Rebels & Redcoats, How Britain lost America

[garyjd]

I was surprised to find this one day while looking around at Best Buy. It's a 200 minute documentary presented by British military historian Richard Holmes and tells the story of the American Revolution from the British point of view. There are several scenes using reenactors which some are good others poor, especially a scene where a British soldier is firing a percussion rifle! seriously laughed my fanny off at that one. Commentary from other historians in addition to excerpts from letters and diaries read by actors/reenactors playing the role. All in all not a bad program, which is interesting seeing the war through British eyes.~Gary

 

[captnenglish]

I've got that one myself and thought quite good as well.

 

[garyjd]

Pete, Yeah it was a pretty big goof on their part, you could not help but see it was a percussion rifle. I think some of the recreated scenes were also filmed in the UK, a lot the reenators were not uniformed that great and there was a segment on King's Mountain that looked like it was filmed in Europe (UK?) somewhere and not here in the states. I liked the way historian Richard Holmes talks about the battles by mixing in eyewitness accounts and also talking about weapons and tactics of the period. ~Gary

 

[bucsfan21]

Gary, Saw Rebels and Redcoats on PBS back in July. Enjoyed it alot. I found it entertaining for the most part. Wish there were more info on the period on tv. I am always eager to learn more...

Happy Trails, Terry Martin

 

[garyjd]

Here is a "poor man's" screen capture, it shows Continentals firing a volley at the Battle of Camden. If they only had M61 Springfields.~Gary

 

[IronMike]

Gary,

I saw the show on PBS last month and liked what I saw until I spied the percussion piece. They must have gotten a ACW reenactor mixed in there. If you could see me in the movie Gettysburg you might spot my jungle boots. Maybe that's why you can't see me. I think it was in the movie "Zulu" that I notice some bolt action weapons in the rear ranks.

Mike

 

[garyjd]

Mike, Those jungle boots no doubt would have outlasted a pair of brogans. I too noticed the bolt action rifles in Zulu. If you ever watch "The last of the Mohicans" check out the scene when Col. Monro rides past Montcalm surrendering Fort William Henry to the French, you can make out the white roofs of a couple of buses used to bring the extras to the shooting location. Those little oversights are fun to spot.~Gary

 

[Anders Heintz]

Another little blunder like this is in Dances With Wolves. It is during one of the buffalo scenes and there is one of the movie crew people crouched on hands and knee's in top left corner. I would never have seen it without watching the dvd with the comentary from the people who made it.

 

[Randy Myers]

I too enjoyed this documentary when it was broadcast, but I thought some people might get their dander up when Holmes refered to the patriots as "terrorists".

Another weapons faux pas I remember is the use of bolt action rifles in "Waterloo", but then, the extras were members of the Soviet Army, so they probably used surplus weapons in the background and for long shots.

 

[garyjd]

Randy, Terrorists? huh. I'll have to watch it over again.~Gary