The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This movie-length after school special with swear words beeped out was probably groundbreaking in 1982, but the expected moment of high courtroom drama and its "message" is delivered with all the ham-fisted finesse that must have seemed impressive to rural folks during a time when television consisted of three stations (four if you count PBS). As if to drive the point home that this is the 1980s, there is a montage set to rock music, ending in fake blood and a hospital stay. Watch the drunk driving scene closely, the driver is obviously a middle-aged stunt driver. In contrast to some of the superlatives thrown in Sheen's direction by other reviewers, I thought his performance in general was forced, such as when he went nuts over the spilled milk or started shouting in the courthouse; it is possible for Sheen to overact, and for low TV production values to be confined to only a few takes instead of the multiple ones that might have guaranteed a better portrayal of a struggling blue-collar worker who has been out of work for six months. So back to the "message", it's clear that incarceration exacerbates the issues that cause a man to be imprisoned in the first place, but it was a few weeks in the slammer, not a multi-year stretch in a federal prison. He could have read books or drew pictures to kill the time, so I'm calling BS on the message as it was portrayed. One last thing, that Ed Lauter was a solid character actor who nicely filled out any film he appeared in.

This tale of a juvenile's nightmare voyage through delinquency and the harsh penal system is a well acted and at times moving story.Emilio Estevez as the angry young man Danny is excellent, in an early role which showed his promise and acting ability. He is indeed his father's son. His story is set against a backdrop of hopelessness and unemployment and his father's emasculation as the wage earner and hunter gatherer. Martin Sheen's character, Frank, is seeking employment having been laid off as foreman in the factory he's spent his adult career in. His frustration at having to almost beg for work, and fear of welfare, whilst his wife earns a wage and keeps the house is palpable and contributes to the rocky relationship with his volatile son. In these early scenes we see Danny cares for his family greatly, that he respects his father but feels embarassed for him.When Danny drunkenly wrecks a car his Frank lets him stew in the cells for a night to teach him a lesson. After he beats a dirty old lech in self defense he is remanded in the youth cells and is tragically sucked into the system, a system which fails him. His character's brutalisation and growing desperation are well conveyed by Emilio and are thrown into contrast later on when we see his father's and the family's fortunes improving with Frank getting a good new job out of state.When Danny is finally released we see a different young man. The closing scenes are poignant as Danny silently, hauntingly, watches his father (offscreen) laugh and play with his younger children. We suspect young Danny longs for those innocent days of youth and unquestioning love. Carefree days. Simple days. Happy days.

I could see this movie being shown to high school kids as a warning about the evils of juvenile delinquency. The downward spiral of Estevez's character Danny begins when he is arrested for drunk driving. Rather than going down to the station to release his son, Danny's father (real-life dad Martin Sheen) tells the police to let him spend the night in jail so to teach him a lesson. While Danny is sitting in his cell, a neighbor prisoner attempts to assault him but is thwarted and severely beaten by the teenager. This incident begins a domino effect as Danny's night in jail turns into years of incarceration.

In this film Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez play father and son with bad tempers and a lot of pent-up anger. When the son Danny gets arrested one night for driving drunk and rear-ending a police car, his out-of-work father decides to `teach him a lesson' and decides to let him spend the night in jail. One thing leads to another and soon Danny is spending day after day behind bars having become enmeshed in the system.Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez are both very good in their respective roles and the other characters are well done as well. While the script has a bit of an `after-school-special' feel about it, it is consistently interesting and it does serve to tell a story that needs telling.