Resting Place

I just saw this movie recently by way of a DVD that I rented. As the "voice of experience" from having previously served in the US Army in the same duty as John Lithgow's character ... I must say that he did one Hell of a good job! I was totally amazed! I usually associate this actor with roles that are "dumb & goofy" ... but he amazed me by performing in a very serious role. The character traits were perfect. The costumes were on target for that period. It was even filmed on location at an army post in Georgia which is where the fictional story was to have taken place. I especially liked the ending when the combined efforts of the men in the (mostly white) Platoon became the force that turned the tide of southern racism and finally allowed a hero to be buried in a place where he originally had NOT been welcome for no other reason than the color of his skin. I grew up in Georgia and even during that same time period of the early 1970s, there were still small communities where the mindset of certain people was still like the 1950s before Civil Rights had taken effect. But overall, I felt that this film was excellent and really did NOT get the attention that it truly deserved when it was first released. Hallmark should replay this once again.

---LTC Ralph Mitchell, US Army (ret)

Enjoyed viewing this film about an American Soldier who was being returned to his hometown a small city in Georgia. Major Kendall Laird, (John Lithgow) is escorting the remains of this soldier and he has to face the family, Luther Johnson, (Morgan Freeman) and his wife. This procedure usually takes a few days, however, Major Kendall experiences strange behavior by the men who were in combat with this Lt. Johnson, who has been awarded a medal for saving their lives. There is also another problem which involved the burial place for Lt. Johnson because of a racial problem with the town people who do not want a Black person to be buried in their cemetery. There are many twists and turns and this film reveals a very surprising story about what really happened to Lt. Johnson.

Good storyline, but I for one am very tired of how Hollywood portrays the South for their own gain.

It's astounding that when we think about segregation 1.) we think about it being ages ago and 2.) we think of schools and water fountains. Then a movie such as "Resting Place" comes along to teach us that segregation was in every imaginable sphere of life, up to and including in death. And that's the central theme of our movie here: a fallen soldier of the Vietnam war not being able to be buried in the cemetery in his home town because it was a "whites only" cemetery. This segregation was occurring 17 years after the Brown v. The Board of Education ruling, and seven years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

That brings us to the movie in question: "Resting Place." Major Laird (John Lithgow) was in charge of making sure Sgt. Dwyte Johnson was given a proper burial. Major Laird accompanied the body to Rockville, GA where he found that Dwyte Johnson would not be allowed to be buried in the local cemetery. How did he even get a plot you may ask. A well-intentioned older white woman, and friend of the Johnson family, named Eudora McCallister (Frances Sternhagen), bought the plot and sold it to the Johnsons.

Even though the Johnson family was rebuffed in typical southern we're-good-folks-but-we-don't-like-you fashion, they would not be defeated. Luther (Morgan Freeman) and Ada Johnson (CCH Pounder) believed that their son, a war hero no less, deserved more than anybody to be buried in his hometown.

Major Laird, to his credit, would not give up either. The movie, while based upon social justice, was also a bit of an investigative movie because, whereas Dwyte Johnson's unit recommended him for a Silver Star, there was something fishy about his death.

I enjoyed this somewhat subdued, yet serious Hallmark movie. John Lithgow and Richard Brooks were excellent. Morgan Freeman and CCH Pounder didn't have huge roles so their impact on the film was minimal besides giving it an air of credibility. Race always has been and always will be a painful, hence troublesome issue, but I appreciate movies such as "Resting Place" for tackling it in an intelligent manner.

John Lithgow accompanies a Black Lieutenant soldier's body sent home for final resting in rural Georgia. Despite it being 1972, racial prejudice ensues as the soldier is refused burial in the town's all White cemetery. Although prominently featured on the DVD cover, the soldier's Father, Morgan Freeman, has little to do in the film. Things slow down considerably as Lithgow tries to get the truth about how the Lieutenant died, from many fruitless interviews with his Vietnam Unit. Eventually the truth begins to emerge. M. Emmet Walsh's part as a retired Sargent giving advice to Lithgow, seems like little more than time filler. Not a bad film , it just feels like it was stretched to fill a TV slot. - MERK