1969 (1988)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Ernest Thompson

Writer (WGA):

Ernest Thompson (written by)

Release Date:

18 November 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

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:

Brother | Vietnam War | Death | Drugs | Mother Son Relationship

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	...	Processor
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:

Anachronisms: When we are first shown their town, there is a yellow 1977 Mercury Marquis parked on the left side of the street facing the camera.

Quotes:

Coach Heart: You boys aren't working at the pool this summer?
Scott: No, we're going on the road. That's what hippies do ya' know.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Vietnam (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Can't Find My Way Home

Shallow perhaps but meaningful

Granted there wasn't much of a plot to 1969 and the acting was fair, but nevertheless I thought the film did accomplish something important. It made you realize that this kind of "drama" - coping with the aftermath of a Vietnam KIA - played out in tens-of-thousands of homes throughout the country during the '60s and '70s. The sum of all that pain and anguish makes me cringe. I served in South Vietnam from the summer of '68 to the summer of '69 in the USMC and I am glad to see this kind of message portrayed in a movie. It keeps alive the suffering endured by family and friends from that time. Maybe that sounds morbid but I think it's important for the here and now to acknowledge and remember that suffering. We can use it to give us perspective on how fortunate we are to be able to flourish and live to a ripe old age. For me of course it has special meaning. I could have ended my life at 19 and would have missed so much.

But that's what happened to so many. A horrible shame.