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This was one of the most vulgar and disgusting things I've ever seen in my life. And you straights think we gays are the freaks? You guys really need to look in the mirror. When something like this is played at an international awards ceremony and everyone laughs, you know we're near the end of the world. It's sick that everyone gets off on the genital mutilation of men. I guess since everyone is so use to mutilating the genitals of new born baby boys it comes as no shock. I'd like to see how everyone would have reacted if it was Sarah Michelle Gellar, instead of Jack Black, that had a ring ripped out of her genitals on national television. Yeah, a laugh riot. Thank God I'm Gay. You straights can do all that nasty stuff to each other, and take pleasure in each other in this sick way, all you want. Just don't EVER criticize gays as being the sick ones.

YUK!!!

This movie came out the year I was born. I finally saw it when I was 6, and I was so attracted to Leonard Whiting I felt heat flashes in my chest and face - at six years old! I had no idea back then that the reason I felt that way was because I was gay. So naturally this movie rates as one of my all time favorites. (I think that experience pretty much proved that people don't choose to be gay!) But aside from getting a stirring in my loins at the sight of Romeo, this movie has much to be praised for. The settings, costumes, music and locations were all of Academy Award-winning quality. The actors reveled in their roles of this arguably most famous of love stories.

I was thrilled to see Olivia Hussey go on to play Mary in the now famous mini series "Jesus of Nazareth".

I first saw 1776 in middle School. I'm now 37 and have made it an annual tradition to watch this movie every Independence Day.

The actors portrayed America's founding fathers with humanity and honesty - not stuffy and mythologically. We see the real fear and real hopes of real men. We see the grief and hardship of the wives who must bear the burden of loneliness and chastity during the long terms that their husbands are off in Philadelphia to represent their colonies to the Continental Congress. The lyrics of the love songs sung between John Adams and his blessed wife, Abigail, are not fictional tripe, but are real words gleaned from actual letters sent between the two.

What tips the scale in favor of this movie is the carefully placed humor, without which this movie would surely have failed as being too boring for modern viewers. But the humor is not tasteless or pointless jokes. Ben Franklin, the biggest jokemeister of them all, uses his humor to slam dunk logical and rational points which make the audience really think about what liberty is.

The music in this movie is delightful - and even bearable for today's non-musical theater crowd. The songs tell stories, and the songs themselves make the viewer feel that it is a release of tension for the characters.

While the story itself contains several minor historical errors (for example, Judge Wilson of Pennsylvania was not the person to cast the tie-breaking vote for independence), the literary license taken by 1776's authors is totally forgivable because they brought the past to life for us and made real that which was truly important. Anyone who sees this film will have a new found respect for the men who established this nation - from Congress to General Washington to the poor soldiers on the battlefield to their extended families and to the people of the Colonies themselves, without whose determination there would be no Sovereign American United States.

Now, if only the President of the United States would watch this film...

Julie Brown hilariously demolishes Madonna's attempt at a rockumentary with gut ripping humor and truly original and catchy songs that rival Madonna's own. Cinematography and sets are top notch.

Kathy Griffin and Chris Elliott offer their own injections of comedy that enhances and compliments this film. Appearances by Bobcat Goldthwait and Wink Martindale, as themselves, is an added bonus.

It's hard to tell if Brown's performance is meant to insult or playfully tease Madonna, though I hardly think the Material Girl would find humor in it.

My Favorite line: "Why don't you come here (to the Phillipines); all they eat is dog and I'm a vegetarian."

As president of the unofficial Haunted Mansion Fan Club, one would think that I could scrounge up even a little bit of love for this movie. However, I would have to lie to say that this movie has anything worth giving credit to.

The actors: Eddie Murphy - I don't think there could have been a worse choice of casting than Eddie Murphy, who hasn't made anything close to the term "quality" since Beverly Hills Cop. He has made himself famous through his vulgar, racist and homophobic stand up comedy shows, and how the Disney Company could select him to star in such an important proprietary film is beyond all comprehension. The Children - The two kids who were cast to play the children were consistently arrogant, smart mouth, and just plain irritating. They showed very fake emotions, such as little fear at the sight of zombies and virtually not one tear for their dead mother. They are so unremarkable it wasn't even worth my time to find out their names. Terrance Stamp/Wallace Shawn/Dina Waters - the domestic help were about the only thing in this movie worth watching, but not because they had good roles. These are great actors stuck in bad-written roles, and they did the best that could be done with it.

The Plot: There was a plot? Oh yeah, I guess there was. Let me see if I got this right. A Southern white plantation owner with an out of place British accent, Master Gracey, is in love with an upscale black woman at the height of the American Black Slavery era. Now that's believable. Not. Then this black beauty is murdered by the plantation owner's also-British racist butler who fears Master Gracey will bring shame on his prissy white southern family name by marrying a black woman. Well, duh. As a "white" man I was mentally insulted by this senseless and insensitive story line, and I sympathize with African Americans who are also insulted by it. So then the story goes on with Master Gracey forcing the very married Mrs. Evers to commit polygamy by threatening to harm her children if she doesn't marry him. She drinks poison and dies at her wedding while her stupid children just stand there looking at her dead body as though it were an alien that just landed. This is quickly followed by a fiery dragon who burst up from hell through the fireplace to devour the butler, who had for some reason suddenly become a minister just in time to perform the wedding ceremony. Finally the dead wife/mother becomes possessed by the spirit of Master Gracey's dead lover and she pointlessly floats up into the air ala' Elphaba the Witch of the West from Wicked the Musical (also premiering the same year as Haunted Mansion). The plot was overly predictable. I waited over a year to see this movie in the theater, and promptly fell asleep half way through it. (I'm not kidding).

Special Effects: the special effects were very good, except they were used at weird times and inappropriately. It seemed as though special effects were used just because they had to use them.

I don't reject this movie out of a lack of imagination. I'm not your typical film-goer. I usually likes what most people DON'T like because I can see when a movie was at least made with love. But this movie might as well have an opening disclaimer announcement: "We made this movie because we were bored and just wanted to make an extra buck off the Disneyland Ride."

To sum up my feelings about this movie, I'm pretty disgusted with Disney for this disaster. A big "shame on you" to them.

The Point is one of those films that crawl inside you and never lets you go. I saw this film as a small child but could never remember the name of it. As an adult I asked other people if they had heard of it, and the faces of every single one of them lit up from the memory and they recalled how it had effected them as a child. But no one could remember the name of this film.

It wasn't until it came out on video that I finally discovered the name. I was particularly excited to learn that the voice of Oblio's father, the Pointed Man's Right Head, and The King was none other than Paul Frees - the spooky Ghost Host of Disneyland's and Walt Disney World's famous Haunted Mansion attraction, as well as the voice of several pirates in The Pirates of The Caribbean attraction.

This film ranks at the top with other childhood favorites, such as the Rankin-Bass stop motion animated Christmas specials "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Contrary to the decidedly sexist (particularly heterosexist) views of previous comment makers about this movie, I found it to be brilliant. A fairytale equally for men and women alike who have a good sense of dark humor.

The actors are at their comedic and dramatic best. You almost get a sneaking suspicion that the roles were created for these actors - or that these actors were created for these roles. Some of the lines would be unforgivably offensive if spoken by any other actors but these. It was a delight to see Susan Sarrandon (of Thelma & Louise fame) give us in this movie a veritable encore performance from her stint in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The Witches of Eastwick music soundtrack, by famous Star Wars & Indiana Jones composer John Williams, is so fantastic that it literally sold out in stores.

Mike Jitlov is a lovable genius of animation. The Wizard of Speed and Time, with its silly humor, fun special effects and really catchy theme song is worth seeing once if you have a short attention span and several times if you root for the "little guy".

Wizard makes fun of the film industry's obnoxious red tape and the heartlessness of money-grubbing studio executives, while highlighting the generous spirit of friends and of directors who want what's good for a film but have their hands tied by the stuffy studio.

The grand finale of this film is worth sitting through some very slow parts. For those who have this movie on video or DVD, I suggest using the slow-motion option to read some of the cute subliminal messages found throughout the finale.

This film is a blast. Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper are a comedic smash together. I think people would go see this film if it were released today. Googie Gress is impressive in his role as the Nemesis of our heroes, with some truly witty lines of his own.

Peter Faulk plays a con man who entices Goldblum and Lauper to travel with him to Equador and use their psychic gifts to find his missing son. The son doesn't really exist, and we discover that he is really hunting for a lost Incan city fabled to have a "room of gold".

A sampler of their whit and humor includes...

Ex-Boyfriend: "No hard feelings, huh?" Lauper: "No. No feelings at all".

Faulk: "I wanted to be a somebody". Lauper: "You ARE a somebody". Faulk: "A somebody with money".

Joseph: "Where wouldn't you like to be shot?" Goldblum: "South America".

Shocking. Revolting. Human. Those three words may sound like the description of a flop, but in reality those words describe the brilliance of this movie. Set in a theater-stage atmosphere akin to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, this movie sucks you in to a devilish plot dripping with intrigue. It leaves you feeling a bit dirty, too, like you've had a secret fling behind your spouse' back.

Glenda Jackson ("Herodius") absolutely shines in this production; a temptress of the same flavor as Joan Collins in Dallas. If I had four hands, this movie would get all four thumbs up. (Not for the squeamish - or the uppity prude).

Important notes: contrary to the false comments made by other people here about this film... The actress playing Salome is indeed a FEMALE - Imogen Millais-Scott - not a male in drag. Furthermore, some have said that the movie made a discrepancy by having Oscar Wilde arrested for "sexual crimes" on Guy Faulks Day (the day of the movie's setting) when in fact he was not arrested on that day - the actual truth being that the arrest in the film WAS FICTIONAL... in this movie he is arrested with everyone else in the brothel because the man playing Herod tells the centurion, "Kill that woman!" and he actually hurls a spear at Salome and murders her, and she falls off the stage impaled by the spear and the police find her dead body. As everyone is being tossed into the paddy wagon, Glenda Jackson attempts a defense by saying, "She wasn't murdered! She slipped on a banana peel!"

At the time I write this there is already some 1500 viewer comments, and I doubt anyone will read that many posts to finally come to my own comments. So I don't really know why I should bother. But in case there is that one person who does get this far....

All I can say is that this movie hits you hard - and it hurts.

The first thing that caught my eye was the broad variety of people in the theater... the very old, the very young, groups of girls, straight couples, gay couples, blacks and whites. I saw old men with their wives, I watched them cry. I felt the audience suck in a collective nervous breath when the first love scene occurs, but by the time the second love scene occurred the audience was leaning forward in their seats as though they would fall into the screen. This is not a movie you can effectively comment on because it is not one that is meant to entertain. It is an event, an event that grabs you by the front of your shirt and shakes you and forces you to realize that the real barter of life is love and relationships.

But if any comment of value is to be made about the awesomeness of this film, it is the testimony of untold numbers of heterosexual men who are clearly mesmerized and captivated by it. It is not because they have suddenly felt homosexual feelings, but it is because men have been forced in society to keep all emotions and feelings locked away inside, and I think this movie touches them in that secret place of emotion and shows them that they are not alone. They are shown that they can show their love, they can show their emotions....if only life would back off and shut up and finally let them be a real person. I almost felt an urge to hug every straight guy in the theater just to tell them I know how they feel.

I have a feeling that this movie will have one of the highest video sales of all time - not only purchased by those who saw it and loved it, but by all those men who wanted to see it but did not have the nerve to publicly attend a theater screening. I for one hope this movie helps people become better humans and more focused on the thing that matters most - love.

The rise to fame of Jeff Daniels (Arachnaphobia, Butcher's Wife, Good Night & Good Luck, Pleasantville), Cynthia Nixon (Amadeus, Sex in the City), Swoosie Kurtz (Sisters, Bubble Boy, Liar Liar, Reality Bites), Joyce Reehling (Nypd Blue, Law & Order, Ed, Long Time Companion), and Helen Stenborg (Longest Journey Video Game, Law & Order, Bonfire of the Vanities) is a testament to the combined acting perfection demonstrated in Fifth of July. I first saw this movie on PBS in 1989 and was instantly addicted to it.

I was thrilled when it finally came out on d v d, and I don't think I have a friend to whom I haven't shared this movie with. It's funny, it's sad, it's an attention grabber and thought provoker. Plus, of course, there's the chance to see sexy Jeff Daniels without a shirt through half the movie. It was also the first movie I had seen with a gay couple whose sexuality is neither the focus or the melodrama of the story. It was just there, it wasn't "in the way", and it presented a gay couple as they truly are - just part of the family like everyone else. The effect of this movie is that you're invited to join a family, and you feel as though you've become a part of their lives; but then the movie ends and you feel like you've suddenly been orphaned. You really fall for the characters. And the closing song is very beautiful - and I had memorized it on the first hearing! It kept me going until I bought the movie many years later on d v d.