Harry's War (1981 film)

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Harry's War (1981)
Directed by	Kieth Merrill
Written by	Kieth Merrill
Produced by	David B. Johnston
Starring	Edward Herrmann Geraldine Page Karen Grassle David Ogden Stiers Elisha Cook
Cinematography	Reed Smoot
Edited by	Bert Lovitt
Music by	Merrill Jenson
Distributed by	American Film Consortium Taft International Pictures
Release date	March 1981 (1981-03)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Harry's War is a 1981 American comedy-drama film from American Film Consortium and Taft International Pictures, starring Edward Herrmann, Geraldine Page, Karen Grassle, David Ogden Stiers, Elisha Cook, Salome Jens and Noble Willingham. It was written and directed by Kieth Merrill.

Plot[]

After his aunt dies of a heart attack while fighting the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Harry Johnson decides to take up the cause in what may seem to be an unconventional manner: he declares war on the IRS. After the funeral of Harry's aunt, Harry uses a Half-track to sabotage a television interview of his IRS nemesis. Several violent outcomes occur with some anti-government (or, at least, anti-IRS) rhetoric.

Cast[]

• Edward Herrmann - Harry Johnson
• Geraldine Page - 'Aunt' Beverly Payne
• Karen Grassle - Kathy Johnson
• David Ogden Stiers - Ernie Scelera, IRS District Director
• Salome Jens - Wilda Crawley, IRS Agent
• Elisha Cook, Jr. (as Elisha Cook) - Sergeant Billy Floyd
• James Ray - Croft, IRS Commissioner
• Douglas Dirkson - Francis Kane (alias Draper), IRS Agent
• Jim McKrell - Roger Scofield, Newsman
• Noble Willingham - Major F. Andrews, United States Army
• Alan Cherry - Chester Clim, IRS Agent #1
• Bruce Robinson - IRS Agent #2

Production[]

Parts of the film were shot in St. George, Utah.^[1]

Theatrical run[]

This film saw a limited two-week release in theaters in March, 1981.

Television[]

SelecTV, ONTV, HBO and other premium cable movie channels ran the film in 1982, but it has never had a network television premiere or any other broadcast in the US since. In the UK, it was shown on Talking Pictures TV in 2021.

Home media[]

Image Home Video released a VHS version of the film on April 1, 1988 and using the same video transfer also did a DVD release on August 1, 2005.

Legacy[]

In a mid-1980s interview with David Ogden Stiers, who played the IRS director in the film, was asked what his favorite role had been and the interviewer was expecting him to say something about his character in M*A*S*H, but instead he paused for a second and said "There was this movie about the IRS and I was the biggest [bleep] in the office...."

See also[]

• List of American films of 1981

References[]

External links[]

• Harry's War at IMDb
• Harry's War at AllMovie
• Harry's War at Rotten Tomatoes
• The New York Times Movies