The Revolutionary (1970)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Paul Williams

Writers:

Hans Koningsberger (novel)
Hans Koningsberger (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 March 1971 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Military Draft | Strike | Revolutionary | College Student | Absent Without Leave

Cast

Jon Voight	...	A
Seymour Cassel	...	Leonard II
Robert Duvall	...	Despard
Collin Wilcox Paxton	...	Ann (as Collin Wilcox-Horne)
Jennifer Salt	...	Helen
Elliott Sullivan
Alexandra Berlin	...	Nurse
Warren Stanhope	...	'A's Father
Peter Carlisle
John Orchard
George Margo
Earl Cameron	...	Speaker
Julie Garfield	...	Girl
Alan Tilvern	...	Sid
Lionel Murton	...	The Professor

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Company:

Pressman-Williams Productions

Trivia:

Jeffrey Jones' movie debut.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Die Tote aus der Themse (1971)

Low budget drama has it's moments

It's too low key to arouse much passion, but The Revolutionary is a reasonably interesting look at radical left wing activity in the late 60s. Jon Voight mumbles his way through his role as a college student wrestling with his conscience (and getting expelled for listening to it). Robert Duvall is on hand as a more experienced organiser and Seymour Cassel is his usual fun self as Leonard, the token hippie. There are some very good moments,including a scene where Voight is caught painting anti-capitalist manifestos on a wall. There's also a wonderful pawn shop sequence that gets to the heart and soul of the film's thesis, but too much screen time is spent on Voight's struggling relationships with women. All in all, a period piece that will be of interest to anyone interested in the hard left aspects of political life in the turbulent Vietnam years.