Harry's War

A fascinating memento of the zeitgeist of the early eighties, made when Ronald Reagan was running for President and released after his inauguration declaring that government was the problem and taxes were evil (a mindset that has remained the received wisdom for the past forty years and is one reason the richest nation on earth was so woefully unprepared for the current coronavirus pandemic). Yet when one of the characters collapses in court it's paramedics paid out of tax dollars that are called in to aid the stricken victim.

The film has been compared to Capra, and while Geraldine Page's crazy old aunt (and her eccentric family) are far weirder than Lionel Barrymore's brood in 'You Can't It With You', it uses Capra's device of giving the task of stating the case for taxation to shifty-looking spokesmen (in Capra's film hawk-faced Charles Lane, in 'Harry's War' a smarmy David Ogden Stiers) easily rebutted by an Everyman figure (here ironically named 'Johnson' like the great reforming president of the sixties) declaring that "Hitler would've loved the IRS" rather than the cold-eyed plutocrats that are the real winners when taxes are low.

I saw this moving when it first came out in the movie theater, on the big screen. In all the study I've done on the IRS, what little facts the agents spill, are accurate. The IRS does run on bluff. At the end of the movie, I witnessed something I've never seen in a movie theater, although I admit I don't go to many movies. The entire audience stood to their feet and applauded and cheered. This movie tells the truth, and elicits the Americans' true feelings about being robbed and brutalized by the IRS. It took me a long time to find this on video, and now I am having trouble finding it on DVD. The reason? The IRS doesn't want this information out there available to the public. That said, I want everyone to know that the income tax is only applicable to "US citizens," and the Internal Revenue Code defines the United States as "Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands . . ." and other US territories. However, the US uses forms to get us to check off that we are "U.S. citizen," which we are not, so you are actually volunteering to pay taxes when you mistakenly state you are a "US citizen." Stop doing that! You are a state citizen.

First, the IMDb rating for this movie (at the time of this writing) of only 5.7 is a sham. If one takes the actual rating average from the 193 voters, then the rating average is actually 7.16, and if you take the number of stars from those who wrote reviews (and included stars) it has a 9 star rating. So why the 5.7? Well, it appears that if IMDb disagrees with the vote, then they simply change it to whatever they think it should be, and they also clearly state that they will not tell you how they came to that decision. So, in summary, your vote does not count unless they (IMDb) agrees with it, thereby, rendering the movie average that they display as practically useless.

How appropriate a treatment for this very movie, where the governing who disagree simply change the rules to their satisfaction.

This movie is worth seeing for those who wish to see a film regarding an ever growing issue in the US. It is hard to find, but with diligence you can come across DVD copies on the internet. It is certainly better than 5.7.

The protagonist, Harry, attempts to remedy a situation where his friend is about to have her property confiscated for back taxes, taxes that she actually does not owe. He attempts to talk with the IRS director, to no avail. He goes to the kangaroo tax court, only to learn that he lost before ever entering the court room. He quickly finds out that the system is designed to squelch noncompliance, which also results in the death of his friend in the tax court. The property, having been willed to Harry, now becomes his fight, which he does with a method of last desperation with seemingly no other alternative.

Although the film is a bit lighthearted and meant to be a comedy, the subject matter is quite serious. The end scene is darkly prophetic of the tragic incident involving the US government in Waco, Texas, 12 years after the movie was made.

This movie should be required viewing for all students. It puts into perspective how we have allowed our "servants" to become our "masters". Harry's speech is great talking about freedom and what our founders stood for. So many important lessons we have forgotten. I bought a copy on e-bay. They are getting hard to find and I guarantee it will never again be released. Get your copy while you can. A great deal of the movie is based on truth. The scene with the aunt dying at the IRS kangaroo court is based upon a true incident. When he talks about the IRS and their abuses, many if not all of them can be documented as based on real life. The discussions of the complexity of the IRS code and how no one understands it make you want to stand up and shout "AMEN". Someday I hope our government will listen and ax the tax.

In 1981 I worked in an office adjacent to a Vidio rental store, where I would visit frequently to rent movies. Although, I must have missed any theatrical release, I found "Harry's War" on the video racks. My wife and I watched it and were fascinated by the almost sacrilegious shots taken at the "IRS" in the movie. As we at the were embroiled in a conflict with the "IRS", it hit really close to home. As a result we talked about the movie constantly to friends and acquaintances. Many of them showed and interest and we decided to rent the movie again and invite a few of these friends over to view it on our Television. We were surprised however to find that the movie was missing from the shelves. This was very unexpected as there had been at least a dozen copies. When I questioned the store owner, he stated that the distribution company had re-called the movie without explanation. At that point I began searching other Video rental stores and must have contacted 20 or 30 different stores without finding it. In fact, I could not even find anyone who recalled having the movie. At this point I began to suspect foul play. I did not have access to the internet at the time, but I did research and called a number of Video suppliers, including the one that our store said the movie had come to him from. Once again, I could not find out what had happened to the movie, or even get anyone to admit that they had heard of it. At this point I was beginning to doubt my own sanity. If I had not watched it with my wife, I may have thought I dreamed it up. I have repeated this story many times down through the years and never found anyone who would, or could verify that they had seen the movie. You can imagine my surprise at finding it in this data base. I had eventually (99%) come to the conclusion that the Government (ie IRS), had been instrumental in quashing the movie, as it was extremely (rightfully) prejudicial to the IRS's tactics of collection. I'm still waiting to find out.