Rocket Gibraltar (1988)

Another "family get-together" movie. Just what we needed, right? I couldn't determine if this movie had a point to make, because if it did, I never got it.Who is Levi? Why are we supposed to feel empathy for him? We know nothing about him other than that he was a writer, his work possibly having had political over-tones. Okay. Great. Is he really "dying"? No one seems to know, and if the doctor knows, he's not telling.The doctor comes to the house after Levi falls out of a hammock onto the lawn. The doctor expresses jealousy and anger for Levi marrying the then-deceased woman he was presently involved with, many years prior. Aha. That sews the story up nicely. That explains the strawberry blonde hottie and the depressed stand-up comic.A very odd scene occurs where Levi describes the Viking (sea raider) funeral to the kids, and they all jump up and say they want that kind of funeral. Come on. I was waiting for one to say, "Yes, grandpa. I'd love to be set adrift and burned into nothingness!"After the extremely embarrassing "pee in the ocean" scene, nothing could have been worse than.., wait for it...The kids pretending to be in a rock band and we are forced to watch them play air guitar to a P.A. system that they set up? Rented? Concealed? I turned the movie off at that point.The strawberry blonde hottie should have jumped Levi's (her father's) bones one day (possibly in the very same hammock), and gave him the long-awaited heart attack, and then taken boughs in front of the rest of the family: At least that would have been funny.I gave Rocket Gibraltar six stars, anyway. I didn't hate it. It's just that I think everyone has a story to tell, and the movie would not allow Levi to tell his.

Rocket Gibraltar was definitely a film in a class of it's own. It is the story of an aging patriarch brilliantly played by Burt Lancaster, a formerly blacklisted poet, and widower , his children, and grandchildren who gather to pay homage to him for a birthday. The interesting thing is how eccentric they all were. What I found most interesting was the way the characters were portrayed. This is one of the few films in which almost every character is portrayed in detail. Among them is the Suzi Amis character. She is portrayed as a bit of a libertine, a part that she plays with style and flair. The grandchildren however steal the film. The way those kids were able to dominate the film was a true work of genius on the part of the director/s. The ending to the film which I will not describe is truly a grand finale. The film is quite entertaining, leaning a bit towards a black comedy.

********SPOILER ALERT!**************** All that matters here...and what i think everyone seems to be missing is......this is a movie, where 7 little kids, drag the corpse of their grandfather into a van, load him on a boat, and shoot flaming arrows at him until the boat explodes in a firey ball. And the movie ends when the parents arrive and have a heartwarming moment over the FLAMING CORPSE in the ocean....at a time when the tide should be coming in and that boat full of burning flesh would come shooting right back at them....A touching tale...really....its a weekend at bernie's meets (insert random Disney crap movie here)

This movie has more than one of the last movies of Burt Lancaster and the screen debut of Macaulay Culkin. It also contains the screen debuts of Angela Goethals and Sara Rue. It was the third of these kids mentioned that got me more interested in seeing it, and the fact that no video chain is selling rental copies anymore which got me to buy a copy. Angela Goethals grew up to be quite a babe, and LESS THAN PERFECT turned me into a fan of Sara Rue, whereas before I simply recognized her throughout the 1990's from the short-lived NBC Sitcom GRAND, and somehow I have a feeling that Emily Poe is related to the original playwright Amos Poe. But I digress;Levi Rockwell(Lancaster), a writer, teacher and stand-up comedian blacklisted during the McCarthy-era is celebrating his 77th Birthday at his house in Sagaponack, Long Island with his children, their spouses and grandchildren. The family consists mainly of writers, as well as an aging baseball player(Bill Pullman), a washed-up comedian(Kevin Spacey) and a promiscuous aunt(Suzy Amis). That promiscuous aunt is actually kind of cute, but the kids are the most important part of the movie, next to Lancaster's character. It's clear that Grandpa Rockwell has very little time left on this earth, and confides in his grandchildren that he only wants one present -- a boat that he can use for a viking funeral when he dies. And while the adults seem partially wrapped up in their own lives while arranging the birthday party for Grandpa Rockwell, the kids are determined to fulfill his wish.While the movie takes place in Sagaponack, it's actually filmed in and around Westhampton Beach. FYI, Sagaponack, Long Island is a real town that's much further east than Westhampton Beach. It's the last town along Montauk Highway before you cross the Southampton-Easthampton Township line. But if you can forgive Neil Simon for using segments of Long Island to pass as the mythical "Twin Oaks, Ohio" in 'THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS(1970), you should have no problem with this little geographical error.After surviving a heart attack, we find Levi's personal physician, Dr. Dean Bonacker(George Martin) had a crush on Levi's late wife. Some may find it less of a story if it doesn't lead to a fistfight or an over-dramatic argument. I also noticed in one scene, Sara Rue occasionally put her arm around Macaulay Culkin. Hmm. I wonder if she had a crush on him back then. Anyway, the movie is super-sappy and sentimental, but it does contain one car-chase and some lines that'll bring a few chuckles, mainly from the kids. If you hate yuppies you may find this movie hard to live with, but you'd be missing out on an interesting tale.