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The overall point of the film may be a little obvious but it appears the story may be semi-autobiographical. What saves this movie are the acting and the characters which never lapse into stereotypes. Kiefer Sutherland plays Scott, a very different character than many of his previous roles. Rather than playing the adolescent leader-rebel (as in "Stand by Me"), Sutherland takes the role of a somewhat soft-spoken intellectual hippie-type who is into literature and leaves but not into drugs. His best friend, Ralph, played by Robert Downey Jr., is exactly the opposite. Ralph likes women and psychedelic drugs but doesn't understand any of the other aspects of the hippie culture, which included reverence for certain high literature. He isn't sure who Camus is. For him, the drugs and staying out of Vietnam are all that matters. Downey's sister, Beth (Winnona Ryder), eventually becomes a significant part of the story as the film progresses.

The film doesn't have much of a coherent plot and may be described as a character study of its leads. The setting is a small town in Maryland where Scott's brother, Alden, is about to leave for Vietnam. He is one of the first from this nameless town to be drafted into the war and the locals, including his family, seem perplexed by the whole affair. In an uncomfortable scene, Alden tries to make amends with his younger brother Scott who says the war is "b.s." Their father (Bruce Dern) who feels strongly that his sons should fight as he did in World War II reprimands Scott for his disrespect. Luckily, Dern's performance is not over-the-top and it works. After a rather strange farewell, Ralph decides that neither himself nor his friend Scott should allow themselves to get drafted. Scott begins to explore the young peoples' counter-culture movement of the late 1960's while Ralph seems only interested in exploring the drugs. They attend college, mostly to avoid the draft, but Ralph lapses in his studies. During their first summer, they decide to go on a road trip.

A good movie, by no means a great one, but high marks for all the leads and supporting characters, particularly Bruce Dern as Scott's father and Mariette Hartley as the mother. It seems this movie was missing something that was present in the writer's brilliant play "On Golden Pond". I can't quite put my finger on it, but the film made its point all too soon. I think I wanted an additional profound revelation besides the idea that Vietnam was a bad war.

Granted there wasn't much of a plot to 1969 and the acting was fair, but nevertheless I thought the film did accomplish something important. It made you realize that this kind of "drama" - coping with the aftermath of a Vietnam KIA - played out in tens-of-thousands of homes throughout the country during the '60s and '70s. The sum of all that pain and anguish makes me cringe. I served in South Vietnam from the summer of '68 to the summer of '69 in the USMC and I am glad to see this kind of message portrayed in a movie. It keeps alive the suffering endured by family and friends from that time. Maybe that sounds morbid but I think it's important for the here and now to acknowledge and remember that suffering. We can use it to give us perspective on how fortunate we are to be able to flourish and live to a ripe old age. For me of course it has special meaning. I could have ended my life at 19 and would have missed so much.

But that's what happened to so many. A horrible shame.

I graduated from high-school in 1968. Guys in the neighborhood, my friends, cousin, older brother, everybody it seemed, was being drafted. I joined the Army Reserve in 1969 to dodge the draft. (I wasn't college bound at the time.)

Most everyone I knew made it back okay or didn't go to Vietnam. No one really close to me died, but I knew some that did. Some who did go to Vietnam, came back a little screwed up, some a lot. Many laughed about killing civilians or atrocities against the enemy. It alway seemed like an exaggerated, overly macho, nervous king of laugh. But it was okay, it was 'pay-back' in their minds.

I was in basic training during the walk on the moon and Woodstock in 1969. I'm glad I didn't go. I wish that some of the guys I went through basic and advanced training had not gone. I met some really great guys there (I hope they're all okay.) I still can't understand why so many volunteered.

My father was a World War II veteran with a purple heart who fought in Europe. He didn't believe in the Vietnam war and he wasn't ashamed to say so (maybe because he was a father). I watched the death counts on the 6 o'clock news with him, through my junior and senior high school years. I knew it would be over soon and I wouldn't have to be involved, but it wasn't, and it was possible that I would be.

I listened to the A.M. radio stations each night before I went to bed listening again to the death counts, and to dedications from young girls to their boyfriends and young husbands. They always played 'Soldier Boy' and 'Mister Lonely' as they read the dedications. It made you feel sick.

I've yet to see any movie that really conveys the true feelings of that time, but I do see a lot of parallels to what is going on today in the Middle East today. A lot of young guys that are being convinced of the same concepts of 'my country, right or wrong', 'love it or leave it', and of course 'pay-back'.

This movie did try. At least it made me think about making a comment. It sends a good message, but lacks the true feelings of the times, i.e., total confusion and desperation.

I admit that I rented this because of Miss Ryder's name on the cover. However, this isn't really a Winona-Ryder-movie, she is secondary to the plot. Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Downey Jr. play the main characters, two irresponsible kids at the end of the 1960s, trying to avoid getting drafted or growing up. However, it didn't really touch me. The anti-war message could have been stronger if the war had felt more present. As ususal for a movie about kids, their parents are portrayed as being clueless about how things have changed since they were young. Scott's father seem to be thinking 'Whatever happened to the 1950s?' all through the movie.

On the surface, the film is about two friends: one straight, the other into drugs etc. The film explores their relationship. Then there is the dysfunctional families and how they impact on the boys. The backdrop is the vietnam war, the death of family members, and the draft. All these issues intertwine closely making the film complex.

The acting is excellent. A film to be watched