Anyone expecting George C Scott and Franklin J Schaffner's reunion for Islands in the Stream to be up to the standards of their previous collaboration, Patton, will be sorely disappointed.
An artist, Thomas Hudson (Scott), living in the Bahamas in 1940 is visited by his three sons (the oldest is from his first marriage and soon old enough to enlist in WWII) and, after a few awkward moments with the middle son who remembers that Dad wasn't always a nice guy, everyone has a wonderful time in the sun before the boys return home...
Later, Thomas' first wife arrives to tell him that their son has been killed in action. But she chooses to go about this is a very, VERY strange way.
First, Thomas and the former Mrs Hudson go for a nice walk on the beach without a care in the world. She tells him she's getting married to a General. They talk about their failed marriage in his home and then (feeling a chill on the back of his neck) Thomas senses the bad news that his ex-wife hasn't even begun to hint at.
And when he asks her if their son is dead, she says....
'Sure.'
What the hell kind of an answer is that???
The former Mrs Hudson departs, Thomas decides to do something worthwhile and in a bizarre tacked on action climax, he and his drunken companion, Eddy (played by a post-dental work David Hemmings) are shot and killed.
Knowing that he will soon shuffle off this mortal coil, Thomas has peculiar, cheesy visions of the former Mrs Hudson embracing his two younger sons (yes, the ones he had with someone else!) as he joins them to walk off into the very overexposed horizon.
The very mediocre end to a mediocre film.
Incidentally, the Queen Mother (God bless her) was not in her 80's. She would have turned 73 in 1940.
You would think that someone associated with the film would have checked that or is there some point being made here that I missed?
An artist, Thomas Hudson (Scott), living in the Bahamas in 1940 is visited by his three sons (the oldest is from his first marriage and soon old enough to enlist in WWII) and, after a few awkward moments with the middle son who remembers that Dad wasn't always a nice guy, everyone has a wonderful time in the sun before the boys return home...
Later, Thomas' first wife arrives to tell him that their son has been killed in action. But she chooses to go about this is a very, VERY strange way.
First, Thomas and the former Mrs Hudson go for a nice walk on the beach without a care in the world. She tells him she's getting married to a General. They talk about their failed marriage in his home and then (feeling a chill on the back of his neck) Thomas senses the bad news that his ex-wife hasn't even begun to hint at.
And when he asks her if their son is dead, she says....
'Sure.'
What the hell kind of an answer is that???
The former Mrs Hudson departs, Thomas decides to do something worthwhile and in a bizarre tacked on action climax, he and his drunken companion, Eddy (played by a post-dental work David Hemmings) are shot and killed.
Knowing that he will soon shuffle off this mortal coil, Thomas has peculiar, cheesy visions of the former Mrs Hudson embracing his two younger sons (yes, the ones he had with someone else!) as he joins them to walk off into the very overexposed horizon.
The very mediocre end to a mediocre film.
Incidentally, the Queen Mother (God bless her) was not in her 80's. She would have turned 73 in 1940.
You would think that someone associated with the film would have checked that or is there some point being made here that I missed?