Heartbreaking Triumph
Added 1/29/2008
A powerful and heartbreaking portrayal of what it is like to walk on egg shells in a household inhabited by an alcoholic husband and father.
The story deftly renders the awkward and secretive moral climate around alcohol, sex, and infidelity in post- WWII America. Unflinching in his lack of sensitivity, John Voight nonetheless succeeds in winning a kind of sad sympathy for his post-combat nightmares and his tortured reality. Jo Beth Williams, Annabeth Gish, and Ellen Barkin give outstandingly moving performances that could only be described as remarkable. John Garfield gives a subtle and important performance in a wonderful supporting roll.
This film was one of those sleepers that came out of left field, and knocked me down! It is a noteworthy American film, tragic, touching, and ultimately triumphant. It is truly unforgettable.
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A Great American Story
Added 3/29/2007
Annabeth Gish gives a great performance as a young girl struggling to understand her life growing up in 1950's Las Vegas. Her mother is trying to keep their family together through some pretty hard times. The town is under constant threat of the A-Bomb. Rose's (Gish) stepfather is an alcoholic struggling with the demons of war. The story is great and I think many families with veterans can identify.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Compelling
Added 3/23/2005
Set near Las Vegas in 1950, this is a coming-of-age movie about a 13-year-old girl as she tries to deal with the turbulence in her family in the form mainly of her alcoholic stepfather (Jon Voight). An aunt is living with them for 42 days in order to fulfill the residency requirement to get a quicky divorce. The girl catches Voight and the aunt in an embrace one day, and bolts out. Voight finds her near a nuclear test site. The story is quite intelligent and compelling. The movie has strong character development, though some of the conflict is still fuzzy and unresolved.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The Walking Wounded
Added 4/26/2004
Sensitively told coming-of-age film set against Las Vegas and the early years of atomic testing. Rose (Annabeth Gish) is thirteen and very much wants to connect with stepdad Jack (Jon Voight), an alcoholic WWII veteran still possessed by the demons of combat. Trouble is, she's operating on one track, while he's operating on two, such that just when they seem at last to converge, he goes off on a delusionary binge. Movie is notable for the exceptionally fine performances of these two actors. Gish, tottering atop two gawky legs and peering out from the cosmetic curse of horned-rim glasses, is the very real, aching embodiment of adolescent angst. Hers has to be one of the finest, least mannered renderings of teen-age yearning and self-doubt in many, many years, and made even me, a hardened old curmudgeon, feel kindly toward the hopelessly pubescent. Voight's character is less sympathetic and more complex. Victimized by the evils of war and beset by alcohol and impotence, he's having trouble with his masculinity in a house full of women. He wants to fulflill a positive role for his wife and stepdaughters, but the inner turmoil keeps erupting unpredictably.You want Jack and Rose to connect, to heal one another's emotional wounds, but circumstance is against them. Movie leaves off on suitably ambiguous note as atomic test parallels emotional family blowup. We know time will take care of Rose's problems, but what of Jack. Film is not so much about dysfunction as it is about adolescence and the walking wounds of war, such that you'll remember the characters long after the various plot complications have subsided. What a fine piece of non-commercial movie making this is thanks to Sundance Productions and writer-director Eugene Corr. Their work along with that of the entire cast shows once again why "the obscure little movie with something to say" continues to be one of our finest film traditions.
5 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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A story of a troubled family
Added 7/9/2002
I think this movie was extremely good. Great acting by Annabeth Gish and Jon Voight. Having this movie be Annabeth's first big screen. About a troubled father who got hurt in the war and abuses his oldest step-daughter. A compeling story of protecting yourself, and love, and betraying the people you love.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Heartbreaking Triumph
Added 1/29/2008
A powerful and heartbreaking portrayal of what it is like to walk on egg shells in a household inhabited by an alcoholic husband and father.
The story deftly renders the awkward and secretive moral climate around alcohol, sex, and infidelity in post- WWII America. Unflinching in his lack of sensitivity, John Voight nonetheless succeeds in winning a kind of sad sympathy for his post-combat nightmares and his tortured reality. Jo Beth Williams, Annabeth Gish, and Ellen Barkin give outstandingly moving performances that could only be described as remarkable. John Garfield gives a subtle and important performance in a wonderful supporting roll.
This film was one of those sleepers that came out of left field, and knocked me down! It is a noteworthy American film, tragic, touching, and ultimately triumphant. It is truly unforgettable.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A Great American Story
Added 3/29/2007
Annabeth Gish gives a great performance as a young girl struggling to understand her life growing up in 1950's Las Vegas. Her mother is trying to keep their family together through some pretty hard times. The town is under constant threat of the A-Bomb. Rose's (Gish) stepfather is an alcoholic struggling with the demons of war. The story is great and I think many families with veterans can identify.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Compelling
Added 3/23/2005
Set near Las Vegas in 1950, this is a coming-of-age movie about a 13-year-old girl as she tries to deal with the turbulence in her family in the form mainly of her alcoholic stepfather (Jon Voight). An aunt is living with them for 42 days in order to fulfill the residency requirement to get a quicky divorce. The girl catches Voight and the aunt in an embrace one day, and bolts out. Voight finds her near a nuclear test site. The story is quite intelligent and compelling. The movie has strong character development, though some of the conflict is still fuzzy and unresolved.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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