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Rating:  -
We really needed this to be finally released on DVD, and we must see this movie now, to know what awaits us, as important as seeing the Ground TRuth.
This is one of the best movies presenting the very true reality of vets who never really make it home.
We must consider this truth now, even as we realize we are not being told the whole truth about suicides in the military and among present Iraqi invasion and occupation vets, and about their inability to re-adapt to families, jobs and society now, and in the future, if they are ever permitted to return home again (doesn't sound like it still).
This story best tells the true tale. Watch it closely and prepare for the invasion. This is why so very many Vietnam vets could not take living at home again, nor keep a steady job. And this is the future harvest of the present bush wars. Be prepared.
Supplement this viewing with Coming Home, with John Voight, for an inside view of how the VA treats returning servicemen who come home damaged. THe reality is even worse, but this film gives a Hollywood water downed flavor of how it was. See also Born on the Fourth of July, based on theautobiography of the real experiences of a returning Vietnam vet, and filmed by the true American veteran of the Vietnam invasion and occupation, Oliver Stone. See also only the first half hour of First Blood before the entire series flies off into fantasy land. The first half hour, up until his escape from the police station, is like something from an entirely diferent movie, even a documentary, and is very real. Fast Forward to where he takes about trying to hold his buddy's guts in after being blown apart by an Improvised Explosives Device, and you will see what our guys are facing now when they come back, if they are ever allowed to.
That's just a few fictionalized accounts of what we can expect now, but if it wasn't real then, why were these films so urgently and widely produced? Wait until Jacknife gets remade in an updated version.
Rating: -
For Steve S. "dbronx" this film is available on DVD with multi-regions capabalities which can be played in The United States. The DVD has been re-mastered and has 5.1 channels digital sound. You can buy it form a private seller through Amazon.com. It is a bit pricey ( $21.00 Us Dollars) but it's worth it!! I would have paid much more if I had to. My VHS version is on it's way to the trash. By the way, it is safe and secure to buy from private sellers as they never get to see your credit card number, since Amazon.com receives the order and the credit card #.
I am a BIG fan of De Niro, but I have to agree with other reviewers that Ed Harris, acting was superb and flawless!
Rating:  -
Sometimes I think I should just let my unconscious take over my video programming. I first watched JACKNIFE a year ago last Veterans Day. It wasn't deliberate but this drama of two Vietnam vets still struggling to come to terms with their traumatic war experiences years later was in many ways the perfect choice. Not a perfect movie, but a perfect fit for a somewhat solemn, somber day of reflection--one that honors the dead and the living, but still tells the truth about the horrible waste of war.
The movie has been rightly touted as an acting tour de force, and the three leads, Robert DeNiro, Ed Harris and Kathy Baker are all astonishingly good. And while some have criticized the movie as being too stagy (it IS based on a play--STRANGE SNOW--after all), the acting is so flawless that the film's occasional lapses into theatricality are easily overlooked. This is one theater piece that has been successfully opened up for the cinema. The naturalistic acting is but one component. The cinematography and the authentic location shots add to the effect. I'm originally from Maine, not Connecticut, but that sure looked like a classic blue collar New England town to me.
And I guess that's one reason the film resonated with me. I remember those towns. I remember the Vietnam era--and how odd it seemed that a war in some remote country could penetrate our enclosed little world. That it could reach out and grab up our brothers and friends...it almost seemed inconceivable. Yet it was all too real.
In fairness to the film's critics, much of the plotting is a little obvious. There aren't that many surprises. And when near the film's end the tortured alcoholic vet played by Ed Harris has breaks into his own high school on PROM NIGHT and in a drunken frenzy, destroys a trophy case in which pictures of himself as a high school football star are still prominently displayed some 20 years after he must have graduated, you have to have seen that one coming. Conversely when subsequently takes active part in the encounter group that he walked out a few scenes earlier, one that his concerned war buddy DeNiro (the "Jacknife" of the title) had introduced him to several scenes before, well, that's no surprise either.
Stories that adhere to a bit of formula, however, can transcend those limits, with a bit of grace and genuine intelligence (in the script and in the actors' performances) and that's what happens here. You don't begrudge these characters their qualified happy ending, because (a)it's just understated enough and (b)a sad ending might have seemed equally contrived. If not downright forced. You're rooting for these characters, and the payoff is that yes, by the film's end, they are beginning to learn how to let go and to move on, and take all those other steps that everyone tells us we must do. And that are so damn hard.
The tear you will likely find yourself shedding at the film's end is one that earned honestly.
Rating:  -
This was the worst movie I have ever seen! Dont waste your money on this one.
Rating: -
Why don't my friends know about this movie? This movie should be common knowledge...out on DVD and sitting on the video store shelf somewhere in front of the last Tomb Raider film...right in front of it. Instead it's a "mystery"... and one of my favorites. That it isn't out on DVD is strange. I own an old copy on VHS...always took it for granted that I could get it on DVD anytime. It is one of the strongest and most beautiful expressions of hope and friendship that I've seen in a film. All of the actors do an amazing job...this film rings true. We celebrate the "flavor of the week"...but this film is beautiful...and deserves a huge audience.
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