When Every Day Was the Fourth of July
(1978)

TV Movie

Country: USA

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

In the summer of 1937 in Bridgeport, Connecticut 12-year-old Daniel Cooper (Chris Petersen), along with his younger sister Sarah, are looking forward to summer vacation, and, more particularly, the annual 4th of July festivities. After Sarah defends the town's gentle misfit, Albert Cavanaugh - known to the children as "Snowman" on account of his white hair - from a local bully (Eric Shea), she discovers that he is in fact a highly decorated and now brain-damaged World War I veteran. When Albert is accused of a terrible murder, Sarah, believing him to be innocent, convinces her attorney father, Ed Cooper, to defend him at his trial. Amidst courtroom allegations of the defendant's supposed political anarchism, Ed Cooper and the town's children must try to prove Snowman's innocence, before he is found guilty of murder and possibly sentenced to death.

Notes

• This film had a sequel, The Long Days of Summer (1980).
• Written, produced and directed by American director Dan Curtis, the characters in this film are based in part on Curtis' own childhood in Bridgeport, with Danny representing himself as a boy, and many of the other characters based on real people Curtis knew growing up, including Danny's friends in the film, who are each named after Curtis' own boyhood friends. (However, unlike in the film, Curtis did not have a sister, the character of Sarah being based on co-writer Lee Hutson's sister of the same name.)
• This would be Eric Shea's final role before retiring from showbusiness. He came in to read for the role of "Red" Doyle just one day before principal photography was set to begin, and was hired on the spot. He was 17 years old at the time of filming.