I’m excited to finally see this movie! It’s been on my ‘it’d be nice to watch’ list for a while and thanks to this project, I actually got around to watching it. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
When silversmith apprentice Johnny Tremain injures his hand, he has to leave his master’s shop and find new employment. With his deformed hand, he struggles to find work before becoming a messenger for a newspaper (and for the rebels). His new job pulls him into the inner circle of those patriots involved with the Boston Tea Party and early into the American Revolution. Includes a silver christening cup, a horse named Goblin and the Tree of Liberty.
What works
- I love how smooth the story setup is. It is a little slow at the beginning, with a focus on Johnny’s background as a silversmith’s apprentice and his subsequent injury, but it allows time for the complex details that make up the film to start building.
- Though the film starts off slow, it moves well and once the events tied to the American Revolution (such as the Boston Tea Party) start, it really propels forward. I may have mentioned this before (or maybe I haven’t), but the Colonial era, with the American Revolution, is one of my favorite eras of American history to study. Having the film seen through Johnny’s eyes allowed the events to come to life in a much more natural way than if it had been a documentary.
- The film is organized really well. It was so straightforward and to the point. I mentioned above how it was a little slow at the beginning but it worked out so much better to have it told that way. I’ve seen stories told where they begin closer to the main action, telling the backstories as flashbacks, but that would have dragged here. And with how the different main revolution events were set up, it would not have fit well with the structure or the speed of the scenes.
- I really appreciate how the historical figures were portrayed and presented throughout the film. They weren’t overbearing or crowding the film (with the film being about Johnny), acting as the regular men that they were but there was still enough of an ‘aw factor’ that Johnny was perhaps a little too ‘starstruck’ during his early days with the Sons of Liberty.
What may or may not work
- After a secret meeting with the other patriots, Johnny and Cilla are walking back to Cilla’s home when she says how she could get a job at a local pub where Redcoats often hang around. When Johnny mentions how he wants to be able to keep an eye on her while she’s keeping an eye on the Redcoats (to keep her safe), she agrees to get a job at a different location.
- My only question is how easy is it to get jobs? That she can just snap her fingers to start working somewhere? She does get a job at that location, and her job there does help with the cause later on in the film, but it’s a little too ‘magical’ for me (even for a Disney movie). Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I’d notice a lot more Bostonians started working where British officers ate, drank or slept. Okay, I’m totally overthinking it but while the dialogue makes sense (establishing her work location for later on), the extra bit about switching where she could work to where she would work was unnecessary.
Honorable Mentions
- I keep wanting to spell ‘Johnny Tremain’ as ‘Johnny Tremaine’ because I always think of Lady Tremaine when I hear that name. But no, there’s no ‘e’ at the end.
- Shout out to Johnny’s former silversmith master, Mr. Lapham, for being a first-rate guy, offering to let Johnny stay in his home/shop, even after his hand was ruined.
- The Sons of Liberty clean up the ship after dumping all the tea out. So polite, so kind.
- I feel so bad because Johnny and Cilla told the stable boy they would help him get the horse and saddle ready in order to get him to talk about what the British officers said…and then left after they got the information and before helping him. Timing is of the essence but that poor stable boy is left alone again.
Side Questions
- WHY DOES NO ONE ASK WHAT JOHNNY’S MOTHER’S NAME IS?! Okay so it’s not fully relevant to the film (as Johnny gets freed because of Cilla’s testimony and because the film’s focus is more on the start of the American Revolution) but it seems a simple thing to ask, especially during the court scene, what her name was.
What I learned from watching this film
- I have a love/hate relationship with historical fiction stories, mainly dependent upon the main fictional character(s). If they’re annoying or start to bug me, I find myself disconnected from what’s going on and I often stop reading or watching. Here, though, I enjoyed watching Johnny and the other fictional characters. They were interesting, they mixed well with the historical figures and they could stand on their own as solid characters. You have to have a good balance when it comes to pairing fictional characters with those from reality. The fictional character allows for artistic liberty in crafting a story but both the story and the character have to be believable to match with the historical figure.
- I think that was something that I enjoyed about Johnny and his friends. They weren’t just thrown in with the Sons of the Liberty, but rather through normal relationships that created a believable world. Johnny met and had a friendly conversation with Rab whose uncle owned the newspaper print shop where the Boston patriots would meet. It wasn’t an instant friendship but one of several meetings before they became solid friends and Johnny began working for the newspaper. His former occupation as an apprentice was how he originally came into contact with Paul Revere and was also how he became good friends (and possibly something someday more) with Cilla, the granddaughter of his former master. I don’t find myself questioning ‘how did he get so lucky to meet so-and-so’, they make sense because of how they are set up and since they make sense, I believe them.
If you’ve seen Westward Ho the Wagons!, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with Westward Ho the Wagons!
Fast Forward to the next film with Perri
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