| 1969 | | Cast : | Robert Downey Jr., Kiefer Sutherland | | Director : | Ernest Thompson | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 18, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | April 16, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 24, 2005 | | Summary | Excellent soundtrack/solid cast | Content
 | By now, we're used to the coming-of-age theme in movies about this era. But what makes ''1969'' special is its subtlety, in recognizing the differences in the way we reacted to news, gestures, comments in 1969 as compared to now. The term ''innocence'' is overused; it was simply one of fewer dimensions... no internet, fewer TV channels, when newspapers and radio took on a far greater role in forming our decisions. In the hitch-hiking and driving scenes through scenic Maryland, we remember that travel wasn't always comfortable, that we didn't take for granted getting from point A to point B.
Keifer Sutherland, Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder are all fantastic, but Mariette Hartley really does a stellar job as a mom that keeps a family together through incredible strife.
And the soundtrack is really what'll have you hooked. There are the usual 60's staples like Blind Faith (''Can't Find My Way Home''), but also some songs younger viewers might be unfamiliar with or older ones might've forgotten (like the underrated, powerful ''When I Was Young'' by the Animals).
Not a definitive look at an era, but a likeable cast of characters that will have you coming back to watch again. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 05, 2005 | | Summary | Surprisingly good and timely anti-war "period piece" | Content
| 1969 is very special to me. I graduated from high school, went to Woodstock, and attended every anti-war event I could find. I would be inclined to watch any movie about this period, but when this one came on "Tivo" as a suggestion, I was skeptical. The Tivo guide gave it two stars and suggested that it was about nothing but a couple of guys doing dope on the road.
It is actually a pretty powerful anti-war movie, with fine acting from Winona Ryder, Keifer Sutherland, and Robert Downey, Jr., who were big stars in the '80s and I am surprised this was not more of a box office hit for their presence in the cast.
The scenes are realistic, portraying the happy-go-lucky years
of hitchiking, campus protests, "sensitivity" and all that, and
the music is well-chosen for the most part. I thought that there was a gratuitous homophobic scene early on, when the boys are picked up by a not-so-creepy slightly older hippie type and go ballistic, but even that scene is saved by the gay guy yelling out to them as they run away, "I didn't know you were married!"
Scott (Sutherland) is a thoughtful individualistic boy, very typical for the time, and you get the sense that his older brother, headed for Vietnam as a Marine, is not that different, but timing is everything. Bruce Dern as the WWII veteran father is surprisingly convincing (I thought he could only play creepy types) The story is fairly predictable but well done.
Ryder is great playing "Beth" younger sister of the Downey character. And what is it with these early Downey roles? Art imitates life or is it vice-versa? We see him here flipping out on LSD, running around almost naked, etc., same thing we see later in his performance as "Julian" in "Less than Zero".
He's probably the finest of the actors in this film, but this is not his best role. I thought Sutherland did better and, what's more, looked better. He is the star of this movie.
Too bad he is wasting his talent these days on Fox's tacky "24".
Anyway, in any period piece, I am always on the lookout for realism in scenes, props, characters, hairstyles, clothes, you name it. On first viewing, I thought this film did very well on most of those counts.
Only the final scene is unrealistic. This is supposedly set in
Maryland in the early and late summer of 1969. That is too early for the kind of consensus to develop about the war that is depicted, especially in a small town where only one kid has died in Vietnam. (As I write this, the same kind of feeling about the Iraq war is only apparently developing in Vermont)
I would have liked to see these characters attending Woodstock,
as that would have fit into the story well. Also, as in the NBC television series "American Dreams", some depiction of what the older brother was seeing going on in Vietnam would have helped immensely. So this is not quite up there with such brilliant and moving Vietnam films as "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July" or "Forrest Gump", but it's a fine movie and if you are anti-war and a child of the '60s, you will love it. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 16, 2003 | | Summary | Classic 80's movie cliche's, set in the year 1969. | Content
| 1969 is a great timepiece.
The movie came out in theatres in November of 1988.
As was also reviewed on VH1's "I Love The 80's - 1988", there was a late 60's, early 70's "Hippie Revival" that started in 1988 and continued into 1989. Tye Dye shirts, "drug rug" ponchos, and "hacky sack", were the style. The Grateful Dead hit the top 10 at the end of 1987 w/ "Touch Of Grey", from "In The Dark". One of the top CD's being sold off of TV was the late 60's, early 70's compilation CD, "Freedom Rock", which featured 2 hippies in the back of a van screaming "Turn It Up Man". So as this "Hippie Revival" hit pop culture, of course Hollywood had to latch on. "1969" was that movie. Entertaining, but don't expect anything too heavyweight. It was clearly a classic 80's teen movie, filled w/ all the classic 80's teen movie cliche's of romance and coming of age. It's simply set in the year 1969. Classic 80's "teen" stars, Ryder, Downey Jr., and Southerland star. Again, its a classic 80's film in every way, just set in the year 1969. The soundtrack is awesome and adds to the enjoyment of the film. You can get the soundtrack on Amazon as well. For anyone that got caught up in that whole "Hippie Revival" of 1988-89', as recently brought up on VH1's "I Love The 80's - 1988",
this movie is worth the watch. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 07, 2002 | | Summary | Ahhhh I remember these years | Content
| Just loved it. I am a huge Kiefer Sutherland fan, also a fan of Robert Downey, Jr. A poignant movie with a message that I remember so well regardless of my age at the time. Rent it, buy it, it's been on cable. Just see it. |
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