DIRECTED BY: Roland Emmerich

WRITTEN BY: Robert Rodat

MEL GIBSON AS: Benjamin Martin

GENRE: Action, Drama, War

TAGLINES:

- What would you do if they destroyed your home, threatened your family. Where would you draw the line?

- Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heros. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom.

- Some things are worth fighting for.

PLOT SUMMARY:

A former hero of the French/Indian War, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) has renounced fighting forever to raise his family in peace. Although once a wily and ferocious soldier, he marries a fine woman who bears him seven children and, under her influence, trades his violent past for a peaceful future on his sprawling plantation. But rebellion is brewing–another conflict with Britain is inevitable. Recently widowed, his goals change. He’s the sole caretaker of his brood, and the horrors of past combat haunt him still. Benjamin’s eldest son, Gabriel, harbors no doubts about going to war: the radical speeches and newsletters that began in the cities and traverse the Colonies have made an impression on him. War is coming, and Gabriel feels the cause is just. In defiance of his father, he joins the fight. Benjamin is conflicted–as stalwart as he is in his opposition to the war, he believes in the cause. When the British arrive, the reluctant hero discovers that he must join the nation’s war to protect his family. –Yahoo! Movies

RELEASE DATES:

2000 June 27 (United States Premiere)
2000 June 28 (United States)
2000 July 11 (Spain)
2000 July 12 (Belgium, France)
2000 July 13 (Argentina, Israel)
2000 July 14 (South Africa, United Kingdom)
2000 July 19 (Egypt, Malaysia, Venezuela)
2000 July 20 (Australia, Czech Republic, Peru)
2000 July 21 (Brazil)
2000 July 22 (Taiwan)
2000 July 27 (Hungary, Malaysia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland)
2000 July 28 (Finland, Iceland, Poland, South Korea, Sweden)
2000 July 29 (Indonesia)
2000 August 3 (Germany)
2000 August 4 (Croatia, Denmark)
2000 August 5 (Singapore)
2000 August 10 (New Zealand)
2000 August 11 (India)
2000 August 18 (Turkey)
2000 August 24 (Hong Kong)
2000 August 25 (Estonia, Italy)
2000 September 1 (Greece)
2000 September 2(Philippines)
2000 September 23 (Japan)
2000 December 27 (Kuwait)

BOX OFFICE GROSS:

United States: $113,330,342
International: $101,964,000

FILMING LOCATIONS:

North Carolina and South Carolina, USA.

TRIVIA:

- Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote 17 drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one.

- Heath Ledger performed his own stunts.

- Harrison Ford declined the lead role, feeling the script had boiled the Revolutionary War down to a “one-man’s-revenge” melodrama.

- The character, Benjamin Martin, was originally written with six children, but Mel Gibson added one more because he himself had seven children.

- Director Trademark: [Roland Emmerich] [44] Seen in the tavern where Martin recruits for his militia, also seen on a wine bottle label

- Aunt Charlotte’s house is the same one used in Forrest Gump (1994), with slightly different interior paneling. The stone hedge visible in Forrest Gump is camouflaged with bushes in this film.

- When teaching Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger how to shoot a muzzle-loading rifle, technical advisor Mark Baker gave them the advice to “aim small, miss small”, meaning that if you aim at a man and miss, you miss the man, while if you aim at a button (for instance) and miss, you still hit the man. Gibson liked this bit advice so much he incorporated it into the movie, just prior to the ambush scene.

- Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned several times and was considered for the role of Gabriel Martin, but eventually lost out to Heath Ledger.

- Paul Walker auditioned for the role of Gabriel Martin.

- Much of the military action is based on the battle of Cowpens. The character of Tavington being based on Banestre Tarleton; the mixture of militia and Continental army in the battle, knowing that the militia had a reputation of not holding and using that to lure the British in. The militia only firing a couple of volleys before a planned retreat to a secondary line composed of the Continental army. The Continental army firing and then performing a bayonet charge. These are the basics of the battle of Cowpens and the basics of the military action at the end of the movie.

- One of the “redcoats” (actually dummies) that is floating face down in the river after the “trap” is a dummy of John Travolta.

- Kevin Spacey was the first choice to play Tavington, but after paying Mel Gibson his $25 million, there was not enough in the budget to pay Kevin too.

- The character of Benjamin Martin is loosely based on the real life soldier Francis Marion, aka The Swamp Fox. The Swamp Fox taught the soldiers guerrilla tactics and their camp was, in fact near the ruins of an old Spanish church.

- Although Col. William Tavington is supposedly “loosely” based on Col. Banastre Tarleton, there is probably more similarity than not. Both were equally bloodthirsty. On May 29, 1780, in Lancaster County, South Carolina, Col. Abraham Buford offered to surrender and lay down their arms to Tarleton. Tarleton tricked Buford by offering the Colonials quarter, and when they laid down their arms, Tarleton ordered the British troops to attack without mercy. American casualties were 113 killed. This was known throughout the rest of the Revolution as “Buford’s Massacre” and sealed the sentiments of the upper South Carolinian residents against the Loyalists and the British army, much as portrayed in the movie. More Revolutionary War battles were fought in South Carolina, than the rest of the colonies combined.

- After the explosion of the cargo ship we see (or hear actually) Tavington smash his glass when placing it down. He really just places it down, but it was decided to add a smashing sound for comic effect. We never actually see the glass breaking.

- Among the American cavalry officers who participated in the real Battle of Cowpens was Lt. Col. William Washington — General George Washington’s cousin, who went Mano-a-Mano with Banastre Tarleton in a saber clash.

- The real General Cornwalis was not even present at the Battle of Cowpens.

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