wintry. Did autumn go on strike?
Some plot twists are farcical: Don Johnson's character, a barfighting drunken playboy - who (by his own admission) has never believed in or accomplished anything - needs something to do after an injury, so he's elected to Congress. This is attributed to the influence of Jefferson (who didn't meet him until afterward) and Washington (who'd given him a five-minute mission briefing). Andrew Stevens was sidelined with a fever even earlier in the journey, resulting in his unanimous election as commander of a militia company (of which he was not even a member).
The dialogue alternates between common modern speech and pretentious, bombastic attempts at historical idiom - as though a 9th grade English class patched together a 1775 script after finishing their unit on Shakespeare.
Costumes are sometimes accurate, and sometimes stereotypical 70s used-car-salesman fabrics. Most of the famous historical figures look OK (except for Lafayette, who's straight out of Mme. Tussaud's), but the hairdressers put a great deal of effort into spraying and blowdrying the fictional heroes into giant 1979 coiffures.
A writer of historical fiction can get creative with dialogue using a fictional character or lesser-known real person, or make the effort to find a historical figure appropriate to the style or sentiment. Any number of characters could believably refer to the British commander as "Billy Howe" or tell Congress they "don't give a damn" - practically anyone BUT the well known gentleman planter, George Washington, who gets these lines. John Hancock - a rebel before there was a rebellion, famous for first (and most ostentatiously) signing the Declaration of Independence - is depicted as a waffler who dismisses Johnson's desire for independence as youthful impulsiveness.
Just a creepy aside, but Johnson has a bed scene with an actress who (according to this website) was 15 at the time.