After returning from Vietnam, a soldier finds that the government wants to take his land. The battle gets really ugly and Tommy Lee Jones gives a strong performance as a man who will die rather than give up his home. This was a tv movie- too bad not many people will get to see it.
4 Reviews
This movie is not good
HunterDK20 June 2000
Tommy Lee returns from Vietnam, and the government will take his land. The families in the area have to move, but Tommy Lee will keep his land. Then they start to fight, but only one or two die in the movie, but the front cover said that it would be a fight to the death. - I won this movie in a competition, but I would rather get something else.
Watch it for the fun, else you'll be disappointed.
Povl, Denmark
Watch it for the fun, else you'll be disappointed.
Povl, Denmark
A movie consumed with its own self importance.
mark.waltz8 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Actors some times choose a project based upon how they view their part, not the quality of the script, and in the case of this TV movie, Tommy Lee Jones must have done just that. An actor of incredible talent, he is commanding as always, but unfortunately here, he's defeated by a rather angry theme and the anti-government plotline that is a dull ripoff of the recent trends of country themed dramas that seemed trite after so many of them were filmed. Cliched characters and archetypes here are simply far too black or white, with government officials complete bullies trying to legally steal Jones' property.
A preface showing Jones fighting in Vietnam is supposed to make him an instant hero and the return to civilian life just occurs so fast where in minutes he's facing the government seizure of his property which only serves to try to manipulate the audience as the government does the same to the courts. There is nothing pleasant about the film other than Jones' performance, and after a while even he can't rise above the flaws of the story.
Dee Wallace as the wife is the stereotypical strong matriarch, but she's nowhere close to the powerhouse women played in big screen films of this nature by Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange and especially Sally Field. The cuteness of their children is annoying, not endearing, and is additional proof of the script's attempt to manipulate. The photography is rather strange with uncomfortable montages and bizarre angles. It is complete overkill on social issues that tries too hard to force the audience to believe what it is saying, but fortunately the audience isn't as gullible as the writers believe them to be.
A preface showing Jones fighting in Vietnam is supposed to make him an instant hero and the return to civilian life just occurs so fast where in minutes he's facing the government seizure of his property which only serves to try to manipulate the audience as the government does the same to the courts. There is nothing pleasant about the film other than Jones' performance, and after a while even he can't rise above the flaws of the story.
Dee Wallace as the wife is the stereotypical strong matriarch, but she's nowhere close to the powerhouse women played in big screen films of this nature by Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange and especially Sally Field. The cuteness of their children is annoying, not endearing, and is additional proof of the script's attempt to manipulate. The photography is rather strange with uncomfortable montages and bizarre angles. It is complete overkill on social issues that tries too hard to force the audience to believe what it is saying, but fortunately the audience isn't as gullible as the writers believe them to be.
Average TV movie with a hackneyed plot
Leofwine_draca23 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This clichéd little television movie shows a lot of promise but instead plays by the rules and never breaks any of the rules of a made for television film. The premise itself is nothing new and has been done a few times before and after this was made, for example in the Van Damme vehicle NOWHERE TO RUN. Unfortunately for the most part, this film is all build up and a disappointing climax. You can really feel the tension rise as the time limit to the confrontation between Jones, his friends, and the government employees ticks down, and yet, despite a bit of violence, nothing much really happens. There is a predictable sickly-sweet happy ending, lots of nonsense, and an unbelievably low death toll.
I for one would have liked to see Tommy Lee Jones snuff it in an honourable way at the end of this film, but it ain't gonna happen. Instead he gets shot in the stomach, only for the wound to magically heal five minutes later when he engages in an old-fashioned fist-fight with the chief villain. This villain is played with relish by a baldy Terry O'Quinn, familiar from THE STEPFATHER films. Jones himself is actually quite good and macho as the hero who will stop at nothing to protect his land, all brooding menace and silent intensity. Sadly the same cannot be said of Dee Wallace Stone, who is absolutely awful as Jones' whiny wife! Old timers Ben Johnson and Pat Hingle lend credibility to the proceedings, but in the end this is a bit of a wasted opportunity and never raises above average.
I for one would have liked to see Tommy Lee Jones snuff it in an honourable way at the end of this film, but it ain't gonna happen. Instead he gets shot in the stomach, only for the wound to magically heal five minutes later when he engages in an old-fashioned fist-fight with the chief villain. This villain is played with relish by a baldy Terry O'Quinn, familiar from THE STEPFATHER films. Jones himself is actually quite good and macho as the hero who will stop at nothing to protect his land, all brooding menace and silent intensity. Sadly the same cannot be said of Dee Wallace Stone, who is absolutely awful as Jones' whiny wife! Old timers Ben Johnson and Pat Hingle lend credibility to the proceedings, but in the end this is a bit of a wasted opportunity and never raises above average.
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