O Rochedo de Gibraltar

This movie invoked in me a funny kind of feeling. What feeling exactly, or why I don't know, but it was with a definite contentment that I watched it. Just go and rent it, you'll see. Maybe it was the time that I watched it, Sunday afternoon, or the fact that I felt good for other reasons, but the interaction between Lancaster and Culkin is so nice and touching ('cuse the sappy language) that it makes you feel good with the world. The movie just has the right atmosphere and incomparable good acting by Culkin (8 years at the time) especially.

I don't want to go into the story line or that kind of crap, just go and see it.

I think someone was a big fan of Beau Geste to have written Rocket Gibraltar. If you'll remember Beau Geste the two surviving Geste brothers give their gallant brother Beau a Viking funeral just like they talked about when they were kids.

According to a recent biography of Burt Lancaster this was to be his On Golden Pond or The Shootist, but it did not win the critical reception that those other two films got. In time though it found its audience and I'm part of that audience. Burt was 75 when he made this film and he was playing a part of a man who was going into his 77 birthday and his family has come out to Westhampton Beach out in Suffolk County to celebrate his birthday.

Burt has three daughters and a son and has led an interesting life. He was a writer of sorts who survived the McCarthy/blacklist era and has brought the kids up with certain values. The kids have gone out on their own however and while none of them is a disgrace, they're far from what he idealized them to be. His wife had died several years earlier.

The daughters are Suzy Amis, Patricia Clarkson, and Frances Conroy and the son is John Glover. Amis is unmarried and truth be told she's one of loose morals. The other daughters are married to Kevin Spacey and Bill Pullman, a hack comedian and a washed up ballplayer.

It's in the grandkids that Burt sees some hope and maybe salvation for his ideals. He likes them all, but his favorite is MacCauley Culkin years before his Home Alone films. He tells them that his ideal would be a Viking funeral, after all the thought of his cadaver being worm food is nothing for a real man to want.

Of course the kids set out to do just that and they do it in a winning manner. These kids truly connected with their grandfather the love really comes through in the scenes with each other and with Lancaster.

Rocket Gibraltar is funny and sad and bittersweet all at once. I'd give it a look, there are worse ways to go out.

this heart felt film is well worth watching. the simple script is full of characters any family will recognize, it is lifted by the talents of a huge ensemble of incredibly talented actors. while the film is carried by the soon-to-be lauded adult actors, the children add completely uncommented truth. the combination of the two drives the film into your heart. watch it if only for the glimpse of Kevin Spacey, Patricia Clarkson, Frances Conroy, Burt Lacaster, Bill Pullman, even a fresh faced Macaulay Culkin. a must see, especially for those big east coast families of beach summer traditions. watch it with the whole family, but be warned the heart wrenching ending may catch you by surprise

This movie has more than one of the last movies of Burt Lancaster and the screen debut of Macaulay Culkin. It also contains the screen debuts of Angela Goethals and Sara Rue. It was the third of these kids mentioned that got me more interested in seeing it, and the fact that no video chain is selling rental copies anymore which got me to buy a copy. Angela Goethals grew up to be quite a babe, and LESS THAN PERFECT turned me into a fan of Sara Rue, whereas before I simply recognized her throughout the 1990's from the short-lived NBC Sitcom GRAND, and somehow I have a feeling that Emily Poe is related to the original playwright Amos Poe. But I digress;

Levi Rockwell(Lancaster), a writer, teacher and stand-up comedian blacklisted during the McCarthy-era is celebrating his 77th Birthday at his house in Sagaponack, Long Island with his children, their spouses and grandchildren. The family consists mainly of writers, as well as an aging baseball player(Bill Pullman), a washed-up comedian(Kevin Spacey) and a promiscuous aunt(Suzy Amis). That promiscuous aunt is actually kind of cute, but the kids are the most important part of the movie, next to Lancaster's character. It's clear that Grandpa Rockwell has very little time left on this earth, and confides in his grandchildren that he only wants one present -- a boat that he can use for a viking funeral when he dies. And while the adults seem partially wrapped up in their own lives while arranging the birthday party for Grandpa Rockwell, the kids are determined to fulfill his wish.

While the movie takes place in Sagaponack, it's actually filmed in and around Westhampton Beach. FYI, Sagaponack, Long Island is a real town that's much further east than Westhampton Beach. It's the last town along Montauk Highway before you cross the Southampton-Easthampton Township line. But if you can forgive Neil Simon for using segments of Long Island to pass as the mythical "Twin Oaks, Ohio" in 'THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS(1970), you should have no problem with this little geographical error.

After surviving a heart attack, we find Levi's personal physician, Dr. Dean Bonacker(George Martin) had a crush on Levi's late wife. Some may find it less of a story if it doesn't lead to a fistfight or an over-dramatic argument. I also noticed in one scene, Sara Rue occasionally put her arm around Macaulay Culkin. Hmm. I wonder if she had a crush on him back then. Anyway, the movie is super-sappy and sentimental, but it does contain one car-chase and some lines that'll bring a few chuckles, mainly from the kids. If you hate yuppies you may find this movie hard to live with, but you'd be missing out on an interesting tale.

I too came across this little gem while channel hopping late one night. After watching fro a few minutes, i was into it.

This movie put me on to Billie Holiday. The old man lies on his bed, listening to a voice that had me enraptured. I almost wished the movie would end so that i could find out who the singer was.

Since then, Billie has been on the top of my list of female vocalists...perhaps her contribution to the movie alone should score it a few points?

That aside though, the movie is worth watching. Sometimes it takes the "innocence" or rather the openness of children to show us what is important in life