Themes: Military Life, Infidelity, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Locane
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
Blue Sky was the last film directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) before his death in 1991 and one of the last releases from once-thriving Orion Films, whose bankruptcy kept the picture on the shelf for several years. It also features two career-high performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange, who won the Best Actress Oscar for this role, as Hank and Carly Marshall, a military couple whose marriage unravels under the pressure of his job and her mental instability. Hank is an Army captain at odds with his superiors over the wisdom of nuclear testing. Carly is a free spirit spiralling into a dangerous depression after the family's move from Hawaii to a nowhere base in Alabama alarms the couple's older daughter (Amy Locane) and sends Carly into an affair with the base commander (Powers Boothe). ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Review
Director Tony Richardson is certainly better known for films such as Hotel New Hampshire and Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner than he is for this final endeavor. Nevertheless, Blue Sky is not a film to be dismissed. On the contrary, for those who enjoy intense, engaging acting, this is the movie. Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange have done much weightier films, but few that will draw an audience in as much as this one. Jessica Lange won an Oscar at the 1995 Academy Awards for her portrayal of Carly Marshal, the fun-loving, antagonistic, and promiscuous wife of John Marshall. As portrayed by Jones, John Marshall is one of the actor's quieter roles to date, but an absolute joy to watch. The ambitious story line is somewhat unbelievable at times, but the sheer drama of the performances will allow viewers to overlook the small, undeveloped details within the script. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide
Chris O'Donnell - Glen Johnson; Mitchell Ryan - Ray Stevens; Dale Dye - Colonel Mike Anwalt; Annie Ross - Lydia; Anna Klemp - Becky Marshall; Dion Anderson - General Derrick; Donna Biscoe - Officer's Wife; David Bradford - First Soldier; Gary Bullock - Doctor Vankay; Rod Masterson - Reporter; Sean McGraw - Reporter; Angela Paton - Dottie Owens; Clarinda Ross - Officers Wife; Timothy Scott - Ned Owens; Libby Whittemore - Officers Wife; David Dwyer - Newscaster; Rene Rokk - NATO Officer; Richard Jones - Jimmy
Credit
Gary John Constable - Art Director, Thomas J. Mack - Art Director, Rama Laurie Stagner - Associate Producer, Lynn Stalmaster - Casting, Lynn Arost - Co-producer, Jane Robinson - Costume Designer, David Kelley - First Assistant Director, Tony Richardson - Director, Robert Lambert - Editor, Jack Nitzsche - Composer (Music Score), Jacob Goldstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bob Arrollo - Makeup, Dorothy Pearl - Makeup, Timian Alsaker - Production Designer, Steve Yaconelli - Cinematographer, Robert Solo - Producer, John G. Wilson - Producer, Leslie Rollins - Set Designer, Mack Chapman - Special Effects, Cliff Wenger - Special Effects, Susumu Tokunow - Sound/Sound Designer, John G. Wilson - Supervisor/Manager, Jerry Leichtling - Screenwriter, Arlene Sarner - Screenwriter, Rama Laurie Stagner - Screenwriter
Blue Sky is a 1994 film which tells the story of an Army officer whose outspokenness and his wife's mental illness have made him a outcast to the Army.
The movie was adapted by Rama Laurie Stagner, Arlene Sarner and Jerry Leichtling from a story by Rama Laurie Stagner. It was directed by Tony Richardson and was his last film. The original music score was composed by Jack Nitzsche.
The movie was completed in 1991, but because of a bankruptcy by the original studio, Orion Pictures, it sat on the shelf until 1994.
Plot summary
In the early 1960s, Major Hank Marshall and his wife Carly are a military couple whose marriage unravels from the pressures of his job and her mental instability. Hank is a nuclear engineer who favors underground nuclear testing, and at odds with his superiors over the wisdom of open-air detonations. Carly is a free spirit spiralling into a dangerous depression, and slowly being suffocated by domestic torpor and encroaching age. The family's move from Hawaii to an isolated base in Alabama alarms the couple's oldest daughter, Alex, and sends Carly into an affair with the base commander, Vince Johnson.
Othello (1955) •It Should Happen to a Dog (1955) •"BBC Sunday Night Theatre" (1955) •"ITV Play of the Week" (1956) •"The Sunday-Night Play" (1960) •A Death in Canaan (1978) •The Penalty Phase (1986) •Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) •Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell) •The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
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