1969 (1988)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Ernest Thompson

Writer (WGA):

Ernest Thompson (written by)

Release Date:

18 November 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The year the country split apart and a generation came together.

Plot:

Two friends, Ralph and Scott live in a small minded town at the onset of the Vietnam war. While Scott's brother enlists...

Plot Keywords:

Bridge | Friend | Freedom | Vietnam War | Death

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Robert Downey Jr.	...	Ralph Carr
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Scott
Bruce Dern	...	Cliff
Mariette Hartley	...	Jessie
Winona Ryder	...	Beth
Joanna Cassidy	...	Ev
Christopher Wynne	...	Alden
Keller Kuhn	...	Marsha
Steve Foster	...	Marshall
Mert Hatfield	...	Coach Heart
Welton Tootle	...	Junior Roberts
Don Devendorf	...	Reverend Hardy
Dr. Robert Louis Stevenson	...	Dean Bonner
Jason Summers	...	Protestor
Scott N. Stevens	...	Hitchhiker

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Hardeeville, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Atlantic Entertainment Group

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The bus Alden gets on says Palmetto Tours on it. It would not be in Maryland, where the film is supposed to take place. South Carolina is the Palmetto State.

Quotes:

Scott: We have naked people giving us free food!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Vietnam (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Wooden Ships

Well-meant but lighthearted look back on the 60's

For a directorial debut, "1969" is better than average, but for an overall coming-of-age movie, it misses its mark somewhat. Ernest Thompson tells the story of two college freshmen, Scott and Ralph, who are coming to terms with the grips of the world at present (Vietnam, family, patriotism, drugs) while their smalltown home, and their own parents, remain buried in the ideals of the flag-waving 50's. Scott is naive, idealistic and hopeful; Ralph is cynical, careless and wild. Although opposites, they complement each other. Scott wishes to become another human catalyst to help change a world he sees as having limitless possibilities. Ralph just wants to get high, ignore his studies and stay out of Vietnam. In between them is Beth, Ralph's younger sister whose also coming into age and also in conflict with the world at hand. Both guys have trouble with recognizing Beth as a new woman and not just a kid anymore.

Although the story centers on Ralph and Scott, all three of them are at odds - in different degrees - with their parents. Scott is in most turmoil. His brother has just been shipped off to Vietnam and their father begins projecting hostility towards Scott for objecting the war. Truthfully, Scott's father has deep fear about the fate of his son in Asia, but clumsily hides it under a blanket of patriotism. One misused character was Beth; whose personality was equal parts of her brother and his best friend; she had Ralph's sense of reality and Scott's optimism. I thought she would serve as the bridge between Scott and Ralph but she is used rather as the cause of a rift when Scott and Beth become romantically involved.

I liked this film just for the energetic performances by Robert Downey Jr., Winona Ryder, Bruce Dern, and most of all Kiefer Sutherland as the wide-eyed wishful. The film score is totally corny (especially in the finale), but Thompson puts good 60's tunes to fill in the scenery. The film does have a realistic vision of smalltown life and effectively creates those various hippie hangouts like angry college campuses, head shops, and nude beaches. Its not "The Doors", but it works.