April Morning (1988)

**_The day the American Revolution started_** This covers the events of April 18-19, 1775, with Paul Revere’s ride and the ensuing Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Lexington engagement took place about an hour before sunrise and was really just a deadly skirmish. The strength of the Lexington militiamen was 77 men whereas the British regulars (the “redcoats”) was about 400 by the time they marched the 12.5 miles from Boston. Eight militiamen died in the clash whereupon the arrogant British troops moved on to Concord, which was 6.5 miles west, to search for stashes of colonial weapons. Failing to find them, they were attacked by accumulating militiamen firing from behind trees and structures, which forced redcoats into a humbling retreat to Boston. The Americans won with only 95 casualties as opposed to 273 casualties on the other side. Being a television production, this is a minimalistic portrayal with a very low-key first half that establishes the main characters and their situation. The film brings the viewer into the midst of the happenings by focusing on an almost 16-yeas old boy (Chad Lowe), his dad & mother (Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Blakely), as well as his girlfriend (Meredith Salenger) and a couple of other militiamen (Robert Urich and Rip Torn). As long as you don’t expect the blockbuster polish and dynamic depiction of of Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot,” this gives you a frontline visual on the day the American Revolution began. It works as a quick, unassuming history lesson. It runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in Québec, Québec, Canada. GRADE: B-/B