Wonderful character development!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

usual TV fare really, and made in 1986 it has an awful array of big shouldered clothes that poor annette o'toole had to wear (that red coat is absolutely dire and the poor actress who played maureen has probably tried to burn every copy of the film in existence. not that i'm shallow of course... ). it was watchable because tommy lee jones is always watchable and the growing spark between him and annette o'toole's character was charismatic. the other actors were OK too but not a film i will keep to watch again because though it tries hard to be interesting something about it is irredeemably naff and lacking in any real style or substance

This worthless movie was obviously created by someone who doesn't know enough about the priesthood to condemn it as much as they do. Falling back on every cliche about the priesthood they could muster, all the people who made this movie do is succeed in irritating and preaching with a type of blind passion that they condemn in the Church. I wish I never would have paid the $2.50 to rent it.

this is one of the most charming movies I've seen, but also with moments of drama, comedy and just all round good feeling. Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as always, and Annette O'Toole is wonderful as the girlfriend of the murder victim, and also Mr Jones's character's subsequent love interest. It is genuinely warm and moving without being too sweet or sickly as some love stories are. Mr Jones is a wonderful actor and this gives him yet another chance to shine as a priest torn between his duty to his calling and the woman he has come to love. Well worth a watch.

In Broken Vows, Tommy Lee Jones plays a shy, diffident Catholic priest who arrives at a crime scene just in time to give the last rites to the victim (David Straitharn). Intrigued by the slain man's last words, Jones sets out to find out more about him and the circumstances leading to his murder. For the first time, he ventures outside of the sheltered and ritualized world of the priesthood in which he has become immured and begins to meet people from all walks of life. In the course of his investigation, Jones meets the slain man's girlfriend, played by Annette O'Toole. The two immediately strike sparks off one another and an awkward, lively and tender relationship develops between the two. In a departure from his usual blustery macho roles, Tommy Lee Jones is in fine form as a young priest whose entire world is shaken as a consequence of a chance encounter with a dying man. The manner of man's death reawakens Jones' intellect and sensuality. For the first time, he questions the dogma that rules his circumscribed life and partakes of the life that exists beyond the doors of his church.