The greatest movie ever made..!

Instant Favorite.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Small town America, 1960s. Two friends, Ralph and Scott, are opposed to the Vietnam War and are determined to not fight there. This disappoints Scott's father, Cliff, and alienates Scott from him. Ralph and Scott leave the town but return when Scott's brother is declared MIA in Vietnam. This gives Cliff and Scott a chance to patch up their differences.Entertaining. Not very profound: covers ground that has been covered before, and is a tad idealistic. Still, good story, with good performances.Features Robert Downey Jr and Kiefer Sutherland in their early careers and Winona Ryder in only her 4th movie (previous was Beetlejuice, next was Heathers...). Great supporting cast: Bruce Dern, Joanna Cassidy, Mariette Hartley.Excellent soundtrack.

The title, 1969 gives off such a dynamic vibe but the end result is disappointing. Made in 1988 when films depicting the Vietnam war were all the rage this is sub par if you compare this with Born on the Fourth of July that would be released a year later.Kiefer Sutherland plays Scott. Robert Downey Jr plays his best buddy Ralph. Both have left college and are making their way back home, a small Maryland town. Scott is more introverted, softly spoken and clever. Ralph is more boisterous, loud, does crazy thing and into drugs. As it was almost common at the time there is a scene of Downey Jr running around with just his underpants on.Once they get home Scott realises that his older brother is on his way to Vietnam. You get the feeling he will not be coming back. Their father (Bruce Dern) a World War 2 veteran seems supportive of his son going to Vietnam and ashamed of Scott's opposition to the war.Scott and Ralph decide to go on the road rather then await to get drafted. This means exploring the hippie movement of the town with sex, drugs and rock n roll.Once they get back home Scott learns that his brother his MIA. There is tension is his parent's marriage. Ralph ends up in jail when he sneaks into the draft board office and tries to destroy his file in order to avoid the draft. Scott falls for Ralph's sister Beth (Winona Ryder) which also causes resentment with Ralph.The film is rather aimless, lost too much in nostalgia as depicted by the film's soundtrack. The film itself is not as amusing or interesting and neither are the characters. Downey's Ralph reminded me of a lot of other characters he played at the time. If you want to watch a bittersweet film about teenagers in the Vietnam war era you will get more mileage out from a classic like Big Wednesday.The best performances are from Bruce Dern and Mariette Hartley who plays Scott's parents. Dern tones it down a bit as the patrician father rather all at sea during changing times.

The reviews of "1969" as cinema are largely right on--it's a neat "little" movie and a credible directorial debut.But it's subtext, the radicalization of the mainstream view is uncannily germane to our present situation in 2007; the basic theme of the screenplay translates to "dissent is not unpatriotic; indeed, it is an obligation in a democracy..". The "clicheing" of antiwar sentiments in so many other (especially post-1994) films (especially the notion that anti-Vietnam sentiment was the province of drug-clouded hippies and committed anarchists and the Left) is teased apart in a series of "proxy" vignettes about a university building takeover, a draft-office break-in, and a Marine KIA funeral. These are set against a backdrop of not-so cliché themes of value evolution and generational conflict, handled in a manner that warrants re-visitation.I saw this film about 15 years ago, and was impressed by Sutherland (at 19-as 19 !)) and Downey--and Dern. But now, the film has a message. Biggest drawback for me--soundbite use of terrific 1969-era rock for the soundtrack--great music--in bits and pieces....

I watched this film thinking it might be a departure from the usual stereotypical hippie-consciousness tome, but it seems as if the movie industry is bound and determined to rewrite the past by churning out enough newspeak to cover the truth as they possibly can, even if they have to use top shelf actors to do it. What surprises me is that this ensemble consists of people who could have afforded to "just say no" at their respective career levels, because they were already established and had a reputation as accomplished professionals with some measure of scruples.But they didn't. They drank the Kool-Aid, and now the producer and director expects us to take the cup.Well, I wont drink, because I grew up during that era.Everything in this film misses the mark, even Winona Ryder's speech, which is supposed to be a culminating moment where she is supposed to make the "squares" and conservative pro-war folks in the audience take a deeper look into the real meaning of the war. What we get is the usual pap lines like "are we fighting to win?", instead of "what are we winning".The film divides the groups of people into neat little boxes marked "hippies" and "squares" when in reality those lines were somewhat blurry. There were plenty of longhairs who were hardworking folks who felt like they were a part of society, even if they weren't square. Hippies didn't believe in money, material possessions or being a part of society. The slogan was "Tune in, turn on and drop out", and many longhairs didn't believe in that slogan. Most hippies were as misinformed about the war as everyone else in 1969. It took an intellectual thrust to clearly define the immoral and illegal nature of the War in Vietnam and the plain truth is that most of the hippies were simply too stoned to bother doing any heavy thinking. Another disappointment, the complete denial of the fact that the anti-war movement was consistently and successfully infiltrated by communists and CIA operatives, something totally overlooked in the movie. Good and honest people were compromised in 1969, and lives were destroyed by the very government that sent our children to fight and die. The intellectual class knew that the government was fighting the war both at home and abroad, and the effort by the intelligentsia to expose this sham was ground under the boot of government oppression and disinformation. This was the crux of student rebellion against the war.It is an insult to condense the complex issues of the time into a feel-good afternoon matinée, and no attempt to justify this film's existence will satisfy the demand that ANY movie on this subject pay respect to honesty, because with honesty sacrificed on the altar of good intentions and entertainment, you have nothing left to learn from 1969 and therefore no basis for a movie at all at that point, unless your only intention is to misinform, which is something that this movie does rather well.