Hank Marshall is a tough, square-jawed, straitlaced Army engineer and nuclear science expert, assigned to help conduct weapons testing in 1950s America. Hank has become a thorn in the side of the Army, though, for a couple of very different reasons. He is an outspoken opponent of atmospheric testing, though his superiors hold contrary views and want to squelch his concerns...and his reports. The other problem is his wife, Carly. She is voluptuous and volatile, wreaking havoc in his personal life and stirring up intrigue at each new Army base.
Similar titles
Reviews
American film "Blue Sky" is about a crazy family's bittersweet adventures. This family is made up of disparate characters namely an army major who is absolutely dedicated to his job, his fashion conscious albeit flirtatious wife and two not so innocent but young daughters. The entire family is having emotional issues as circumstances force it to constantly move from one army base to another due to the top secret mission handled by the army man. What makes this film interesting is its focus on the tough life in American army. This Tony Richardson film is set in 1960s, a difficult period of American army when top secret nuclear testing was carried out by its army men. The sub plot involving nuclear tests brings forward a lot of emotional issues related to behavior of army men. It is with interest one watches how an honest army major is framed and put to a mental asylum while his wife is seduced by his boss. However, everything becomes alright when this crazy family uses all its intellectual might to defeat the enemy. Tommy Lee Jones displays his natural acting talent in his role as the army major. In the film, there is brief mention of some leading actresses such as Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. However,actress Jessica Lange appears to have beaten them all with her important role which combines madness with responsibility to portray a fallen woman who is able to regain lost family honor.
I was certainly of a torn mind when it came to Jessica Lange's performance in the first half. By that point, she had already gone pretty over-the-top, but to degrees I don't think she needed to. Either way she was entertaining camp so I wasn't sure how i felt about it overall. By the end of the film, Lange had been able to play other notes, to not just be over-the-top and loud, but also have sone quietly graceful moments. It's a good performance, but I'm not sure if I think it's a great one. It's crazy seeing Tommy Lee Jones so young, but he's pretty good here, internalized in a way we've come to expect from him, but he's effective. Overall decent, if unmemorable, film.
This film had some really interesting scenes that made me watch the movie twice but that was enough. The story overall is a bit too messy.Jessica Lange was a hoot as the manic-depressive flirtatious wife of Army Major "Hank Marshall." Boy, poor Hank had his hands full with "Carly" as his wife. Lange plays the role a little over-the-top but that's what makes her interesting here. It turns out to be a military soap opera film, if there is such a thing.The soap angle came in not just between the Major trying to control his out-of- control wife, but the couple's poor daughters who had to live with this under their roof. Amy Klempp and Amy Locane played the sympathetic daughters.There's more to the story, such as incidental things like nuclear bomb testing but, believe-it-or-not, that takes a back seat to Jones and Lange's marital woes. Frankly. when I write this, over 10 years after seeing the film, I wonder why I bothered watching this twice. I was a big fan of Jones, and maybe that was it, plus Lange looked good back then playing the blonde bombshell. This is one of the last films in which she looked this good as her "Tootsie" days were starting to wan.
set in the atomic era. Tony Richards and the set decorators did a perfect job of recreating the 1950's decor, attitudes, conflicting morality and American paranoia.Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones are excellent, they seem to have a believable chemistry. (Why does Tommy Lee Jones do roles like "Men in Black"?; he is such a talented dramatic actor). Powers Boothe is also good, and Carrie Snodgress plays his long-suffering wife. Chris O'Donnell is the son who eventually becomes disillusioned with his father, and the army as well.While I tend to agree that the ending was a bit too formulaic, this film has good performers, an interesting theme, and a reflection of times in America which were not so innocent and family oriented after all. America was hijacked by politics and bureaucracy, much the same as today. Worth watching.
