The Rebels

This follow-up to "The Bastard" has Philip Kent ("Andrew Stevens") deeply involved in the American Revolutionary War.

This installment of John Jakes best-selling novels about the Kent family diverges from the source novel.

It's also not as rollicking as "The Bastard." While part of the fun of "The Bastard" was watching big TV stars playing historical figures, "The Rebels" has less of that. In the expedition on Fort Ticonderoga neither Ethan Allen nor Benedict Arnold are depicted. Peter Graves makes a George Washington with gravitas, but Robert Vaughn handles the period dialogue better. William Daniels, who played a great Sam Adams in "The Bastard" here gets to be Sam's brother John, a role he played on stage and in the movies in "1776."

One surprise is singer Tanya Tucker, who acquits herself well.

It still might be useful as a crash course in understanding the creation of the United States, in this day of worful ignorance of the US and its founding, though "The Bastard" did the more important job of showing why a colonized people fought for its separation from Great Britain. It's also increasingly soap operaish.

Philip Kent still sleeps with every pretty woman who crosses his path. They throw themselves at him. Nice work if you can get it.

BTW, what happened to Philip Kent's French accent?

I liked "The Rebels" better than its predecessor, as the story expanded to include more characters, like Judson Fletcher (played to perfection by Don Johnson) and there was more focus on the Revolution rather than Philip's quest for his inheritance. (Andrew Stevens does a great job, once again.)

And once again, we're loaded with stars and familiar faces: Joan Blondell, Doug McClure, Jim Backus, Richard Basehart, Rory Calhoun, MacDonald Carey, William Daniels, Peter Graves, Forrest Tucker, Tanya Tucker (no relation, I don't think), Robert Vaughan, William Windom, the list seems endless!

Shouldn't miss this one!

I am a big fan of the John Jakes series and enjoyed the made for tv version of the Bastard. This follow up film unfortunately plays as a bad episodic that doesn't follow the novel. The two main characters played by Stevens and Johnson never even meet in the book yet 50% of this mini series has them together as revolutionary Starsky and Hutch. No apparent reason for not following the novel that I can tell other than Hollywood mucking up a good story. Celebrity appearances are fun. Great to see Tom Bosley as Ben Franklin and Peter Graves and Washington. This one you can pass on.