In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Martin, a French and Indian War veteran and a widower with seven children, is called to Charlestown to vote in the South Carolina General Assembly on a levy suppor… See more

• Mel Gibson as Captain/Colonel Benjamin Martin A veteran of the French and Indian War, the hero of the fictional Fort Wilderness, and the widowed father of seven children, he is based on a composite of historica… See more

Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote seventeen drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one. In an early version, Anne is pregnant with Gabriel's child when she dies in the burning church. Rodat wrote the script with … See more