I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

During the 80's and 90's home video was an unexpected but explosive new entertainment medium. (Can anyone forget regularly scanning your nearby video store for something new to rent?) It gave writers and producers much more room to produce films that never would have made it to the screen. Production money may have been spare, but sometimes B-level movies are the best of all and "Flashback" applies. It wasn't a trip back in time as the title suggests, it was a look at the Establishment winning the culture war. Yuppies had replaced the Hippies. Perhaps the most poignant line was when the wizened old hippie, Huey (Dennis Hopper), reminds the yuppie FBI agent John Buckner (Keifer Sutherland) that the 1980's (the Reagan Administration) created two classes of people - the Rich and the Poor. More true today than it was then. As the story plays out in a comical and entertaining way - Buckner escorting Huey to jail but unexpectedly fleeing from a murderous small-town sheriff - we learn that maybe Huey wasn't as much a hippie as we thought. And we also learn that Buckner was the son of a hippie commune family and his real name is 'Free'. By the end of the movie Huey finally gets his book published and loves the fame (yet keeps his brazen attitude), and Buckner realizes the hippie liberalists were pretty good after all. He quits the FBI and sets out to re-discover his roots. One downside is watching Free/Buckner ride off into the sunset on a rice-burner bike instead of a Harley, but acceptable considering the movie was to bridge the 60's to the 90's. The other is seeing Huey propound his belief that the 90's would be so radical socially that it would put the 60's to shame. Sad to learn that it would never happen. Altogether, "Flashback" is a first-rate film worth owning, not just seeing. Greats like Dennis Hopper and Keifer Sutherland are at their best, it's a clever story, very entertaining, and thought provoking enough to make you wonder what the heck happened to a once bullish youth not afraid to get nose-to-nose with a Fascist-style government.

Cold Hard Reality and a Gentle Freer Time, clash in this Gem and I wondered what happened to all the Hippies, did we really "Change the World"? Just sit back and watch, the end is well worth the wait! I did have a tear in my eye, about midway through when they are watching the "Home Movie" were we ever that young and "Free" no pun intended.Moves along quite well even though it does seem a little silly in places, but when the credits roll this film will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling.The sound track is well chosen with a mix of old and new (for the 1990's) Even if we don't get to hear Dennis sing "MAMMY" LOLWell acted and the casting was spot on.And the "bus speech" is thought provoking! listen! Watch it, Go on you know you want to? Colin

This was a great movie. Dennis Hopper brought to life Huey Walker, an outdated hippy who came out of hiding from the feds for over twenty years. Kiefer Sutherland also did a great job as the strict, stick up the rear fed John Buckner, but has a buried secret of from his past.This is a very funny movie, but at the same time keeps a solid plot, making this a very enjoyable movie. This is the first movie that Hopper has both played a hippy that isn't stoned on and off the screen. I really liked this movie. It's not for everyone, but for those of us who don't mind a comedy with dirty cops, foul mouthed aging hippies, a surly fed with a secret, and a whole lot of plot twists, than this is the movie for you. Also, Carol Kane was hilarious as Buckner's aunt. 10/10

Huey Walker(Hopper) is an hysterical character to watch in this film as a hippie who is very Abby Hoffman like. He is arrested by John Buckner (Sutherland), a tight-assed, republican, FBI agent. What is supposed to be a simple task of transporting a prisoner turns out a harder job than expected for Buckner. As they make their way from San Francisco to Spokane, they encounter many obstacles. From a kind hearted prostitute to a crooked sheriff to a Haight Ashbury leftover played brilliantly by the ever wonderful Carol Kane (Scrooged, Taxi). Watching Walker and Buckner try to out smart each other is fuuny as hell, and chemistry between Sutherland and Hopper is great. You see the geninue friendship between them. The funniest scene, of which there are many, is when Walker is down on his knees, covering his face in mud. Buckner instucts him to then put one hand in the air and one on his heart and sing "Mammy". The humor however is nothing more than a vehicle for the true meaning of this film : You Can't Change Who You Are or Where You Come From. That message is perhaps best expressed in the lines:Buckner:So you're a phony? Walker:Yeah so? Buckner:Just like me.I give this movie my highest rating: 10 stars!* * * * * * * * * *