Instant Favorite.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Two young brothers, motherless and now relying on their workaholic father, try becoming closer to their only surviving parent while stationed in Tunisia. Director Jerry Schatzberg, working from an incredibly dull screenplay by Barra Grant, via Florence Montgomery's novel, never shakes the lead out, and the picture seems stillborn as a result. Henry Thomas, one of the most intuitive child actors of this era, doesn't match up well with Gene Hackman; the two are supposed to be estranged, but there's no connection between them at the finale, either. A depressing experience, with the curious location not helping matters. * from ****

I saw this movie on its release in 1984. I had much the same relationship with my Dad as the boy in this story, so it touched a raw nerve. When you have an experience like this boy, and you can closely identify with him the storyline takes an on an extremely emotional roller-coaster ride, and needless to say I broke down at the end of the film. I have just connected to the internet and I have been searching for this film for the past 20 years. Now I finally have a copy and I'm going to watch it with my wife and Daughter. Needless to say I have a very close relationship with them because I made sure things with my kids would be different. I never got close to my Dad.

(also may contain spoiler for the movie Incompresso)SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERDoes Andrew die in the the end? Hackman says to his son (as I remember) "you've got to get better" and his son says something like "I will." I think I read a review or something somewhere that in Incompresso, the son dies in the end and if this movie is a remake of the 1966 Italian then I would think he doesn't make it. By the way, does anyone know if Incompresso is not in English and one would have to watch the DVD with subtitles? Also, what scenes are different and where can one get Incompresso? How would you rate it compared to Misunderstood because IMDb has it quite a bit higher.Thanks

Contrived and sappy story, which is also difficult to understand. Mom dies. Dad can't fill her shoes... and nothing else after that. Hackman fills the father role with as much strength as he can muster with the lifeless script provided for him. Youngsters Thomas and Fox are engaging in the film through the poignant relationship they create.