Summertree

Michael Douglas is "Jerry", one of his early film roles, who comes home, and is about to be drafted. co-stars Jack Warden, Brenda Vaccaro, Barbara BelGeddes. Rob Reiner and Teri Garr are also in here. The plot is pretty lame. Jerry, signs up to be a "big brother". Vaccaro is "Vanetta", the love interest. when Jerry gets drafted, he doesn't think he can fight, so of course there's a huge argument with his parentals on the right thing to do. Jerry butts heads with dad, and suddenly, the film is over, and we find out what Jerry decided. quite the abrupt ending. like they lost the last reel of film and had to sum it up in one minute. One of only TWO films directed by british Tony Newley! Newley was a jack of all trades.. musician, actor... and married to Joan Collins for eight years! this one is okay. not anyone's best work.

Even though its plot was basically an anti-war movie, it gives good argument on both sides. Summertree shows that the Vietnam War was also a battle between generations; Michael Douglas as the misdirected young man and Jack Warden the "give em hell" dad. Douglas plays a college student who keeps the draft board off his back until he mistakenly decides to change majors, suddenly he's drafted and faced with a difficult choice with very few options.

Luckily my parents had a VCR during the late 70's and Summertree just happened to be playing late one night. My mother was a huge Michael Douglas fan so she recorded anything he starred in and thanks to her I was able to see this gifted talent as it blossomed into super stardom. Although that old tape is still in good condition I'd love to own this great movie on DVD.

The only reason this Movie was even made was because Kirk Douglas bought the movie rights so his Son Michael would have a job. I tried , as a Vietnam Combat war veteran, to watch this movie with an open mind. It's so hard picture Michael Douglas as a draft dodger. Come on, his Dad had to much money for this kid to be drafted. It's a bad movie and very hard ti through the entire film.

I don't know whether I came to the right column. It was about 30 years ago when I watched this movie. I was a teenager. English was my second language and I had to work hard on learning. I almost forgot what the movie was talking about but purely I remembered Douglas' performance and the atmosphere took me into another place where I remembered for 30 years. Thanks to God we have internet communications nowadays, at least I have an avenue to trace the movie I would like to see a few more times. Please let me know as how I can attain the chance to see it again. I miss the young Michael, too!

Regina Orwin

20-year-old college student, anxious to ditch the dull standard curriculum to study music at the school's conservatory, butts heads with his father over the decisions he's making and the girl he's dating while the Vietnam War and the draft looms large over him. Thinly-derived adaptation of Ron Cowen's off-Broadway play, a generation-gap tale directed by Anthony Newley (of all people), does have a distinctive middle-America look that captures life around mom's dining room table better than "The Subject Was Roses". Still, this young man's journey isn't very enthralling and his arguments aren't very persuasive. Newley keeps a lively pace but doesn't reign in his actors, although Michael Douglas, in one of his earliest film roles, is comfortable in front of the camera. Despite a bad haircut and a reddish face that looks sunburned, Douglas handles the leading role well, sharing a few strong scenes with Jack Warden as his father and Brenda Vaccaro as his girlfriend, a nursing student. Kirk Douglas (Michael's real-life dad) produced the film as a gift for his son; that kind of love and generosity is faked in the movie, which has an overlay of TV-styled melodrama that renders it ultimately unimportant. **1/2 from ****