Best movie of this year hands down!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

" I like when my friends visit me, i feel i am not alone and this is very important, not only for veterans but to everyone, not feeling alone" says veteran group leader CHARLES DUTTON in JACKNIFE, a movie about love, friendship, life etc.., This is not a war movie, this is a movie that shows veterans, war just acts as sub-plot.Joseph Megessey ( known as 'megs' or 'jacknife') visits dave after 15 years to take him for fishing which they planned with their friend bobby who died in war before they returned from Vietnam and he says it is opening day.Dave is friend of megs and bobby is suffering from PTSD (post trauma stress disorder) has became an alcoholic to forget his friend bobby's death rather it gets worse everday which also affects his sister martha's life who is a biology teacher and pretty old too but not married yet because of dave.megs's arrival does not pleases dave but it blossoms romance with her sister which stresses more trouble for dave which leads to an confrontation at martha's prom which leads to an solution that dave is obsessed with all the time.The way movie opened stimulated an interest to watch it keenly but the treatment is contrast to the opening because the way it opened gave an impression that it is a dark deniro's kind of serious drama which don't have any significance after.The only great element survived the movie is the commitment the actors had and the way they executed is admirable especially the way deniro sporting with facial hair, definitely director must have convinced every actor on creating a impression of doing a great movie but it does'nt failed because the commitment is worth the admission for the movie.

Jacknife is a masterpiece of the 80's. It's a movie that breaths through amazing acting and a very interesting directing touch. In Jacknife both lovers of European and American cinema can find things to relate on. The screenplay is very compelling and full of beautiful characters. Ed Harris is giving one of the greatest performances up to date. He portrays his alcoholic hero superbly making us feel his broken heart in each line, in each move. Robert De Niro makes us once again think of him as one of the greatest actors of all time in one of the simplest but also most realistic performances in his career. Jacknife is never getting boring as it shows its heroes clear of any typical Hollywood's typical character elements. After the war none is a hero. Everybody is a loser, and this movie is about that simple truth. None can mend up his pieces after a war, just like the heroes of this movie. Jacknife is about the diseases of the soul that war creates. Simply magnificent movie.

You've seen crap like this before. De Niro plays an ex nam vet who is an extrovert and likes to meddle in every one's life. Harris is another nam vet but he is totally bonkers and yells at everyone all the time. Talk about overacting. Then there is kathy baker who plays harris' sis and de niro's girl friend. I liked her. She's cast as a 35 year old school teacher spinster who is less than beautiful but still attractive. Not much plot and of course no action. This is NOT about Vietnam, just the after effects. If you want to see people killed or beat up, skip this flik. This is for the kitchen-sink drama crowd only.PS - one thing i really hated is the way de niro and harris drive their cars 90 mph everywhere they go. Innocent people are killed by speeders everyday and there's no need to glorify such a deadly crime.

I stumbled on Jacknife playing on Bravo... I didn't know the title, but Robert DeNero is a damn good actor, so I started watching. And I started feeling like it was de javu, all over again... I knew the story. Then I realized why I knew it. It was originally a play called Strange Snow, and I did a production of it in collage. Play to screen allows for far more intricacies in story lines, but it is the same -- two survivors of Vietnam both reacting to the real world in different manners. The first thing I thought when I read the play after I was casted was this story is an interesting mixture of a discussion of PTSD and an parable of the Christ crucification ("Bobby"'s sacrifice of his own life in Nam being his... crucification). This movie is very much worth the time. An excellent collection of actors... the script equally effective. If you are looking for a techno-stunt movie, this is not it... it is not a deep plot movie... it is a slice of life. An excellent slice.