Valley Forge (1975) Online

I saw this film on Television, Christmas Eve 1989, back when CBS had a late late show. The film shows both sides of the battle, during the Revolutionary War. Excellent performances by Richard Basehart, Simon Ward, and a very young Christopher Walken. This film is shot on a video format, which gives it a look as if it were shot on stage. I am surprised this is not on DVD or video. This film would make an excellent addition to Drama fans film libraries. They certainly don't make made for television films like this one anymore. I give this film

****/**** Great.

This play and the manner in which it was produced through on television is well done and an excellent tool to teach young Americans and others about the history of our nation and the goodness of men and women that transcends tax and government. It is a good effort and an excellent production. The production correctly presents the basic laws and regulations of our armed forces and brotherhood. The play represents the French friendship and ally as well as the importance of the Americans descended from French colonists as well in a heroic and deservedly honorable light. The desperation and actions of the brave soldiers at Valley Forge is told with a face toward fact and a spirit of American pride.

To me Richard Baseheart will always be the Captain of the Seawolf in TV Version of Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea. In the little known Valley Forge Richard Baseheart turns his stentorian English sounding tone to the role of the father of his country, fighting off British starvation and waiting for news of the French decision on alliance. If the foray depicted in this movie was more of a pantry raid than a military masterstroke, the message of the extreme circumstances faced is clear. Indeed morale may not been able to survive victory or defeat without a the comradely in little humorous mischief stemming from a successful, unauthorized foray inconsequential in the long flow of history.

Ohio born Baseheart plays the father of his country with the reserve and a sly sense of irony and humor worthy of Washington even if Baseheart falls considerably short of Washington's reported height of 6 feet.

The Revolution is an underplayed topic in theatre. In fact I came across this film by accident; I had failed to find this film not withstanding years of research into the topic. Comparable films: Scarlet Coat, Revolution, April Morning, The Patriot

"Valley Forge" is a recorded-on-videotape movie that comes across like a stage play and when it's over you'll feel like you've been back in revolutionary times and experienced it all yourself. The story portrays two incidents that intersect during the Revolutionary War, at a time when America's tiny army is in danger of disintegrating from cold, hunger, disease and desertion.

On a bleak winter day at Valley Forge, Washington's starving soldiers risk a brutal flogging and perhaps even execution as deserters, as they tie up one of their own officers and leave camp without permission to stage a foraging raid to steal food from the nearby British army. Meanwhile, Washington is being betrayed by the treacherous and incompetent General Horatio Gates, who wants to replace him. He's even being undercut by the Continental Congress, which deliberately sends the army rotten food in an attempt to weaken it and force the army and its commander into submission. The economy is in tatters, Washington is informed, and America's important businessmen aren't making any money due to the war. Said businessmen have therefore bribed or cajoled the Congress into forcing Washington to accept a British offer of armistice, one that will end both unfair taxation and the dream of American independence with it. Ending the war will allow the country to get back to the business of making money.

The Congress's strategy is successful, for Washington sizes up his military situation as hopeless and he agrees to meet British General Howe to discuss the armistice. But when Washington discovers the food-stealing mission everything changes. After being informed of the huge food stores his "deserters" have filched from the enemy, Washington realizes the food will save his army, if only temporarily. He refuses to sign the armistice and returns to his struggling army determined to fight on.

Did America's fledgling Continental Congress purposefully send rotten food to Washington's army in an effort to force the war to an early close? Was George Washington ever ready to sign a peace treaty that would have denied independence to America and kept its citizens subjects of King George? I don't know the answer to either question, but given the circumstances Washington and his army faced anything is possible. The point this movie makes is that fighting the British and the elements were hard enough, but Washington faced far more obstacles, like mutinous generals and disreputable, treasonous elements within the Congress.

At any rate, this is a riveting drama that makes palpable the suffering of America's first freedom fighters and the life-and-death decisions they were forced to make. Richard Basehart is superb, though a bit vertically challenged as Washington, while Michael Tolan, as his subordinate and Harry Andrews as General Howe offer fine support. Also good are a very young John Heard and Edward Hermann as duplicitous Continental Congress emissaries and Christopher Walken as a Hessian officer and potential turncoat. They don't make too many movies like this any more (an exception is the excellent "Crossing the Delaware," starring Jeff Daniels as Washington) and fortunately I taped this one long ago. I hope it will air again for the benefit of those who can appreciate a historical drama done with a fine cast and a wonderful sense of time and place.