source: Proud Men

Moviecut—Proud Men

It is an American patriotic film, with a predictable ending. There is a large crowd of patriotic cowboys in the film who will burn at the stake one who deserted from the army during the Vietnam War, disgusted by the horrors of the war. 15 years had passed since the event , but they weren't going to forget that, everyone felt ashamed that one of their locality did something like that. Let's be serious ...

It is one of films seductive only for the acting. The story seems only a pretext or a frame for beautiful work of Nat Martin, Charlton Heston, Peter Strauss . And it is enough. You discover a nice family story, not convincing but decent and so melodramatic for be good support for remind the past roles of each actor. And, for the part of viewers, the fight scene is just good present .

Modern Texas is the setting for Proud Men about an estranged father and son played by Charlton Heston and Peter Strauss respectively. Strauss has been living in Paris, now married to Maria Mayanzet and the father of Greg Kupiec who speaks a lot more French than English due to where he was raised. But the young man has a fondness for American westerns and he's going to meet his grandfather finally. But not under the best of circumstances. Heston has one of those undisclosed illnesses that will eventually take him, but he's got an undetermined amount of time left. Why Strauss left is that he deserted during the Vietnam War depressed over what he saw and what he had to do on one occasion. It would have put anyone over the edge. But Heston who is World War II veteran didn't want to hear anything and indeed never did. And in his small Texas town where he owns the local Ponderosa a whole lot of the good old boys feel the same way. Father and son get reacquainted and Heston and his wife Nan Martin finally get to meet their daughter-in-law and grandson. If only Heston and Strauss can meet each other halfway and get past some deep hurts. Proud Men is a nice family drama with whole cast portraying some real people in situations that the times created. Good entertainment and good performances all around.

Good portrayal of the generation gap as a father and son become alienated over patriotism and duty. When the son returns home after several years, the animosity is still there and they begin quarreling all over again. Plus, many of the town's residents are against the son because they feel he is a traitor. Violence breaks out as emotions flare and the father and son must learn to accept each other before they become irreparably separated.

There are some really good performances in this TV movie that goes down familiar territory in the most obvious of ways. Charlton Heston is an aging rancher, estranged from son Peter Strauss who went AWOL in Vietnam and moved to France to avoid a court martial. Now that Heston is ailing, wife Nan Martin calls sin Strauss to come back, and thus sets up a reunion for all sorts of old resentments to come out from both sides, until Strauss reveals what brought about his desertion. The two must stand together to fight when the locales take it upon themselves to get revenge on Strauss who is bailed out after being arrested for desertion, even though it is years later. This element of the film's story is interesting when you consider Heston's real life conservative politics and his involvement with the NRA. Animal activists beware, rodeo scenes show everything that is being fought against. For me, those scenes just weren't interesting. I was more interested in the personal relationships between Heston, Martin and Strauss. It was nice to see veteran character actress Martin in a large part for a change, reminding me greatly of the wonderful Frances Sternhagen, but equally excellent on her own. This really does have similar situations in common with "On Golden Pond", especially with the arrival of Strauss's French speaking son who has never met his paternal grandparents. One carbon copy scene that works is when Martin tells her son, "Unless you're the second coming of Christ, you've done something wrong" when Strauss claims that he hasn't done anything wrong to warrant Heston's forgiveness. There are also elements of the prime- time soap opera "Dallas" here with the ranch setting and the Heston/Martin relationship highly resembling Jock and Miss Ellie, and Strauss closer to "Knot's Landing's" Ray than either J.R. or Bobby.

Found this film for a cheap price on dvd, so I picked it up. A dollar or two wasn't too bad, after all, Charlton Heston started. I started watching the movie, not expecting much, but this is a very moving story of a father and son. Heston plays conservative father to his AWOL Vietnam soldier son and they haven't spoken in almost two decades. Peter Strauss plays the son who comes home from France to his ailing father. The battle between doing what's right and following orders ensues. The father feels dishonored by his son and the son feels he did the right thing. Will they ever have peace? Watch Proud Men and see the story unfold.

I had slight reservations about this, mainly as I've seen a lot of tacky, poorly acted Hallmark feel-good films lately. It has Peter Strauss in it, who in my opinion cannot do any wrong. I always watch his films, even if he's only a minor character, simply because I know at least that's one performance I will thoroughly enjoy. This also has Charlton Heston, which immediately stands any film in good stead. The fact that I share his birthday is pure co-incidence, I assure you! But I needn't have worried - Two of the greatest actors around, both leading the film. A definite winner. The town and it's people make for a tough place to be someone like Charlie Jnr. I have American friends who served in Vietnam and I've always been interested in the cultural history behind it. I've seen films about the horrors of war and the trauma soldiers endured, the atrocities they committed, the psychological problems, the wrongs of war, the Hippy movement and free love, reintegration into society and almost every other aspect of the culture at the time. Many have been done to clichéd levels, so it was very interesting to see a fairly unique issue in Charlie Jnr's character The film has an anti-Vietnam War theme, but subtly so. Charlie Jnr's issues are so unique that he's not bothered explaining them before and I doubt the town would change their views on him anyway. That issue is never resolved, which I find very true to real life, but I love that the story is about the people. Frankly so. Possibly the most overwhelming concept is the strength of family. Even though Charlie Snr feels shamed by his son, to the point of disowning him, he *still* holds on to the fact that they are family, albeit on a subconscious level. In fact, there is so much going on behind the characters I do not believe I can properly describe it. It's probably not all completely sunk in yet, even after a week since viewing the film. It's a whirlwind of history, memories and emotions between father and son that Heston and Strauss convey so effortlessly. This is why I love these actors - They bring their characters to life so well!! I'll leave this here before I start really rambling and simply say: You HAVE to see this film!!!

Heartwarming Made-For-TV modern time story of an old staunchly conservative cattle rancher (Charlton Heston) who is reunited with the son he disowned (Peter Strauss) after his boy deserted the Vietnam war. The two haven't seen each other for fifteen years and Strauss has been living in France, but is persuaded to come home to the Texas ranch by his mother (Nan Martin) when he learns that his dad is dying of an undisclosed illness. Father and son are both stubborn men, and their reunion as they attempt to come to terms is both emotional and involving. Strauss attempts to explain his reasons for desertion, an act that has also made him an outcast in the eyes of most of the local townsfolk. All the performances here are first rate, especially by Heston, Strauss, and Martin, and make up for the rather familiar nature of the story. *** out of ****