In Country (1989)

76% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(2,496 ratings)

Norman Jewison directed this subdued character study of the effect of the Vietnam War on a small-town Kentucky family -- based on the novel by Bobbi Ann Mason. The film centers upon 17-year-old Samantha (Emily Lloyd) who lives in Hopewell, Kentucky with her Uncle Emmett (Bruce Willis), a quiet,… More Norman Jewison directed this subdued character study of the effect of the Vietnam War on a small-town Kentucky family -- based on the novel by Bobbi Ann Mason. The film centers upon 17-year-old Samantha (Emily Lloyd) who lives in Hopewell, Kentucky with her Uncle Emmett (Bruce Willis), a quiet, laid-back veteran of Vietnam suffering from post-traumatic stress. Samantha's father was killed in Vietnam when he was 19-years-old (almost her age now), and her mother Irene (Joan Allen) has remarried. Samantha finds some old photographs of her father, and she becomes obsessed with finding out more about him. Irene, who has moved to Lexington with her second husband, wants Samantha to move in with them and go to college. But Samantha would rather stay with Uncle Emmett and try to find out more about her father. Her mother is no help, as she tells Samantha, "Honey, I married him four weeks before he left for the war. He was 19. I hardly even remember him." Finally Samantha, Emmett and her grandmother (Peggy Rea) go to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Finding her father's name in the memorial releases cathartic emotions in Samantha and her family. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr.
Directed By: Norman Jewison
Written By: Cynthia Cidre, Frank R. Pierson
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Sep 15, 1989 Wide
On DVD: Jul 27, 1999
Studio: Warner Home Video

Critic Reviews

, TIME Magazine
Sounds like your basic TV movie, sunk by noble intentions. But here well meaning translates into well done.
Variety Staff, Variety
Norman Jewison usually is a commanding storyteller, but In Country is a film with two stories that fail to add up to something greater.
Caryn James, New York Times
In Country means to capture the deep tragedy at the center of pedestrian lives. Instead, it becomes a pedestrian film.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
With uncanny skill, Willis finds the frightened kid hiding behind Emmett's detached stare. He gives a dynamite performance, both touching and haunting.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie is like a time bomb. You sit there, interested, absorbed, sometimes amused, sometimes moved, but wondering in the back of your mind what all of this is going to add up to. Then you find out.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Though Bruce Willis has top billing as a troubled Vietnam veteran, British whizbang Emily Lloyd virtually squeezes him off the screen as his live-in niece, whose soldier father died before she was born.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Lloyd, though technically adept, doesn't really get under her conflicted character's skin; the supporting actors (including Willis) are the film's greatest strength.
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Gripping performances save this post-Vietnam drama
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Jewison's post-Vietnam movie concentrates on bereavement, with the consequence that it's decent but dull.
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily
A profoundly moving tearjerker about the festering wounds caused by the Vietnam War in middle America. A young Emily Lloyd is absolutely wonderful.
Lori Hoffman, Atlantic City Weekly
Willis is brilliant as a 'Nam veteran
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
An overlooked and underrated drama with Willis giving one of his finest performances.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A powerful drama about one American family's attempt to release the grief and pain caused by the Vietnam war
, Film4
Jewison manages to save up all the emotion for the charged conclusion at the Vietnam memorial in Washington, but it's a case of too little, too late.
Willie Waffle, rec.arts.movies.reviews
It is refreshing to see the bluster Willis shows as a leading man disappear when he takes smaller challenging roles such as this. Someday, a role like this could lead to more recognition of his immense acting ability.