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If you haven't seen "Shoot the Moon", see it. It is very difficult to find, as it appears to be out of print. To a degree, it reminds me of "The Pumpkin Eater" (Eng., 1964), with Anne Bancroft and Peter Finch. Both films deal with bad marriages, in which the husband cheats. Also, the husbands in both films are writers (Peter Finch plays a screenwriter, Albert Finney plays a novelist), and the wives are very supportive, up to a point. However, comparisons seems to end at this point, as "Shoot the Moon" really portrays the emotional stages of divorce and its effects on the entire family and others in their environs whereas "The Pumpkin Eater" focuses mostly on the character of Jo Armitage, played by Anne Bancroft, and her proclivity to have children and find most of her self-worth in raising children.

Diane Keaton and Albert Finney play the husband and wife in "Shoot the Moon", and they are both absolutely superb in their roles. Ditto for Dana Hill, the actress playing their oldest child (very tragically, this very talented actress died in 1996 due to complications from diabetes). This film is so realistic, and the acting, all the way around, is so natural. Diane Keaton's scene singing in the bathtub is particularly moving, as is the scene in which Albert Finney wants to give his eldest daughter her birthday present. This whole latter scene was portrayed very realistically....no sugar-coating here, and for that, I applaud Parker and the cast. Keaton's scene with Peter Weller (who plays Frank) on their first "date" was also very realistic and low-key, considering the emotions her character Faith is going through, just re-entering the "dating" scene since her husband left her. Faith's announcement of her knowledge of her husband's affair, to her husband, in the middle of talking about running out of orange juice, was also so realistic. This screenplay was simply very well written all the way around. I might not agree with the ending entirely; but, it was a story option that was plausibly pursued.

On a few other notes, the soundtrack offers a nice throwback to the '70's (Bob Segar, etc.). Also watch for a young Tracey Gold, who would later star in "Growing Pains" and a younger Tina Yothers, who would later star in "Family Ties". I highly recommend this film....a very good story and great acting together provide for a thoroughly enjoyable cinematic experience. In retrospect, it was sorely overlooked on Oscar night.

A writer in California's Marin County leaves his wife (and four young daughters) for another woman. I'm not quite sure who the audience is for a picture like this. Obviously it's an R-rated film intended for adults, but some of the silly levity--with kids spilling hot chocolate and so on--is so broad that I think it would make most adults uncomfortable (indeed, the film failed at the box-office). As a showcase for the leading actors, Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, it's an erratic mood piece which allows them to blow off emotional steam, but I didn't buy a screaming-match sequence in a restaurant (again, too broad) nor a climactic battle on the tennis court which will leave most viewers cold. No, the best thing in "Shoot The Moon" is the young Dana Hill, who died a few years back of Diabetes-related causes; she was not a natural kid actress (in some of her big scenes, you can feel a mechanical rhythm at work), nor was she adept at subtle emotions (she often zips through at warp speed from A to Z). However, she has a perceptive quality that is rare, and she's very intense. The sequence where she holds her father off with scissors is extremely moving and unsettling, and it's to Hill's credit that a scene like this works at all. "Shoot The Moon" tries for bared emotions and a kind of pent-up, married hostility that few films have explored (maybe Harold Pinter or Ingmar Bergman). It's simply not as entertaining per se as something like "Kramer Vs. Kramer" because of its claustrophobic atmosphere and underpopulated environment. Director Alan Parker tries too hard to liven things up--mostly with crassness--though his joshing isn't in tune with the emotional decay, and the picture leaves you with a peculiar unease. **1/2 from ****

SHOOT THE MOON is an unbelievably heartbreaking movie. I saw this as a kid, by myself, in my local theatre in 1982. I love movies - then and now - particularly adult-skewing films, even when I was 13. I don't know what I was thinking, but at 13 I wanted to experience everything... from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to REDS.

Like Alan Alda's serio-comic THE FOUR SEASONS the year before, this was an introduction to how complicated relationships could be in my future. I came from a happy family, and my parents are still happily together. But my reality is that I lived around this exact movie with my school-aged friends: parents' separations, divorces, the anger and the selfishness, and the confused kids caught in the middle.

The film captures the subtle reality of divorce and the demolition of a relationship through the screen writing of the legendary Bo Goldman and the beautiful direction by Alan Parker.

To this day, the combination still floors me as a viewer. Albert Finney and Diane Keaton have never been better, as a couple going through a separation, a divorce and yet a difficult familial uncoupling, and are perfect for this film. Their performances are stunning. Dana Hill as their child caught in the middle of this separation is phenomenal, that nails the confusion and conflict of forced-adaptation brings.

SHOOT THE MOON helped me understand at a very young age that this is how relationships collapse, and illustrated that people are imperfect. It showed that hubris, loneliness and expectation come with exceptional price-tags - it was a shocker at an early age.

This is one of the lost "great" movies of the 1980s, and I am glad it is on DVD. It's just a movie that is so difficult to embrace, but I am pleased that it exists. It is an amazing movie.

A post-Vietnam optimism swept our country in the late 1970's and early 80's; filmmakers began to focus on parents and their children instead of rebels and the counterculture. So we had Kramer vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, On Golden Pond, Terms of Endearment, and even E.T. Shoot the Moon was lost in the shuffle due to it's downbeat feel and it's too bad: it offers scenes and performances that blow away the other films by far. It did not sweep the awards or succeed at the box office but sometimes that's not such a bad thing. Written by Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and directed by Alan Parker (Midnight Express), the film shows the effect on the family unit when love between the parents fades. There's not alot of laughs here and the film doesn't build in the conventional Hollywood-family movie way: it moves slow and takes its time with several sequences individually building better than the film itself. But the filmmakers strive for realism pays off, creating a powerfully intense viewing experience with a major blessing: the child actors are effective and work well. Goldman and Parker have 10 children between them and the intimacy they create in these setpieces is unique: there's no staginess or false notes.

Diane Keaton and Albert Finney are extrordinary: Keaton first showed the signs of strong dramatic chops in Looking For Mr. Goodbar and Interiors but they were merely warm-ups for her crowning work here and in Reds. In her bathtub scene - alone, she looks up and softly sings 'If I Fell' while a flood of emotions wash over her face- Faith's anger and vulnerability are beautifully displayed in such a simple way; most actors would chew the scenery when performing a scene like this -Keaton just breathes and lets it happen. She really is one of our great actors -playing comedy and drama with ease- and a role model when it comes to project choices.

Albert Finney -his face bloated and depressed- displays the raw intensity we used to see in DeNiro. It's hard to believe he's the same good looking young man who brought the sexy Tom Jones to life and became a sixties icon. Finney went on to give an Academy Award nominated performance as the raging alcoholic in Under the Volcano but it's here he does his best work. George's anger and desperation are stunningly realized during the sequence when he tries to give his daughter her belated birthday gift only to be locked out of the home he used to be a part of. It's a brutal scene played without sentiment and is probably the most memorable in the film.

Talented Karen Allen (playing George's mistress) went on to play the strongest female role Steven Spielberg's ever created in Raiders of the Lost Ark; here, she's merely decorative. However, Peter Weller adds great support as Faith's love interest and Dana Hill is heartbreaking as Sherry, the oldest daughter.

A restaurant fight between Faith and George feels very false and played for laughs and the ending is a bit contrived, but there's too much in this film that deserves to be seen. Hopefully, a DVD treatment will be available; maybe then Shoot the Moon will be given its due.

Why this movie is not on DVD is a mystery. It blows away Kramer Vs. Kramer, which came out a few years before, and is on par with Ordinary People. Anyone who's witnessed a family tearing itself apart because of infidelity, among other issues, will find this movie occasionally unbearable to watch. The ending is a bit too much--for the few who've seen it, the tennis court scene. And a few other scenes are just too over the top. But the acting is so natural (I believe it's the best acting Albert Finney and Diane Keaton have ever done) and their emotions so raw and powerful, that I cry every time I see it. Note to whichever company owns the early '80s MGM catalog--GET THIS ON DVD!