State uniti in America

Richard Pryor and Margot Kidder act in this film about a POW who returns home to the United States particularly Los Angeles, California dealing with his wife and mother. The film has a great cast such as Olivia Cole, Lynne Moody and Anne Haney in supporting roles. Richard Pryor was a terrific actor as well as comedian. This film was on a DVD that I found at the store. It's a great little gem of a movie.

In this film, it starts off great and it kinda sizzles after a while, but it is at least put together well by one guy- Richard Pryor. He rises above the material here like no other and actually gives a good dramatic/comedic performance (his best dramatic one besides Blue Collar). While the prison camp scenes are quite intriguing, it becomes a little undone at home. That's my complaint. B-

This film starts off like an extremely poignant drama. The bond between Richard Pryor and Ray Sharkey in the POW camp is seamlessly acted. The musical score by Patrick Williams is outstanding and very sad. The films middle is just as good, with very moving parts with Pryor returning from war to deal with problems with his mother, his wife, and his life. However, after this the film goes awry. The films keeps its respectability however, because Pryor is such a good actor.

I enjoyed the movie, but it made me feel disgusted about how the army and the citizens of America treated a POW.

I watched this fresh off maybe my third read of the source novel, so for me, the lack of character development really shows up. I understand it's difficult to fit everything covered in a 294 page novel, but this could of been a much better movie if it was lengthened by about 15 minutes, with emphasis on character development, along with more story of what drove Eddie to take the risks he did after the military turned their back on him. I especially missed seeing more of his interaction with his mom, and feel they glossed over Eddie's time as a POW. Richard Pryor performed well as a dramatic actor here, they shouldn't have insisted making the film into yet another comedy vehicle.