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Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   725 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 21% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Robert Altman
Writers:
David Rabe (play)
David Rabe (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Streamers on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 April 1984 (France) more
Genre:
Drama | War more
Plot:
Four young recruits about to be sent to Vietnam confront their prejudicial feelings toward one another when it's learned one of them is homosexual. more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Matthew Modine: The Hollywood Interview
 (From The Hollywood Interview. 2 November 2009, 10:20 AM, PST)
Director Robert Altman Dies at 81
 (From IMDb News. 21 November 2006)
User Comments:
Good, hard-hitting drama more (11 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Matthew Modine ... Billy

Michael Wright ... Carlyle

Mitchell Lichtenstein ... Richie
David Alan Grier ... Roger

Guy Boyd ... Rooney
George Dzundza ... Cokes
Albert Macklin ... Martin
B.J. Cleveland ... Pfc. Bush
Bill Allen ... Lt. Townsend
Paul Lazar ... MP Lieutenant
Phil Ward ... MP Sgt. Kilick
Terry McIlvain ... Orderly

Todd Savell ... MP Sgt. Savio
Mark Fickert ... Dr. Banes
Dustye Winniford ... Staff Sergeant
more
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
118 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Netherlands:12 | South Africa:16LV | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:M | Italy:VM14 | France:-12 | USA:R
Filming Locations:
Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA more
Company:
Streamers International more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The title refers to parachutes that fail to open. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Robert Altman: Art and Soul (2004) (V) more
Soundtrack:
What A Guy more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
22 out of 24 people found the following comment useful.
Good, hard-hitting drama, 31 December 2004
Author: McGonigle from bean world, massachusetts

Following on the heels of "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", Altman brings another play to the screen. Like the earlier movie, this is an intensely serious drama about issues of sexuality and denial. Like the earlier movie, parts of it are extremely strident and/or "stagy", and like the earlier movie, much of it is redeemed by the excellent performances.

Although set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the film is mostly about what goes on inside the heads of a small group of soldiers who are waiting to get shipped out. Much of the story's development is psychological, and not related to the specific period in history... if anything, the characters occasionally seem "too modern", but it's impossible for me to say whether this is actually the case (perhaps done intentionally by the director and screenwriter) or whether my impression of how they "should" have been behaving in the mid-1960s is colored too much by mass-media images from that time.

In any case, Altman and screenwriter David Rabe do a good job of confounding the audience's expectations and providing us with multi-faceted, complex characters, and there are some moments of chilling beauty, as when two older sergeants tell stories of paratroopers who didn't make it. While the issues involved and the serious tone will probably turn a lot of people off, this is a "worthy" member of the Altman canon, and well worth seeking out by anyone who is interested in his "filmed plays" of the 80s or in seeing him work on a small scale.

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