Liberty (1986 film)

Liberty is a television film which aired on NBC on June 23, 1986.^[1] It is a largely fictionalized account of the construction of the Statue of Liberty, which had been completed 100 years earlier.

Liberty
Genre	Historical period drama
Screenplay by	Pete Hamill (billed as Robert Malloy)
Directed by	Richard C. Sarafian
Starring	Chris Sarandon Frank Langella Carrie Fisher Dana Delany
Composer	William Goldstein
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Jean Chalopin Robert Greenwald
Producer	Paul Pompian
Production locations	Baltimore, Maryland Chateau de Ferrières 77164, Ferrières-en-Brie, France Maison Opéra Paris, France Senlis 60300 Oise, France
Cinematography	Al Francis
Editor	Robert Florio
Running time	180 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	June 23, 1986 (1986-06-23)

Scenes were shot on location in Paris and Baltimore.^[2][3]

Plot

Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (Frank Langella) and author Édouard de Laboulaye (Jean-Pierre Cassel) agree to create a monument to present to the United States on behalf of the French people. Bartholdi searches for a model, approaching (and romancing) young woman Jeanne Baheau (Corinne Touzet) for the body of the statue, and deciding to use his mother (Claire Bloom) as a model for its face.

Enlisted to help with its construction are immigrant coppersmith Jacque Marchant (Chris Sarandon), shop owner Seamus Reilly (George Kennedy), and assistant Robert Johnson (LeVar Burton). Marchant falls in love with poet Emma Lazarus (Carrie Fisher), who supplies the sonnet "The New Colossus" for the base of the statue.^[1][3][4]

Cast

Actor	Role
Chris Sarandon	Jacque Marchant
Frank Langella	Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Carrie Fisher	Emma Lazarus
Dana Delany	Moya Trevor
Corinne Touzet	Jeanne Baheau
George Kennedy	Seamus Reilly
Claire Bloom	Madame Bartholdi
LeVar Burton	Robert Johnson
Jean-Pierre Cassel	Édouard de Laboulaye
Remak Ramsay	John La Farge
Philip Bosco	Boss William Tweed
Alan North	Ulysses S. Grant
Max Wright	Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
Jean De Baer	Allyse
Dennis Boutsikaris	Joseph Pulitzer
Walter Gotell	Rabbi Goteyel
Angela Bassett	Linda Thornton

Reception

Reviews of Liberty were generally negative. Jeff Jarvis of People called it "as pretentious as a high school sophomore trying to act like a college freshman."^[5] Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune described it as "turgid as well as ludicrous, drawing upon the device of meshing fictional and historical characters."^[4]

Screenwriter Pete Hamill was unhappy with the finished product, and had his name changed to "Robert Malloy" in the credits.^[1]