A Guerra de Harry

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.

Regular viewers of The History Channel will quickly recognize Ed Hermann as the host and narrator of many of their programs, and as a spokesman for Chrysler/Dodge commercials. It's easy to forget that he's a prolific and talented actor. "Harry's War" is one of his best. Harry Johnson does something we've all wanted to do: level the big guns at the IRS! David Ogden Stiers is great as the IRS supervisor who has forgotten the "servant" part of Public Servant. "I'm the United States Government, Johnson. Who are you?" he says. Like so many other bureaucrats, he's forgotten who he really works for, and Harry sets out to remind him. This little gem of a film should be broadcast every year at tax filing time. Good luck trying to find a copy on tape!

In the mid-1980s I once saw part of an interview with David Ogden Stiers, who played the IRS agent/director in this great film. He was asked about what his favorite role had been, and I got this idea that 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...." at which point they cut to a commercial.

Unfortunately, I didn't bother to note what program this was, and it's been so many years ago that I'm not even sure I'm recalling everything right. But it was funny enough to remember all this time.

By-the-way, the Harry character gives a pretty good speech about his position near the end of the film -- it's not really all that radical or "anti-government" so much as it is anti-bureaucratic abuse and pro-freedom. Highly recommended, overall.

There are still a few sources (some online) with copies of this movie available -- you just have to look around.

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.