"John Adams" a gripping civics lesson

He was not the most popular Founding Father, nor the most diplomatic. Plump and blunt-featured, he didn't cut an especially fine figure in his waistcoats and breeches. And his ego and impatience were often worn on his sleeve.

But without John Adams, the course of the 13 British colonies in America could well have been markedly different. And taken all together, his long, remarkable saga (including one of the best political marriages ever) was vibrantly accomplished and meaningful by any measure.

So one learns from David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, "John Adams," and from the absorbing new seven-part HBO miniseries inspired by it. The series has a two-episode premiere Sunday, and airs on subsequent Sundays through April 20.

An elaborate, expensive and ambitious venture — even by lofty HBO standards — "John Adams" was filmed on historical sites in colonial Williamsburg and Richmond, Va., and in Europe.

Directed (rather ironically) by a Brit, Tom Hooper ("Longford"), and co-produced by Tom Hanks, this series has a few melodramatic touches and some needlessly sappy musical scoring.

But "John Adams" boasts a tremendous cast, led by Paul Giamatti, a perfect, nuanced Adams (and an actor who began his career in Seattle fringe theaters), and Laura Linney, whose portrayal of the devoted, keenly intelligent, staunchly anti-slavery Abigail Adams is equally impressive.

The miniseries is also a gripping civics lesson, with a narrative so eventful it's hard to believe this is the abridged version of a great man's life.

"John Adams" begins with an expansive focus on a legal case McCullough's book presented as a turning point in Adams' life, and key to his complex character.

It follows the humbly born but well-educated Boston lawyer and farmer Adams, as he defends in court some occupying British soldiers accused of killing American colonists during a rowdy street dust-up.

Scrupulously dedicated to the rule of law, and wary of mob action, we see Adams gradually join his respected cousin Samuel Adams (Danny Huston) in rebelling against England's tyranny, and championing the patriots' cause of conjoined independence.

In the first four episodes of the series (the only ones available for media preview), "John Adams" goes on to depict the fascinating personalities, and the religious, ethical and philosophical struggles within the Continental Congresses that forged the severance from Britain.

And in its most opulent scenes, it vaults Adams from Yankee rigors to the decadent courts of France, where he and Benjamin Franklin (Tom Wilkinson) were posted to drum up support for our revolution.

Though the screenplay by Kirk Ellis leaves out much of interest in McCullough's book, it has a broad sweep and a penchant for telling detail. And it focuses on a skein of critical bonds in the life of a public servant who prized friendship greatly — and realized its political necessity.

Most important was his marriage to Abigail, his most astute counselor, who bore the brunt of raising their brood of children and maintaining the family farm, while Adams was off serving the Republic. (Much of the couple's dialogue comes from their eloquent letters and diaries.)

Also intriguing are Adams' relationships with Thomas Jefferson (terrific Stephen Dillane), George Washington (David Morse, a ringer for our first president) and Wilkinson's wily old Franklin.

Later episodes cover Adams' presidency, and his old age. (He survived to 90, in an era of abysmal sanitation and primitive medicine.)

With some computer enhancement, "John Adams" has been crafted with visual flair and period accuracy.

But it is largely Giamatti and Linney who flesh out the factual record. They give this honorable entertainment its sense of intimate authenticity, and of two lives, fully lived, against the dawning of an imperfect new nation, conceived in liberty and reaching for equality.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com