Instant Favorite.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Watching this film nearly 40 years later, it's amazing that nothing has changed. We are still involved in useless wars, and the military/industrial complex and secret government continue to lie to American citizens as they profit from their wars.FRIENDLY FIRE helped make the Vietnam War personal, taking the unnecessary death of an unimportant soldier and showing the world that every death matters.The story of the Iowa farm couple, the Mullens, is beautifully told here in an straightforward way. It shows us their everyday life, their community, their kids. It shows the devastation their son's death in Vietnam brings. It then chronicles the long journey to discovery the truth about that death.Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty are superb in playing this middle-America couple. There's nothing extraordinary about them. They are average citizens going about their lives until war claims their son. What ensues is a years-long battle with the government and the military to get to the truth. Their mail is tampered with. Their phones are bugged. They are lied to by the military anxious to cover-up their own ineptitude.The Mullens challenge the way the war is sold to the American public on the evening news. They challenge the very concept of this "war to save democracy" that actually has nothing to do with this country and that was never legally sanctioned by Congress.Nothing has changed. Add Iraq and Afghanistan to the list of wars.In casting comedienne Burnett as Peg Mullen, the filmmakers scored a brilliant bulls eye by using Burnett's cozy personality to embody Mullen's flinty determination. Beatty is also perfectly cast. Together they portray a couple shattered by the death of their son, unable to move forward with their lives. Sam Waterston plays the writer who eventually pens the book this film was based on.No one wins a war. And this film perfectly portrays the that fact.

I remember watching the film on T.V years ago and Carol Burnett's acting was superb.Ned Beatty played it like the character of the Father would be.All these people wanted was the truth with no lies.Also as I remember there was a emphasis on whether he wore his Flak Jacket.Though if you we're fired upon by friendly fire that would kill you regardless.Being a true story made this film more credible and sad these things happen but they do.Like what happened to Pat Tilman the football player turned Soldier who was killed by friendly fire.They should of told the truth right away and not lied.I think Carol Burnett should of been nominated for a Emmy.Its hard to find good television with meaningful TV movies that are true stories these days.I can't believe it was 1979 when I watched this T.V. movie.I was 16 years old.

The longer this made for TV movie went on the more I began to look at the Mullens as annoying. Carol Burnett is a fine actress and comedian but this role seemed a bit out of place for her even though her performance did have me taking sides against her character Peg Mullen. American service men have tragically been killed by friendly fire in all wars but this Mother and Father just about want to start a revolution about it. Ned Beatty did stand out in his role.

Riveting film about a family torn apart by a death in Viet Nam. The son of a farmer goes to war in an infantry unit and is killed by his own men by accident. The grief suffered by his family was hard to take as I watched the movie. Carol Burnett was brilliant as the shocked and angry mother. This film showed the waste of war, and the military's attitude about a soldier's duty as opposed to a family's rejection of the government calling a farmer a soldier. Everyone should see this program.