IMDb > Afterburn (1992) (TV)

Afterburn (1992) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
6.4/10   322 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Robert Markowitz
Writer (WGA):
Elizabeth Chandler (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Afterburn on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 May 1992 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
The Enemy Isn't Always On The Other Side. more
Plot:
Based on a true story, one woman takes on the U.S. military and General Dynamics; maker of the F-16... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Won Golden Globe. Another 5 nominations more
NewsDesk:
Golden Globes factoids on winners Wilkinson, Dern, Springsteen, Byrne and Paquin
 (From Gold Derby. 11 January 2009, 6:38 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Low-Class Floozie Fights Injustice more (5 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Laura Dern ... Janet Harduvel

Robert Loggia ... Leo Morrone

Vincent Spano ... Ted Harduvel

Michael Rooker ... Casey 'Z' Zankowski

Welker White ... Mary Sciales

Richard Jenkins ... Acton Ryder
Andy Romano ... Dr. Carl Haller
Basil Wallace ... Terry North
Gary Basaraba ... Bill Decker

Dion Anderson ... Col. Hewson
Kasi Lemmons ... Carol North
Daniel Benzali ... Col. John Patterson
Cassy Friel ... Kiki Harduval

Christopher John Fields ... Charlie Reeves

Lewis Dix Jr. ... Joe
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
103 min | Argentina:110 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby SR
Certification:
Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:o.Al. | Iceland:L | USA:R
Company:
Home Box Office (HBO) more

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Factual errors: During the funeral, the flag is shown draped over the casket with the field of blue over what would be the right shoulder or left foot of the deceased. In a funeral where the flag is used, the field of blue should be over the left shoulder of the deceased and the casket carried feet first. Note: Although later in the movie it is mentioned that only the hands were recovered from the accident and were the only contents of the casket, the flag would still be displayed with the field of blue covering where the left shoulder would be, had there been an entire body. more
Quotes:
Janet Harduvel: [At Ted Harduvel's gravesite] I know it wasn't Ted's fault. I'm not coming back here until I prove it. more
Soundtrack:
Roll The Dice more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
2 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
Low-Class Floozie Fights Injustice, 5 August 2003
Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico

There were a spate of movies that came out over the course of a decade or so in which ordinary women, rather than saints, saw injustice in the system and fought against it. In "Marie," Sissy Spacek was the woman next door who just happened to stumble over state corruption and righted it despite resistance. That was in, I think, 1984. A few years later, Jodie Foster turned in a first-rate performance as a victimized woman who fights the legal bureaucracy in "The Accused." The innovate feature of "Accused" was that Foster played a young woman who was not only less than saintly but positively low-class. The film won Foster an Academy Award and it must have light a few light bulbs among the MBAs who greenlight projects, because in 2000, Julia Roberts won accolades for a similar part.

This one, starring Laura Dern, and featuring Loggia, Spano, and perennial heavy Rooker, among others, came in between -- 1992. And it really is derivative. Vincent Spano is a sexy pilot and Dern is a sexy waitress in a saloon. She brash and vulgar. She talks back to authority figures and smartasses smug housewives. She smokes. She wears her golden hair up in a great big pile on top of her head. She wears cheap-looking clothes, and she's easy. We can all recognize her as exactly the type of girl a Captain in the United States Air Force, an officer and a gentleman by act of Congress, would propose marriage to.

But, not to worry. The producers and writers must have realized that if they wanted to hook the female audience, this coarseness could only be taken so far. Therefore, as the movie progresses, so does Dern. She remains an outspoken woman, of course, but her demeanor and grooming change, gradually, until by the end she is perfectly fashionable by any middle-class definition.

It's not Dern's fault. She gives the role everything she's got and is quite good, throwing her ectomorphic body with those endlessly long legs around so carelessly. Her face is an interesting object as well, long and thin, with appealing blonde hair and darker brows and lashes. Spano is handsome too, I suppose, although we see a bit more of him than we need to perhaps. Robert Loggia is his dependable self. Rooker plays a mixed-up family friend who's heart is in the right place.

General Dynamics is the villain here. Spano's F-16 nosedives into the ground. The Air Force deems it pilot error, but Dern, the faithful wife, knows there is what she calls "a cover up." And so there is. General Dynamics is taken to court. No power on earth could force me to reveal who wins the case.

The plot is conventionally structured. The music stays in the background. The location shooting, in Southern California, isn't bad. It's derivative, yes, but so were several films that followed "Accused." That floozy business is the most interesting part of the pattern, though, and this made-for-TV movie gets rid of it pretty quickly.

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