Thanks for the memories!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Fans of Robert Downey Jr. who are just discovering (or rediscovering) this talented actor thanks to the box office smashes IRON MAN and TROPIC THUNDER may be surprised to learn that RDJ has more than 50 film credits to his name and logged his first credited role at age 5. This movie, released a year after Downey's electrifying performance as Julian Wells in LESS THAN ZERO, pairs the 23-year-old second-generation actor (son of actress Elsie Ford and director Robert Downey, Sr.) with 19-year-old second-generation actor Kiefer Sutherland (son of Donald) as college buds Ralph Carr and Scott Denney, grads from their small-town Maryland high school just two years prior, as they enter the infamous "Summer of Love", the summer of 1969.We first meet Ralph and Scott hitchhiking their way home from college on spring break, allowing for some shorthand character profiling: Scott is the intellectual, fresh-faced, optimistic anti-war hippie wannabe with a smile forever planted on his face except when lamenting that he has yet to get laid; Ralph is his chain-smoking, profane, cynical opposite, a sex-crazed (bragging he's bagged 14 women) drug-toting slacker wild child who's still a scared kid who can't wait to get home to Mom at heart. Ralph's got a kid sister who got all the brains in the family ("But I'm ugly, so it's O.K.," Ralph reasons), Beth (a 17-year-old Winona Ryder), who's got a mad crush on Scott, which drives a wedge between Ralph and Scott; Scott's got an older brother who joined the Marines rather than go to college, Alden (Christopher Wynne), whose impending departure to Vietnam drives a wedge between them as well as between Scott and his WWII vet father (Bruce Dern). You soon get the idea: Ralph's family is the more liberal, looser one (run by loose-moralled lush widow Ev, played by Joanna Cassidy); Scott's is the more conservative, uptight one (with wound-tight stuck-in-the-50s Cliff and Jessie, played by Bruce Dern and Mariette Hartley). The parallelism gets tiresome after a while, and by the time the inevitable happens (Alden goes MIA, Ralph flunks out of school and discovers he's about to be drafted, Scott and Beth hit the road and head for Canada to avoid Scott suffering the same fate), the movie veers off into Cliché-Land, and by the time the Only-In-Hollywood ending rolls around, you're ready to either throw things at the TV or snap your DVD in half.The script is uneven at best (Ralph and Scott go on the road in a VW van, go out to San Francisco, and then seem to turn right around and go back to Maryland again), and none of the characters are very well written. Downey and Sutherland share top billing, but Sutherland's Scott is clearly meant to be the main protagonist with RDJ's Ralph as a darker reflection on the "hippie" lifestyle taken to extreme; of the two, Ralph comes across more fully developed, aided considerably by RDJ's mad acting skills, while Scott never seems to come alive because Sutherland seems to have just one expression for every emotion except anger. Ryder is really gorgeous and does a good job with what she's given, but she's saddled with some horribly clunky anti-war speeches and clichés that make her character seem flat and one-note.Just as in LESS THAN ZERO, RDJ once more plays a very convincing stoner. Whether he's taking hits off the remains of a joint left over from spring break while reflecting on why he didn't finish DON QUIXOTE ("It had a lot of...pages") or stripping to his briefs while tripping on a double dose of LSD in the high school gym, each drug-filled scene serves both as a reminder of just how good an actor he is (considering his own substance abuse issues through the 80s and 90s) and as a chilling reminder of the Hell awaiting him just a few years down the road.1969 isn't a bad movie, but neither is it a good one. Catch it on cable and don't waste your money viewing it any other way.

The reviews of "1969" as cinema are largely right on--it's a neat "little" movie and a credible directorial debut.But it's subtext, the radicalization of the mainstream view is uncannily germane to our present situation in 2007; the basic theme of the screenplay translates to "dissent is not unpatriotic; indeed, it is an obligation in a democracy..". The "clicheing" of antiwar sentiments in so many other (especially post-1994) films (especially the notion that anti-Vietnam sentiment was the province of drug-clouded hippies and committed anarchists and the Left) is teased apart in a series of "proxy" vignettes about a university building takeover, a draft-office break-in, and a Marine KIA funeral. These are set against a backdrop of not-so cliché themes of value evolution and generational conflict, handled in a manner that warrants re-visitation.I saw this film about 15 years ago, and was impressed by Sutherland (at 19-as 19 !)) and Downey--and Dern. But now, the film has a message. Biggest drawback for me--soundbite use of terrific 1969-era rock for the soundtrack--great music--in bits and pieces....

first off - you cannot over dose on lsd, as robert downey jr.'s character claims. sure, running around in only your underwear may happen, but fainting and being rushed to a hospital without hitting your head on something first, generally doesn't happen while tripping.the writing kind of sucked, and the acting wasn't exactly award winning. maybe because i can't see winona ryder as anything but some loner girl who talks to beetle juice, or as a crazy lady who tells a village that tituba is doing witchcraft. she wasn't very convincing of the fact that she loved a free spirited "hippie." there are soo many better movies relating to the same topic, this one overall, was crap.

This is a very strange movie but not in a very bad way.Some of the acting is poor and could have been much better.I liked most of the movie but the story is off the road and rather "drunk".1969 is a good movie to view by yourself.A lot of 80's films such as this one are corny but good at the same time.