“Jacknife” was one of three Vietnam veteran PTSD movies that came out in 1989. The other two were “In Country” and “Welcome Home”. It was directed by David Jones based on the play “Strange Snow” by Stephen Metcalfe. It had a $10 million budget, but made only $2 million.
The movie opens with “life is rough” music. The film could just as soon have been a black and white film considering the dour sets that most of the scenes occur in. Megs (Robert DeNiro coming off “Midnight Run”) is a Vietnam veteran who suffers from PTSD. He was called “Jacknife” in the war. He copes by being overly chipper. Megs takes on the task of helping his buddy from Nam, Dave (Ed Harris). Dave is the morose, alcoholic vet that you see in a lot of movies like this. Megs and Dave have a past. Their friend Bobby was killed in a firefight. Dave blames Megs for his death, but Dave also has the shame of cowardly behavior in the incident. He’s drinking to forget. “I was never there. It never happened.” Dave is the kind of alcoholic who drinks beer with a lot of foam and who, whenever he opens his car door, an empty beer can drops out. The third member of the trio is Dave’s spinster sister Martha (Kathy Baker). She is a teacher who has given up on romance. She and Dave live together and she takes care of him. Megs roils their relationship. Besides helping Dave overcome his depression, Megs woos Martha. He’s not exactly Romeo. On their first date, he gallantly tells her that she is “built like a brick shithouse”. How romantic! The romance is going to be rocky since Dave doesn’t want Martha dating the man who he blames for Bobby’s death. Another hurdle is Megs’ anger management issues. The trio needs each other. The movie is empathetic towards three damaged souls who develop a symbiotic relationship that helps them to cope with their wasted lives.
“Jacknife” is a sincere attempt to bring attention to the plight of the Vietnam vets who returned home with psychological problems. In this case, the two veterans are haunted by the death of a friend. In a war like Vietnam, where death was random and unpredictable, it might have made sense to avoid making friends because the loss of a comrade could be gut-wrenching. That is not human nature because since most grunts were simply trying to survive, you could best do this with the help of friends. You took your chances with the heartbreak. Some deaths affected returning vets years past the demise of a buddy. Vets with PTSD had various ways of coping. Megs and Dave exemplify two contrasting methods to deal with the stress. Megs mentions finding God as the turning point in his life after Nam, but the movie makes a case for Megs repressing his memories through a charmingly crude persona. It’s easy to like Megs which makes when he snaps shocking. Dave takes the commonly cinematic route of drinking his memories away. Harris was nominated for a Golden Globe and he deserved the recognition. However, his Dave is a common Vietnam veteran cliché. Not that he doesn’t create a memorable take on the trope. The movie’s biggest strength is the acting by the leads. Kathy Baker’s school teacher is too attractive to be a spinster and one would think she could do better than Megs. But this is cinema and opposites attract. The romance between her and Megs is predictable, yet interesting. DeNiro looks like he is having fun with the role. Originally Jeff Bridges was going to play Megs. I don’t know why DeNiro took the part since he was an established actor who was eleven years away from “The Deer Hunter”. I’d like to think he felt the movie had a message to tell. It’s sad that the box office indicates the message did not reach many.
“Jacknife” is an after school special for adults. It’s not at the front of the Vietnam PTSD movies, but it tries hard and the trio of actors are appealing. Hollywood has taken two approaches to Vietnam vets. The prurient approach has vets becoming criminals because they can’t control their demons. The other approach has vets with PTSD dealing with it in realistic ways. Unfortunately, the Billy Jacks did better at the box office than the Megs and Daves. Keep in mind, most vets did not fall into either. They came home without physical and mental scars. But that does not mean that we should ignore the vets who were damaged. Movies can suggest to veterans who are hurting methods to heal. In “Jacknife”, Dave goes to a counseling group. And movies like it can remind viewers what happened to some of the men that were sent to fight for a cause that was vague for many.
GRADE = B
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