FORGOTTEN FILM: HARRY'S WAR (1981)

I often wondered if the 1981 film HARRY’S WAR really existed. After seeing it advertised in a cable guide in the early 80’s, I never was able to see the film. It seemed to disappear.

The film stars Edward Hermann as Harry Johnson, a mail man. We know that he is patriotic as it opens with him carefully folding an American flag.

Harry is going through a divorce. He and his wife (Karen Grassle of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) have two daughters.

He gets a letter from an old family friend (Geraldine Page) who asks him to come visit. He finds out that she is being audited by the IRS, claiming that she owes $190,000. Page runs a military surplus / antiques / mission sort of home, and claims religious exemption. The IRS (led by David Ogden Stiers of MASH) doesn’t believe this to be the case .

Harry decides to get involved. When he does, the IRS decides to audit him and attach his bank account. When Page has a heart attack and dies during a tax court hearing, Harry snaps and declares war on the IRS.

He holes himself up on Page’s compound while the army is called out to take him down. Without going into details, the ending is eerily close to what happened at Waco. If made in the 90’s, the film would be criticized for copying what happened there. Since it came before, it is quite unnerving how similar it is.

The film is sort of a Frank Capra film, if Capra was a raving Libertarian. The IRS is shown as a corrupt organization, who is only out for its image. “Hitler would love the IRS” Harry states.

In the film the IRS officials say they don’t want anyone to find out about Harry’s case because, if they do, people will call them on their bluff, people would realize they don’t have to pay taxes, and they will all be out of jobs.

I don’t think that would happen.

Despite all of that, the film is actually quite watchable. Hermann and Stiers are especially good.

The film was written and directed by Kieth Merrill. Merrill had previously worked with Hermann on the 1979 film TAKE DOWN (notable for being the first PG rated film Disney distributed even though they did not produce it). He is best known as an Oscar winning documentarian.

As I mentioned, the film has had a very odd distribution history.

The film was released theatrically by Taft International. I don’t remember it getting much of a release.

It did play on cable, very briefly.


I never saw it in a video store, but there is a VHS version of the film that was released by Image Home Video. Image was then known as a laserdisc company. I wasn’t aware they released films to VHS. But, it was available (I found a copy on Ebay this way).

In the late 80’s, I actually heard of a newsletter being advertised on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show with a copy of HARRY’S WAR being given as an extra! That was the only mention of the film I have ever seen.

If Taft International (that went out of business in 1982) owned the film, that would mean it would now be owned by Paramount. I don’t know if it reverted back to its production company, American Film Consortium.

While there are bootlegs of the film out there, surprisingly the film can be found at Netflix. I rented this version.

The disc has a label on it that says “Majestic Distribution LLC under authority of Image Home Video 1986”. The disc itself has no production company logos. There is only a single menu with a PLAY option. The transfer is the old beat up VHS transfer, complete with the Image Home Video logos before the film. I would guess this is a bootleg.

Honestly, I don’t know if any company would WANT to release this today. While the film has its merits, it is also somewhat dangerous in its view of the IRS.

Plus, any company that would release it would probably become the subject of an audit.