Chattahoochee

I have not yet begun to understand how this movie was so ignored. Besides having a beautiful "conquering evils" story, we have here, a masterpiece of acting. Dennis Hopper does NOT give - as Leonard Maltin says - a "glorified cameo" - but brings a superb supporting performance to the film. But it is Gary Oldman who soars above the realm of "acting", who is STARTLING in his performance. This genius of an actor should've received awards, accolades, and acclaim for one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen on screen.

If you are a true movie-lover, please take the time to view this brilliantly acted story. Perhaps we can all then get together to get Mr. Oldman his due for a KILLER performance. He certainly deserves it.

It's 1955. Korean War veteran Gary Oldman has a violent breakdown and is incarcerated in a mental health prison.

It's a compelling movie, and it's powered by some fine performances, including Oldman, Pamela Reed as his sister, Frances MacDormand is his wife, Dennis Hopper as a fellow patient, and Ned Beatty as the head of the institution. For those of you used to seeing Beatty in comic or bizarre roles, this movie may be a revelation. He's smart, smug, and utterly despicable.

Were those the totality of the movie, it would be a fine one. However, the film makers have made an error common to this sort of crusading movie. They have stretched it out too long, letting the dull oppression of Oldman's long captivity seep into the audience, relieved only occasionally by something actually happening, like Miss Reed storming into the place. The intent of this pace is doubtless to let the audience understand the situation from the inmates' perspective. I found that it just makes the movie long and dull, and the ending abrupt. It's a common mistake, confusing sheer size for importance, and sloth for thoughtfulness. The result is a movie worth watching, but badly in need of a lot of trimming.

Chattahoochee is a fine film that explores heroism as well as the trials of personal relationships in times of hardship. The acting is superb, especially Oldman's performance of Emmet Folley as the unstable Korean war Veteran who ends up in an abusive and unsanitary mental hospital. Dennis Hopper also does a fine job and special recognition to Frances McDormand who plays Emmet's wife. She isn't the most likeable character but she proves herself again to be a fine character actor. I appreciated the movies realism and there was no doubt about the horror and darkness associated with the institution which Oldman's character was fighting against. Watching the entire movie is worth it just to see the scene where Emmet barricades himself behind the bunk beds and begins rallying against the guards. I wasn't completely satisfied with the sound track but the music was used in the all the right places. A great film both for it's historical significance and for it's study of relationships--and also of course for it's well built up exciting moments.

To name it Chattahoochee was quite relevant, as opposed to 'Foley' which would have 'Sounded' just as befitting; in not isolating the terror to a specific case. Extremely poignant performance by Pamela Reed and terrifically acted by an unmatched Gary Oldman. The selection of Hopper as the accommodating surviving wiz, in atrocious places like Chattahoochee, was proven to be a superb choice by Hopper convincing realism. BRAVO to Jackson too and may be three!

Seriously, why has no one heard of this? Why hadn't I? This was on sale, I was attracted by the talent and that was it. The title is the name of a dreadful mental hospital, and this is based on the true story of a Korean war vet who was sent there and who could not allow it to go on like that. In 90 minutes, this covers a lot of the unforgivable treatment(a more fitting word would be abuse) that the patients undergone back then, on account of the ignorance, the black and white view and the leaders not paying enough attention to what was going on(when the cat's away...). This is engaging from start to finish. The pace is good, if it does at times move excessively swiftly. This has excellent and flawless acting, especially as far as the leads go. Oldman and Hopper are amazing. The characters are well-written, credible and nicely developed. This has a marvelous plot, and it never stops being interesting. Not the only film about the subject, and not the best(if you can watch just one, and it's this or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest... yeah, the latter), but most definitely worth your time. There is plenty of disturbing content, a bit of violence, relatively frequent moderate to strong language in this(and the movie can be disgusting). The DVD comes with a theatrical trailer. I recommend this to everyone mature enough for the themes. 7/10