This does a fair job of depicting the problems many vets had after they came home from Vietnam. But I must warn the vets and any who might be squeamish....the end of this movie is very brutal. If any vets watching it have problems with dealing with Vietnam you may not want to see the end of the movie.
4 Reviews
Dragged on longer than the war itself
yetihuts21 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
###CONTAINS SPOILERS PS Don't WATCH THIS#### What an awful movie. The performances were so hollow, the special effects so bad and the story(WHAT STORY!), dragged on for far too long. The main character looked like he was on a drug trip the whole time. If i could give a summary of the plot it would be this. Guy goes to Vietnam, comes back goes in a line looking for a job, meets a gay pirate, the gay pirate molests his kids, the guy hits his wife, the guy nearly stabs his son, his friend cries, he cries, his friend kills himself, he cries, he goes to a meeting "i was stationed in BLANK i saw a lot of BLANK ill never get over when BLANK BLANKED BLANKY. Turns out guy shot his friend to avoid being thrown down a pit with a rat in it. This movie made me feel sorry for Vietnam vets for the fact that crap like this tarnishes their good name. Note to z grade filmmakers, stop using this stupid war to make stupider movies!!!
Vietnam Vets Flashbacks Emotional Real Performances
killerkandykorn29 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This is a movie I picked up downstate on VHS for about $2.25 It's worth every penny.
The movie takes place after the war over viewing one Vietnam Vet who hasn't yet faced his suppressed memories
1. It's Realistic The actors are just great I mean they really deliver emotional performances The whole movie is very entertaining as it just feels like your watching a home movie, the characters seem real its like actually watching someones everyday life. It's smooth and it just flows.
Near the end there are some very emotional performances that are just tops. They will bring a tear to your eye.
2nd and Most importantly Don Johnson's Mustache is just great, oh man... It's epic, it just cries 1970
The movie takes place after the war over viewing one Vietnam Vet who hasn't yet faced his suppressed memories
1. It's Realistic The actors are just great I mean they really deliver emotional performances The whole movie is very entertaining as it just feels like your watching a home movie, the characters seem real its like actually watching someones everyday life. It's smooth and it just flows.
Near the end there are some very emotional performances that are just tops. They will bring a tear to your eye.
2nd and Most importantly Don Johnson's Mustache is just great, oh man... It's epic, it just cries 1970
Timely drama about Vietnam veterans
lor_23 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
My review was written in July 1985 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.
The real-life problems and frustrations of Vietnam vets are dramatically treated in the indie film "Cease Fire". Its theatrical chances will depend on the public's willingness to check out a very serious approach to a subject recently and successfully giving rise to the comic strip heroics of "Rambo". With proper laundering of the R-rated four-letter words, pic will subsequently have solid tv potential.
Don Johnson (currently riding high in tv's "Miami Vice" series) toplines as Tim Murphy, an unemployed Vietnam vet living in Miami with his wife Paula (Lisa Blount), who works as a waitress, and two young children. He is haunted by recurring nightmares of his circa 1970-71 wartime experience, and is becoming increasingly irritable with his wife and other people, interfering with his job hunting.
Tim meets a fellow Vietnam vet Luke (Robert F. Lyons) on the unemployment line and the two of them become fast friends, sharing their common frustrations and memories of good times as well. Luke is separated from his wife Wendy (Chris Noel), but hopeful of getting back together with her and their son.
Picture climaxes with Luke's tragic suicide when his future plans all fall apart. With the aid of Veterans' Center group therapy sessions for vets and for their wives, Tim finally realizes the nature of his own war guilt and with Paula's help, is ready to rebuild his life.
Adapted by George Fernandez from the third act of his play "Vietnam Trilogy", "Cease Fire" is a hard-hitting problem drama relying mainly on strong performances rather than cinematic devices. Low-budget filming under first-time director David Nutter adopts an unadorned, flatly-lit visual style which provides a pleasant-looking, neutral Middle-American facade for the deep-rooted of the characters. Flashback stagings of war battles were also filmed in Florida and lack authenticity, but this is not a major drawback.
Johnson, sporting a moustache to contrast with a clean shaven, youthful look in his flashbacks, gives a very strong, unglamorized portrayal in the central role, conveying both the anguish and rage of his character. He is ably supported by Blount as his loyal wife and effective source of identification for female viewers. Showiest role of the piece, the impulsive buddy Luke, is expressively handled by well-cast Robert F. Lyons. As his wife, former 1960s starlet Chris Noel ("Soldier in the Rain" and "The Glory Stompers") shines in a heartfelt monolog delivered at a group session for veterans' wives.
The real-life problems and frustrations of Vietnam vets are dramatically treated in the indie film "Cease Fire". Its theatrical chances will depend on the public's willingness to check out a very serious approach to a subject recently and successfully giving rise to the comic strip heroics of "Rambo". With proper laundering of the R-rated four-letter words, pic will subsequently have solid tv potential.
Don Johnson (currently riding high in tv's "Miami Vice" series) toplines as Tim Murphy, an unemployed Vietnam vet living in Miami with his wife Paula (Lisa Blount), who works as a waitress, and two young children. He is haunted by recurring nightmares of his circa 1970-71 wartime experience, and is becoming increasingly irritable with his wife and other people, interfering with his job hunting.
Tim meets a fellow Vietnam vet Luke (Robert F. Lyons) on the unemployment line and the two of them become fast friends, sharing their common frustrations and memories of good times as well. Luke is separated from his wife Wendy (Chris Noel), but hopeful of getting back together with her and their son.
Picture climaxes with Luke's tragic suicide when his future plans all fall apart. With the aid of Veterans' Center group therapy sessions for vets and for their wives, Tim finally realizes the nature of his own war guilt and with Paula's help, is ready to rebuild his life.
Adapted by George Fernandez from the third act of his play "Vietnam Trilogy", "Cease Fire" is a hard-hitting problem drama relying mainly on strong performances rather than cinematic devices. Low-budget filming under first-time director David Nutter adopts an unadorned, flatly-lit visual style which provides a pleasant-looking, neutral Middle-American facade for the deep-rooted of the characters. Flashback stagings of war battles were also filmed in Florida and lack authenticity, but this is not a major drawback.
Johnson, sporting a moustache to contrast with a clean shaven, youthful look in his flashbacks, gives a very strong, unglamorized portrayal in the central role, conveying both the anguish and rage of his character. He is ably supported by Blount as his loyal wife and effective source of identification for female viewers. Showiest role of the piece, the impulsive buddy Luke, is expressively handled by well-cast Robert F. Lyons. As his wife, former 1960s starlet Chris Noel ("Soldier in the Rain" and "The Glory Stompers") shines in a heartfelt monolog delivered at a group session for veterans' wives.
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