This seems to be a forgotten film from the Vietnam genre. Released in 1971 and only 12 reviews before mine. It's hard to see why.
Michael Douglas makes a stunning movie debut as Jerry, a 20-year-old college dropout forced into a desperate flight to Canada to avoid the draft. As a mother of boys, I think I understand why Jerry made the decisions he did. He could have gotten a deferment by remaining at school, but he didn't want to go through the motions, spending precious time in classes he found meaningless. You can't expect a guy in Jerry's frame of mind to make the rational choice. And wow, is that hard for parents to accept! Barbara Bel Geddes, as Jerry's mom, tries her best to understand. After all, her own dad had emigrated from Poland 50 years earlier to avoid conscription there.
Douglas's Jerry is an idealist. The only course of learning that turns him on is the guitar that had been a gift years earlier from his hard-nosed dad (Jack Warden). He has dropped out of college to pursue music, only to learn too late that the conservatory won't accept an autodidact unfamiliar with the musical canon. Jerry has fallen for older nurse Vanneta (Brenda Vaccaro), and, even though she's betrayed his trust, imagines they could make a life together somewhere north of the border.
The most moving part of this film is its final frame. Why, why, why did we send our boys into the jungles of Vietnam? The heart of a mother breaks!
Michael Douglas makes a stunning movie debut as Jerry, a 20-year-old college dropout forced into a desperate flight to Canada to avoid the draft. As a mother of boys, I think I understand why Jerry made the decisions he did. He could have gotten a deferment by remaining at school, but he didn't want to go through the motions, spending precious time in classes he found meaningless. You can't expect a guy in Jerry's frame of mind to make the rational choice. And wow, is that hard for parents to accept! Barbara Bel Geddes, as Jerry's mom, tries her best to understand. After all, her own dad had emigrated from Poland 50 years earlier to avoid conscription there.
Douglas's Jerry is an idealist. The only course of learning that turns him on is the guitar that had been a gift years earlier from his hard-nosed dad (Jack Warden). He has dropped out of college to pursue music, only to learn too late that the conservatory won't accept an autodidact unfamiliar with the musical canon. Jerry has fallen for older nurse Vanneta (Brenda Vaccaro), and, even though she's betrayed his trust, imagines they could make a life together somewhere north of the border.
The most moving part of this film is its final frame. Why, why, why did we send our boys into the jungles of Vietnam? The heart of a mother breaks!