Harrys ganz privater Krieg

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.

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!

HARRY'S WAR is one of the only American films ever made that really attempts to reveal the corruption in our governmental system. Other than Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON there has never really been a studio film made that tells it how it really is. And although this film only scratches the surface of how absolutely corrupt and unconstitutional the I.R.S. is, it does deliver a shocking amount of truth, within a film community that is undeniably censored and most of the time pure propaganda.

It's amazing the power that film has. It people saw this film in mass. It would start a revolution.

I remember seeing "Harry's War" (1981) when I was on vacation in St. George of all places (where "Harry's War" was filmed). I honestly don't remember much about the film--the political arguments were a little beyond my 12-year-old brain.

Watching it recently as a 42-year-old, I must say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Oh, the cinematography, script, and acting are a bit wobbly (you can tell it was a low-budget production), but it has one thing that a lot of movies today lack: entertainment value. I was entertained throughout the entire film. Part of it was probably due to the fact that I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I've seen plenty of left-wing diatribes on film, but I don't think I've ever seen anything so sincerely right-wing. And even though it was in the service of a "silly" comedy, it was smart right-wing (I know that sounds like a contradiction: silly and smart). The condemnation of the IRS in the film was valid, and it's only gotten about 1000 percent worse since 1981.

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.