Main Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Kiefer Sutherland, Bruce Dern, Mariette Hartley, Winona Ryder
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Ernest Thompson, the playwright responsible for the Pulitzer Prize winning On Golden Pond, makes his directorial debut with 1969. Kiefer Sutherland plays a draft-age youth who undergoes an epiphany when one of his friends is killed in Vietnam. Sutherland's subsequent antiwar stance causes a great deal of tension within his own family, though his mother, Mariette Hartley, tries her best to understand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joanna Cassidy - Ev; Christopher Wynne - Alden; Keller Kuhn - Marsha; Al Cerullo - Janitor; Steve Foster - Marshall; John Garber - Radio Announcer; Mert Hatfield - Coach Heart; Howard Kingkade - Matty; Lawrence Lowe - Guard; David Webster - Soldier; Scott Stevens - Hitchhiker; Richard Young - Raplh's Cellmate
Credit
Bo Johnson - Art Director, Mike Fenton - Casting, Jane Feinberg - Casting, William Badalato - Co-producer, Daniel Grodnik - Co-producer, Julie Weiss - Costume Designer, David B. Householter - First Assistant Director, Ernest Thompson - Director, William M. Anderson - Editor, Thomas Coleman - Executive Producer, Michael Small - Composer (Music Score), Jolene Cherry - Musical Direction/Supervision, Marcia Hinds-Johnson - Production Designer, Jules Brenner - Cinematographer, Tim Matheson - Producer, Jan K. Bergstrom - Set Designer, Don Johnson - Sound/Sound Designer, Ernest Thompson - Screenwriter
In 1969, two best friends, Ralph Karr (Robert Downey Jr.) and Scott Denny (Kiefer Sutherland) live in a stuffy, upper-middle class suburban town in Maryland at the outset of the Vietnam War, and are both in college. While Scott's brother Alden enlists, he and Ralph are outspoken in their opposition to the war. Scott's attitude alienates him from his father Cliff and he and Ralph decide to spend the summer on the road, living out of their van and experiencing all the freedom the counterculture has to offer. Various events lead them back to town where they learn of the death of Alden. This event proves to be the catalyst needed to bridge the gap between father and son and enlightens them both to the true cost of the war
