Jack the Bear

I lost my parents before I was ten...Jack and those flashbacks?...The movie nailed it...big time...The one where he yells at his mom and treats her badly, only to snap out of it to realize he was wrong, but it doesn't matter cause she's gone...man, I'm tearing up right now over that one...

I even grew up in Oakland in the early 70's and I was about that age too...Jack hitting the bottle was way too close to home too...a great movie...when I saw it for the first time, I was just blown away...very close to home for me...

The last half hour got a little weird but before that...that was me in '72...spooky, great movie...

DeVeto gives the performance of his career in this lesser known film. A period piece set in the early 1970's, about a widower raising two young boys alone. His wife is killed in an auto accident shortly after storming out the house because she and Jack had an argument. He blames himself, and turns to alcohol. A touching and comic film that did not get the attention it deserves. This is a must see.

Warning: Contains some spoilers

Although essentially a "coming of age" drama, few coming of age films show the degree of anger experienced by the title character of this movie. Jack is an adolescent who, as the movie opens, has just moved to a new neighborhood after the death of his mother. During the next few months he faces some harsh realities such as a new school, his deteriorating opinion of his father, the abduction of his little brother and his fear of a dangerous neighbor. He deals with his problems the only way he can - by crying. None of these themes are new in a coming of age movie but the emotions Jack goes through seem multiplied by 100 when compared to similar films. When he feels guilt, I was shocked by its intensity. And when he feels angry, I felt uneasy at the degree of rage shown by a basically mild mannered preteen.

The film is also not afraid to show its characters acting unpredictably. I came to care about them and was sometimes shocked by their behavior.

This movie is too intense for small children, but unfortunately adults may be put off by the storyline and the age of the main character. However, I'd recommend it to teens and adults who might have forgotten how rough adolescence can be.

Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.

Some aspects of the film are really good. I liked Danny DeVito's Al Gory character, for example. And the performances as a whole are strong -- we get not only DeVito, but also Gary Sinise, Miko Hughes, and Reese Witherspoon in what has to be one of her earliest roles (I could look it up but I didn't).

The overall film seems lacking, though. The kidnapping part feels off, and the whole Neo-Nazi aspects come across as exaggerated and unrealistic. Maybe I just don't know the 1970s, but this did not strike me as a real situation.

The Leary family, John (Danny DeVito), Jack (Robert J. Steinmiller, Jr.) and Dylan (Miko Hughes), have moved from Syracuse, New York to Oakland, California in the early 1970s. John was a children's show host in Syracuse, but also has a love for horror films, and becomes a television horror film host in Oakland. On one level, the film is just a drama about the Leary's trying to settle into their new life. On another level, Jack The Bear is about confronting various kinds of monsters, from make-believe to human, as well as more abstract "monsters", including behaviors that are difficult to control and accidental tragedies such as deaths.

I've seen Jack The Bear a few times now, and every time I see it I like it even better. The performances are fantastic, taking you on a roller coaster of emotions. But it almost requires multiple viewings to really "get" the film. At its heart is the growing presence and threat of the various "monsters" mentioned above. The various monsters are all woven together in very complex ways, and most of the developments later on in the film are about how those monsters can be conquered, but always at some price. Just as the threads are densely combined, so is the vanquishing of the monsters, and both the development of the monsters and the "solutions" to them are like various pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle, each piece necessary for the whole, and often affecting the whole in unexpected ways.

The direction, script, editing, cinematography, and all of the technical aspects are impeccable. The score is also wonderful and not only enhances the setting, but underscores the dramatic developments if you listen to the lyrics closely.

A 10 out of 10 from me. Don't miss this film.