Right off,I'll mention that I cannot believe this movie,15 years after the public debut of DVD's,is still not available in the format.
I won a VHS copy of it from Ebay (nobody bid against me,big shock). I thankfully had the great experience of seeing on late night TV in 2000 (somewhat edited for content of course).
The reason for tuning in then(like most here) was that it is Michael Douglases debut feature.
Michael does an excellent job here of playing (and balancing) a young,idealistic,anti-war protester who at the same time is still trying to win the approval of his "old fashioned" father,by doing...of all things...volunteering to go off to Vietnam!
He's also trying to find a way to mend fences with his brother and maybe open the eyes of his mother,who seems to want to avoid such things like real life issues or her son's thoughts or feelings.
Douglas's arrival back to the family home,is a great way to show how "directly between" man & boy his character is. He almost playfully romps around the place and is beyond joy when reunited with his dog.
Some might think this is too "sunshiney" but I loved it...we should all be so happy to come back home. Unfortuantly after that,he finds,of course,that nothing has changed.
His brother (feeling Douglas's character caused his accident a couple of years ago) is none to thrilled to see him.
His father immediately gives him a hair-cut in the kitchen because he disapproves of his son being a "long haired hippie" & "looking like a girl". His mother still handles things the same old way,by not handling them or acknowledging her son's point of view. She's also fooling around with a man behind her husband's back (which Douglas later discovers. )
Douglas says,does and tries many ways to make certain things understood to his family & former neighbors but also to take him seriously about his having signed up to go to war. I totally loved his tense stand-off with one of his father's friends in the family living room.
The home exterior set looks a bit dated (looking like right out of a 50s movie,filmed on a sound stage). The real outdoor shots are much better,giving a better sense of a real place and situation.
These two things combined though,kind of show where Amercia was then. In a struggle between old & new values and also the opposing stands on Vietnam and other realities the country was dealing with.
The only reason I'm rating this a 9 instead of a 10,is that while I get the ending of the film,it just seems a bit hurried. Without giving the ending away,Douglas's youth makes one more grand poignant demonstration and right after this,it goes to freeze-frame,the closing theme plays,and the brief credits roll.
I guess I felt there could have been at least another 15 to 20 minutes more that could have been done here. Just to have a more defined ending but maybe I;m wrong & that's what the film-maker was gong for. Point made-end film.
I also love that Gordon Lightfoot does the title song "Hail,Hero" at the start and ends with a (then) newer version of his 60s classic "Wherefore And Why",
So,nine stars out of ten. A great debut for Michael Douglas,with even better things to come after. The rest of the cast did a great job as well.
Once again though,to conclude,this really needs to be put out,
on a "real" DVD. Real meaning digitally restored picture and sound and subtitles and/or closed captioning - or both. This is Douglases debut,after all. It deserves a better status than VHS on Ebay! (END) .
I won a VHS copy of it from Ebay (nobody bid against me,big shock). I thankfully had the great experience of seeing on late night TV in 2000 (somewhat edited for content of course).
The reason for tuning in then(like most here) was that it is Michael Douglases debut feature.
Michael does an excellent job here of playing (and balancing) a young,idealistic,anti-war protester who at the same time is still trying to win the approval of his "old fashioned" father,by doing...of all things...volunteering to go off to Vietnam!
He's also trying to find a way to mend fences with his brother and maybe open the eyes of his mother,who seems to want to avoid such things like real life issues or her son's thoughts or feelings.
Douglas's arrival back to the family home,is a great way to show how "directly between" man & boy his character is. He almost playfully romps around the place and is beyond joy when reunited with his dog.
Some might think this is too "sunshiney" but I loved it...we should all be so happy to come back home. Unfortuantly after that,he finds,of course,that nothing has changed.
His brother (feeling Douglas's character caused his accident a couple of years ago) is none to thrilled to see him.
His father immediately gives him a hair-cut in the kitchen because he disapproves of his son being a "long haired hippie" & "looking like a girl". His mother still handles things the same old way,by not handling them or acknowledging her son's point of view. She's also fooling around with a man behind her husband's back (which Douglas later discovers. )
Douglas says,does and tries many ways to make certain things understood to his family & former neighbors but also to take him seriously about his having signed up to go to war. I totally loved his tense stand-off with one of his father's friends in the family living room.
The home exterior set looks a bit dated (looking like right out of a 50s movie,filmed on a sound stage). The real outdoor shots are much better,giving a better sense of a real place and situation.
These two things combined though,kind of show where Amercia was then. In a struggle between old & new values and also the opposing stands on Vietnam and other realities the country was dealing with.
The only reason I'm rating this a 9 instead of a 10,is that while I get the ending of the film,it just seems a bit hurried. Without giving the ending away,Douglas's youth makes one more grand poignant demonstration and right after this,it goes to freeze-frame,the closing theme plays,and the brief credits roll.
I guess I felt there could have been at least another 15 to 20 minutes more that could have been done here. Just to have a more defined ending but maybe I;m wrong & that's what the film-maker was gong for. Point made-end film.
I also love that Gordon Lightfoot does the title song "Hail,Hero" at the start and ends with a (then) newer version of his 60s classic "Wherefore And Why",
So,nine stars out of ten. A great debut for Michael Douglas,with even better things to come after. The rest of the cast did a great job as well.
Once again though,to conclude,this really needs to be put out,
on a "real" DVD. Real meaning digitally restored picture and sound and subtitles and/or closed captioning - or both. This is Douglases debut,after all. It deserves a better status than VHS on Ebay! (END) .