Gardens of Stone

Released 1987
Stars James Caan, D. B. Sweeney, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones, Dean Stockwell, Mary Stuart Masterson
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Coppola's "Gardens of Stone" tells the stories of several relationships at this outpost far behind the front lines. The film introduces the kid (D. B. Sweeney), his immediate superior (James Caan) and the sergeant above him (James Earl Jones). And then there is the girl the kid would like to marry (Mary Stuart Masterson), and there is Caan's new girlfriend (Anjelica Huston), who works for the Washington Post and considers the Vietnam War to be genocide.

Summary by Roger Ebert

The first half hour of this movie draws us in as it establishes characters and relationships, but then it loses its way. It opens with the funeral of Jackie Willow (D. B. Sweeney), which is supposed to lend poignancy to his story as we watch him progress from a gung-ho private to a married second-lieutenant who's being buried in Arlington Cemetery, but Willow's character isn't likeable. He's earnest, but his earnestness comes across as dim-witted naivete, and that's the nicest thing I can say about him. Hazard (James Caan) and Goody (James Earl Jones) knew his father, but I don't see any reason why they would take him under their wings like they did. Hazard makes a statement at the end that he wanted to save just one boy, but why this putz? The emotional center of the film should have been the relationship between Hazard and Sam (Anjelica Huston), which is immediately engaging. The movie misses its opportunity by having too many threads, and the result is a disjointed effort. It's not a bad movie, but it's not good enough to recommend either. --Summary by Bill Alward, September 14, 2002