The Rebels (1979)

A second helping of elegantly mounted fiction about the American Revolution as written by the prolific John Jakes. This sequel to "The Bastard" (1978) continues the saga of Philip Kent, the illegitimate son of an English nobleman, who has renounced his patrician birthright to become a Colonial soldier fighting for America's independence, befriending a southern aristocrat and his earthy buddy to help thwart a plot to assassinate George Washington. Andrew Stevens as Kent, Kim Cattrall as his wife, and Tom Bosley as Ben Franklin are the only performers back from the original four-hour film. William Daniels, who played Samuel Adams in "The Bastard," is back as John Adams in "The Rebels." being destined, it seems, to play the entire Adams family (he also was John Adams in "1776" on stage and screen and was John Quincy Adams in the television special "The Adams Chronicles").