A different way of telling a story

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Grand-daddy's dyin', and who's got the boat? He's the legendary Burt Lancaster, a grizzled widower who invites his brood and their many grandchildren for one seeming last summer fling at his ocean front cottage. The adults do nothing but argue and coddle the father, while the children (which includes Macauley Culkin) plan a surprise for their granddaddy's upcoming birthday. The middle generation of this family (which includes Patricia Clarkson, John Glover and Kevin Spacey) are selfish and too involved in their own cold lives to really see what's going on around them, and when Lanchaster tells his grandchildren of his dream of a Viking's funeral, they take an abandoned boat and prepare the best birthday present a grizzled old man could want, other than maybe a visit down memory lane with a VHS tape of Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in "You Were Never Lovelier". Formulatic family drama with more than a touch of "On Golden Pond" thrown in, "Rocket Gibralter" seemed so much better when I first saw it in the movie theatre, and while still enjoyable, I found it rather one dimensional for the middle generation, none of whom I really could identify with or even like. The film tends to move slowly at times, but when Lanchaster sits with his grandchildren spinning stories with them, particularly the adorable Culkin, it glows. It also has amazingly beautiful sunsets to look at and a haunting musical score as well. The ending, while sometimes unbelievable, is very touching, and if you are a first time viewer of this film, you may want to keep a few hankies with you. I know on my first viewing of this 25 years ago, I was very angry at myself that I didn't have them, because I desperately needed them.

I think someone was a big fan of Beau Geste to have written Rocket Gibraltar. If you'll remember Beau Geste the two surviving Geste brothers give their gallant brother Beau a Viking funeral just like they talked about when they were kids. According to a recent biography of Burt Lancaster this was to be his On Golden Pond or The Shootist, but it did not win the critical reception that those other two films got. In time though it found its audience and I'm part of that audience. Burt was 75 when he made this film and he was playing a part of a man who was going into his 77 birthday and his family has come out to Westhampton Beach out in Suffolk County to celebrate his birthday.Burt has three daughters and a son and has led an interesting life. He was a writer of sorts who survived the McCarthy/blacklist era and has brought the kids up with certain values. The kids have gone out on their own however and while none of them is a disgrace, they're far from what he idealized them to be. His wife had died several years earlier.The daughters are Suzy Amis, Patricia Clarkson, and Frances Conroy and the son is John Glover. Amis is unmarried and truth be told she's one of loose morals. The other daughters are married to Kevin Spacey and Bill Pullman, a hack comedian and a washed up ballplayer. It's in the grandkids that Burt sees some hope and maybe salvation for his ideals. He likes them all, but his favorite is MacCauley Culkin years before his Home Alone films. He tells them that his ideal would be a Viking funeral, after all the thought of his cadaver being worm food is nothing for a real man to want.Of course the kids set out to do just that and they do it in a winning manner. These kids truly connected with their grandfather the love really comes through in the scenes with each other and with Lancaster.Rocket Gibraltar is funny and sad and bittersweet all at once. I'd give it a look, there are worse ways to go out.

The film challenges credulity but has a certain charm. Macaulay Culkin steals the show and one suspects that without him the flick would fail totally. The setting is reminiscent of Cape Cod or Pawley's Island and the child actors have a pleasant romp. The plot hinges on their ingenuity in designing and implementing their ends to complete the story.The ladies are attractive and believable while a few of the subplots involving the men contribute to the incredulous sense. This is a very light, not very full movie carried by Macaulay. For some reason, at some point in the film, he expresses himself through his sister. At others he is capable of providing hid own commentary. He does, however, manage to carry off the whole thing remarkably on those small shoulders.

This is a great movie to get a taste of how the rest of the world's families probably exist, at least in some ways. Of course, Hollywood has to spice things up past the point of normalcy, but you can see bits and pieces of your family in there and if they included it in a movie, it must be fairly common. Neurotic, depressed, gay and lesbian, just about every flavor of individual can appear in our families and when everyone gets together the conversation and interaction can be worth filming. It is always nice to see Patricia Clarkson in a movie - bravo to your success. (Go O.P. Walker) A new movie called Eulogy (2004) with Ray Romano carries a very similar plot and to see one is to see them both.