The Spirit of '76 (1990) User Reviews

Wonderful concept, mediocre film

[hotbread · 7/10 · 4 July 1999]

Whoever came up with this concept deserves an award of some kind. Time travelers from the future need to visit 1776 to learn vital information about the founding of the nation. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and the explorers wind up in 1976 instead -- without realizing it! Something didn't quite make it in the implementation, though. Maybe it is the obviously rock-bottom budget. Throughout the movie, you are acutely aware that you are watching a movie set with a few Gremlins and Pintos parked here and there. Also, the decision to cast some 70's heartthrobs (Cassidy and Garrett) as major characters was interesting, but these guys are not exactly Academy Award material, if you know what I mean. However, there are some pretty entertaining scenes, including Rob Reiner as the insane leader of an "est"-like cult.

Spirited fun abounds, in this humorous trip back to the seventies

[inkblot11 · 6/10 · 21 October 2006]

In the future, civilization has really declined. The fashions are U.S.S.R. retro, don't you know. Not only that, no one is flourishing. Therefore, when a man named Adam 11 (David Cassidy) insists he has made a time machine, the U.S. government asks him to go back to 1776 and study the founding fathers and the making of the constitution. It is hoped that he and his co-horts, Chanel 6 (Olivia D'Abo) and Heinz 57 will learn how to make society worth living again. The time machine takes off but lands in 1976 instead. Not realizing their mistake, the three interlopers try their best to find out how to revitalize their country with the lessons from the seventies. Amid Pacers and learning the hustle, can they succeed? This movie is a fast and fun look at the much maligned seventies. Things were more colorful then, that's for sure, and people did seem to be having a great time, despite the tight pants and floral shirts. Cassidy, D'Abo and company do a nice job of keeping the spirit of discovery alive. If you lived through the seventies, this movie is made for you. It has so many seventies icons that will make you laugh and remember. The younger crowd, too, would be entertained in seeing what they only know from history books. Don't hesitate to pop this movie in the VCR some evening in the near future. It was made, as the Bay City Rollers croon, for a fun, fun "Saturday Night".

What I remembered and Google didn't

[jonathanrice78 · 7/10 · 21 March 2009]

The Spirit of '76 is adventure. Its also a movie were three teens can make rocket fuel make from 7-up and Pop Rocks. Then in future plays music of the 1970's like the song Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In. The teens also bring back clothing to the future in addition to music. In one part of the movie Chanel-6 and guy do the Hustle. Then the Cops get Kung Fu'd to Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting. I nearly pee'd at that funny moment. I was searching google with keywords like Time machine fueled by 7-up and Pop Rocks. But, nothing came up. I only found this due to remembering that David Cassidy was in this movie. I loved this movie. But, I guess I loved many duds as some say.

Dumb fun.

[Infofreak · 14 July 2001]

I'd love to be able to say that 'Spirit of 76' is a forgotten comedy classic that desperately needs to be re-evaluated in these post-'Wayne's World'/'Austin Powers'/'That 70s Show' times, but sadly it really isn't all that funny. Still, I own a copy and watch it occasionally and get a few laughs out of it, so it isn't TOTALLY useless.

People who will enjoy it the most will be Redd Kross fans, as the fabulous McDonald brothers co-star. Perhaps the movie would have been better if they'd contributed to the script as well? They certainly know the territory better than most!

Anyway, you've got some silly clothes, a few obvious digs at the fads of the era, some enjoyable disco and metal on the soundtrack, and best of all a really eclectic supporting cast (Devo!). Maybe that's enough. Sometimes you just need some dumb fun...

Not awful, but not good either

[tex-42 · 6/10 · 26 April 2000]

Overly silly look at the 1970's has time travelers going back to what they think is 1776 to see the founding of the nation, but they end up in 1976. The movie attempts to be a parody but really falls flat with poor acting and a weak script. Good soundtrack though!

Horrible but fun, in a silly way,...

[preppy-3 · 4/10 · 30 July 2002]

ONLY if you grew up during the 1970s.

David Cassidy (looking great), Olivia d'Abo (with English accent intact) and Geoff Hoyle (WHO???) travel from 2176 to 1976 by mistake. While there totally predictable "hilarity" ensures.

The jokes are horribly bad (there's not one good one!) and the story and dialogue are truly abysmal. Also it contains a character called Snodgrass (ho ho) who gives one of the worst performances in comedy history--his idea of acting is SCREAMING every line full force. Still, I (sort of) enjoyed it.

They caught the 70s dead on--as a child of the 70s I can attest to that! The fashions, the music, the cars, the horrible furniture and carpets--all perfect! For me it was a trip back to the past. Also, the cast gives their all to the awful script. And the movie does come to life in one sequence in which d'Abo and Leif Garrett (another 70s icon) do the Hustle! Boy, did that bring me back!

Worth seeing only for those who remember or lived through the 70s. All others--beware!

Low budget, formula but actually a lot of gun

[mnorthco-1 · 6/10 · 15 March 2022]

Looks like they spent the money on names and forgot they'd need money to actually shoot the movie.

However, it was a lot of fun and I don't regret watching it.

Blooper at the very end showed they had fun making it too.

Recommended as a filler.

living in the past

[mjneu59 · 4/10 · 4 January 2011]

Three intrepid time travelers from the distant future take aim for the year 1776, but a 200-year miscalculation brings them instead to an age of platform shoes, mood rings, and disco dancing. This harmless parody of pop culture during the 1970s is often more lame than the decade itself was, in part because it never tries to be any less superficial than the fads it pokes fun at. Everything is included: the music (Peter Frampton, Grand Funk Railroad); the trends (bean bag chairs, self-awareness seminars); and even the personalities (teen heartthrobs David Cassady and Leif Garrett, who apparently enjoyed spoofing themselves). The plot is a good natured plagiarism of 'Back to the Future' but, except for the exploding Ford Pinto, there aren't any actual time-warp jokes; the humor, such as it is, relies entirely on the stimulus-response of simple recognition. Filmed in beautiful downtown Alameda, California, with a cast of local actors alongside the many celebrity cameos.

Better than the average score would indicate

[eichler2 · 9/10 · 19 March 2013]

My wife and I saw this movie on cable TV shortly after it came out and shortly before it disappeared into oblivion, and since we both were little kids in the 70s we both found the movie to be pretty funny. It has its share of really bad jokes (like people slipping on a picture of bananas), but it's not supposed to be intellectual humor. It's supposed to be a campy, cheesy movie that (fondly) makes fun of a decade that contains a lot to make fun of. And it certainly succeeds on that level.

The movie was clearly a very low budget affair, yet the film makers managed to nail little details like the red, white and blue-painted fire hydrant outside the main character's home (there was one of those across the street from the house I grew up in). Everyone involved in the movie seems to have done their homework, but are having fun with it and not taking it too seriously.

I recently discovered that this movie has finally come out on DVD, and at a bargain basement price, so I ordered a copy. My 14 year old daughter watched it with me and loved it - she described it as "stupidly beautiful" and immediately put the soundtrack on her iPod.

So if you're feeling nostalgic for the 70s and think you'd like a low-budget comedy that doesn't pretend to be masterpiece theater, look no further. On the other hand, if 80 minutes of disco music, cameo roles and jokes about bongs and pop rocks doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then avoid.

Energetic but unfunny

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 18 November 2017]

In 2176, futuristic America needs to "Rebuild!" after a magnetic storm. Unfortunately, they have no idea what liberty is, what freedom is, so three time-travelers are chosen to go back to the year 1776 to retrieve the nation's heritage--with only 12 hours on the clock. Even more unfortunately, they don't go back far enough due to a malfunction with the time machine's digital clock, and unknowingly find themselves in groovy 1976 instead. Talents from second-generation Hollywood were involved (including Carl Reiner's son Lucas Reiner acting as director and Roman Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's son, co-writing the script with Reiner), but the shallow sense of humor displayed here is strictly bush league. Results are amateurish in conception, design and handling, though the cast has some game players. The prologue with an aged Carl Reiner reciting part of the U.S. Constitution is probably the film's brightest moment--after that, this totally obvious movie conceit runs out of have-a-nice-day sunshine. *1/2 from ****

This Was Entertaining -in a Light hearted way

[kdscott12 · 9/10 · 14 October 2005]

OK, I am a Very Serious David Cassidy Fan & had to have this video. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the title does sum it up "Spirit of '76". Look back to what you were doing in 1976, Patriotism in our Bi-Centennial. This was post Partridge Family but pre Disco era. Fashion was white go-go boots, Laugh-In was on, we needed to laugh, not take ourselves so seriously. That is how you look at this movie. The Gremlin (a car) was everywhere back then, the music, Leif Garrett - yep we are in the 70's alright. Even David's Patriotic boots were perfect. I really enjoyed this movie in the manner it was intended - entertaining: make you smile, sometimes laugh, yes it had its moments (Rob Reiner was in it) The moment David's character realized the materials he needed to save the day was plentiful in 1976 ! Just watch it for yourself.

Campy Comedy Worthy of John Waters

[MovieMarauder · 13 October 2002]

I never got to experience the 70's myself (I was born in '84), but this movie really makes me long for that bygone era. The first time I saw this film, I was just a kid, maybe 5 or 6, and I loved it from the start. Now that I'm older, I realize this movie is about the campiest thing I've ever seen, but it's still just as fun to watch. The platform shoes, 8-track cassettes, AMC Pacers, and bicentennial bongs will all serve to transport you into that beloved decade of excess and extravagance. This movie is packed with nutty, over-the-top characters who serve as caricatures for all of the diverse lifeforms the 70's produced. Smarmy science fare nerds, early mallrats, happy stoners, middle-aged yuppies seeking self-improvement, and those poor, restless creatures perpetually afflicted with Boogie Fever. This is a movie John Waters could have and should have had a hand in. A clever, skewed portrait of life in the 70's. Gee, I REALLY missed out on a lot!!!

"There may be a lot of people like me, but there's nobody LIKE me."

[dolly_the_ye-ye_bird · 8/10 · 8 July 2011]

Time travelers traveling to 1776 get inadvertently dropped in 1976 instead. Hilarity, bell bottoms and leisure suits ensue. I haven't seen this film in years. It's one of those forgotten classics that, for some reason, never makes it onto television anymore. Yes, it's silly. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, it's not Masterpiece Theatre. But if you want a film that is just plain fun then this is it. One of my favourite aspects of the film are all the cameos...and starring roles....that are filled by established actors, both from the time the film is set (David Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Rob Reiner, Tommy Chong) and also from the late '80s/early '90s when it was filmed (Chanel 9 is the sister from The Wonder Years). The most annoying thing about the movie are the two guys helping the visitors from the future. I don't know much about Redd Kross, their band, but their acting ability was a bit shoddy. But considering the intentional cheesy atmosphere of the film, maybe that was the point? There are a lot of jabs, loving of course, taken at '70s pop culture: Pintos blowing up, gas lines, The Hustle. What fun! The soundtrack is fantastic: The Carpenters, Grand Funk, Afternoon Delight. I wasn't around for the '70s, but this movie makes me wish I could have been...and kind of makes me feel like I was! 8/10

An uproariously kitschy comedy riot

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 22 December 2009]

A trio of time travelers -- laid-back time machine inventor Adam-11 (affable David Cassidy), the foxy, but uptight Chanel-6 (winningly played by the gorgeous Olivia d'Abo) and earnest Henz-57 (solid Geoff Hoyle) -- from 2176 go back 200 years to 1976 in order to save the drab future. Jeff and Steve McDonald of Red Kross fame are hilarious as two hip teenagers who help the threesome with their desperate mission. Writer/director Lucas Reiner expertly crafts a loving, lively, and often immensely funny ode to the gloriously tacky'n'tasteless 70's and all the amusingly ridiculous fads which made that particular era so uniquely gaudy, silly, and embarrassing: such things as mood rings, pop rocks, beanbag chairs, the hideous hairstyles and even worse ugly clothes (remember leisure suits, halter tops, and unsightly loud shirts with ghastly mile wide collars?), choice cheesy songs like "Afternoon Delight" and "Kung-Fu Fighting" on the soundtrack, goofy slang ("*Fill-in-the-blank* city!"), groovy disco dancing, 8-track players, and touchy-feely pretentious New Age hogwash are all present and accounted for. Leif Garrett is sheer smarmy perfection as slimy disco stud muffin on wheels Eddie Trogan while Liam O'Brien contributes a suitably obnoxious turn as meddlesome twerp Rodney Snodgrass. Among the folks who pop up in nifty minor parts are Tommy Chong (appropriately cast as a stoner), Barbara Bain, Carl and Rob Reiner, Iron Eyes Cody (spoofing his famous anti-pollution TV commercial), Devo, the Kipper Kids, the ever-adorable Julie Brown, and even Frank Zappa's hottie daughter Moon Unit. Kudos are also in order for the lovably rinky-dink (not so) special effects, David Nichtern's get-down funky score, and Stephen Lighthill's sharp brightly colored cinematography. An absolute gut-buster.

A campy romp through the 70's...for those of you who can't remember them.

[axraupp · 9 November 2000]

I was quite surprised that I liked this B film, as the start is pretty corny. Once you get over that fact, you see a pretty fun film, one which anyone who lived through the 70s will appreciate.

Apparently, this film is a 2nd generation's project. The executive producers are Copalla and Riener, the sons of Francis Ford Copalla and Rob Riener. I think that accounts for the relatively large cast of 70s stars. The music was great as there were snippits from many 70s tunes. I went looking for the soundtrack, but, unfortunately, it doesn't exist.

The main star, David Cassidy, was the lead singer for the Partridge Family, among other things. It would have been very easy for the producers to harp on that topic, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the film didn't turn into an inside-joke factory.

This is a fun film to coast back to the 70s on. If you can get over the campiness of the beginning, you're in for a treat. Have a nice day!

Back in Time!

[LostChild77 · 10/10 · 3 July 2001]

Due to its background music, clothing styles and, in a way, its feeling, this film really takes you back to the 70s. It also gives you an interesting perspective of how you can change history as it once was... to make it your own and leaves you with a possitive feeling about it.

A Spoof Before Its Time

[Adler-99 · 9/10 · 5 July 2021]

For a good spoof to be appreciated, enough time has to have passed between the present and the time being ridiculed, or else it's just cringeworthy. When this came out in 1990, 1976 was simply not that long ago, and the 1970s in general were derided in every respect, so the film flopped.

With more decades in the rear view mirror, "Spirit of '76" can be seen for the brilliant (albeit low-budget) satire that it was. As someone actually eighteen years old in 1976, I can tell you that the costumes, hair, music, language, decor, cars, fads, and jokes are spot on. Sure, they are occasionally exaggerated, but not that much. David Cassidy and especially Leif Garrett gleefully make fun of their cheesy 1970s teen idol status. If you miss the '70s or wish you'd lived through them, watch this movie and "Take it.... easy." (peace sign)

I thought it was funny

[mamamiasweetpeaches · 22 December 2003]

One day I had a hangover and I was lying on my friends couch DYING. He put on cable and this was on. Now...I was in a poor state...but I laughed my a** off. I have been trying to find an affordable copy of this movie so I can watch it again. If your like me and love 70s fads, style and culture you'll really like this movie. Stars David Cassidy.

Excellent

[mharrison-17627 · 10/10 · 11 April 2020]

A great fun comedy film. David Cassidy was never much of an actor but nevertheless performs fine here. The best comedy performance is somewhat surprisingly given by Leif Garrett. One to enjoy over and over again!

As good as living it the first time!!!!!

[45RPM · 25 March 1999]

As someone who grew up in the seventies, it was refreshing to see the 70s depicted as strangely as it really was. Some anachronisms exist, such as the exploding Pinto. thjat didn't come to light til the early 80s, but the movies hearts in the right place. Any one who was growing up then, or has even heard of the 70s will love it. Great Music, Great Clothes, and of course the hair brings back frighting nightmares.

Political satire disguised as Silly Comedy

[tommyc-1 · 13 November 2020]

Founding USA documents have descended to tee-shirt decorations and ornamental kitsch. The draft and political oppression are in full swing. The one person who can explain things to a time-traveler works in a peep show. The great ideas on which this country were founded have become mere commercial garbage to cash in on, not principles to live by.

I thought it was brilliant satire. A similar point is made in "Time After Time" (1979) where HG Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to modern San Francisco and is astonished to see some ideas he had written about brought to life. The nearly magical technology of telephones for example, has been reduced to a toy in the form of a Mickey Mouse telephone. That difference between ideas and actual practice is what drives this movie, which is far more than a comedy, successful or otherwise.

Had potential.

[Blueghost · 27 May 2008]

I saw this one evening with my boss who had done a lot of feature work. His one comment was this; "This just shows that you can make any kind of film you want if you have the right connections." The gist here being that he didn't like it, and thought the film was sorely lacking on a number of levels.

I agreed with him.

Having lived through the 70s, as had my former manager, we were hoping for a bit of a send-up and otherwise a humorous tribute to what one stand-up comic described as a "cultural depression". Tassles on banana seat bikes, flared out bell bottom genes and slacks, paisley print shirts, apple caps, gas lines, disco, and, of course, exploding Pintos. But it was not to be.

Instead of commentary on why the nation (and the then "Western Free World") veered in that direction, we were given superficial exposition to the cultural tidbits of 1976. They're like minor vignettes for a variety show done during the post-sexual revolution.

The promised exploration and exposition of 1976 America (as it loosely related to the nations founding in 1776 ... part of the gag) is lost. There's no emotional connection whatsoever, just a loose and feebly scripted "homage" to the peculiarities and trends of the time. It's as if the script was written by a first or second year film student. The story lacks a larger theme and deeper emotional focus.

Still, it's worth a smirk to look at one time. My boss wasn't too pleased that I had dragged him to see a midnight showing after work (especially since we had a 7AM call time the next morning ... but I digress), but I have to admit that my curiosity of seeing the film had been satisfied. And although I agree with my former employer's comment, and have ripped the film apart in this review, I did, in a very not-so-serious way, enjoy it for what it was. Still, it's not a film I'd add to my DVD collection.

Watch at your own risk.

Quality entertainment for kitch-hounds

[J.E.C. · 1 April 1999]

I watched this movie because I heard Jeff and Steve McDonald, from my favorite band Redd Kross, we're in it. The movie itself was nothing great, but it had enough retro fashion and faded pop-culture icons to keep your average kitch-addict entertained. An enjoyable cartoon, but if you're looking for a truly honest depiction of 70's culture, check out "Boogie Nights", "Dazed and Confused", or that Matt Dillon teen-apocalypse classic, "Over the Edge".