This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I really thought this might be good but it was an overdone, sappy, made for TV soap opera about the Lexington-Concord battle. While some large facts were accurate, it was a pretty, fictionalized, maudlin piece of crap. Molasses moves faster.....in January. Awful.

Synopsis: On "April Morning," April 19 1775, a shot fired on Lexington green changed the world forever.The prosecution of Robert Goldstein for the movie Spirit of 1776 put down the Revolution in the theatre. Literature has produced greats in the genre but only a short list of motion pictures embraces a subject with issues which remain contemporary.American leftist Howard Fast produced several notable novels on the Revolution: April Morning about the Battles of Lexington and Concord, The Unvanquished about the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn, "The Crossing" about the battle of Trenton and Citizen Thomas Paine about the apostle of democratic revolution.Two of Fast's critically acclaimed books were made into movies: The Crossing and April Morning. Neither movie version drew large audiences.Often compared to Red Badge of Courage, April Morning dawns over the sleepy hamlet of Lexington where 15-year-old Adam Cooper's main concern is the chores on the family farm, courting his girl and hanging out with his friends. Creeping toward the quiet town, is a red coat column bound to destroy the patriot's caches of arms at Concord.Forewarned the local militia musters some men to stand on the green. Inexplicably, Major John Pitcairn, commanding the advance party, orders the militia to disperse. Refused, the British advance on the minutemen. A shot rings out. Firing begins.When the smoke clears, 10 locals are killed and 8 more wounded. Adam and his friends are sent packing. As English lines continue the march to Concord, Adam's friend Solomon predicts "It'll be easier for them to go down that road then it will be for them to come back." After skirmishing with militia at Concord, the British return to Boston down a road walled with angry farmers whipped up into a rage by the incursion. Redcoats face hostile fire according to legend from every tree, rock, fence, and bush.The British take casualties, but inflict not a few on their aroused adversary clinging to the protection of the bush. A more mature Adam returns home with the painful knowledge that peaceful joys are over.The battle sequences are well staged with the drums of the advancing British beating a terrifying warning of the approach of the mighty British host whose clanking bayonets and the accompanying huzzahs send a soul splitting chill.

On April 18, 1775, along a Massachusetts road, Solomon Chandler is secretly delivering shot and gunpowder to colonists who want to stand up to the British. He is captured and beaten by Redcoats.The people of Lexington are divided on how exactly to handle the situation, but if the British are coming, they want to be ready. 15-year-old Adam, whose father does not respect him, wants to join the militia. Amazingly, Adam's father does not try to stop him. His mother fears Adam will be killed if the circumstances lead to gunfire.Eventually, the people are warned that, in fact, "The British are coming!" (This exact quote is not in the movie.) The men have to be ready for anything. Those who know history have some idea what will happen next.Tommy Lee Jones did a great job as Moses, though he was somewhat more low-key than Agent K or Samuel Gerard. The fact that he came across so differently than those more outspoken characters proves he has acting skill.Rip Torn gave the standout performance here as Solomon. Most of the other actors playing Americans also did a good job. I couldn't help but feel the British were portrayed as buffoons, but this was nothing like "Hogan's Heroes".I thought a little too much time was devoted to the relationship between Adam and Ruth. I did like Ruth, though.What is important here is that this movie makes the American Revolution personal. Regardless of how much a man wants to be free, can he actually shoot and kill another human being? What if that other human being wants to kill him? Was all the killing really necessary, or could the situation have been handled better? The face-off in Lexington that April morning was an impressive thing to watch. Perhaps no one had to die that day, but we all know that would have been unlikely. I won't say exactly what did happen there, but before the movie was over, at least one major character lay dead on the field of battle.I would recommend this movie for high school or even junior high school history classes. The violence was not that explicit, and it was necessary to the story.

i thought this movie was great! i saw it in my social studies class, and loved it. they really gave you some great information about how the war began. it may have been about a fictional boy and how he wanted to join the militia to impress his dad, but it had some real things that happened. one of them was not when the guy was riding on the horse screaming about the British coming. someone in my class thought that his job was cool because he got to ride on a horse through the town screaming about the British coming.. he then said if the British caught him, he would cover his eyes. i'm very glad my social studies teacher had us watch this movie, because it taught me more about how the war began. i give this movie two thumbs up.