In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Another "family get-together" movie. Just what we needed, right? I couldn't determine if this movie had a point to make, because if it did, I never got it.Who is Levi? Why are we supposed to feel empathy for him? We know nothing about him other than that he was a writer, his work possibly having had political over-tones. Okay. Great. Is he really "dying"? No one seems to know, and if the doctor knows, he's not telling.The doctor comes to the house after Levi falls out of a hammock onto the lawn. The doctor expresses jealousy and anger for Levi marrying the then-deceased woman he was presently involved with, many years prior. Aha. That sews the story up nicely. That explains the strawberry blonde hottie and the depressed stand-up comic.A very odd scene occurs where Levi describes the Viking (sea raider) funeral to the kids, and they all jump up and say they want that kind of funeral. Come on. I was waiting for one to say, "Yes, grandpa. I'd love to be set adrift and burned into nothingness!"After the extremely embarrassing "pee in the ocean" scene, nothing could have been worse than.., wait for it...The kids pretending to be in a rock band and we are forced to watch them play air guitar to a P.A. system that they set up? Rented? Concealed? I turned the movie off at that point.The strawberry blonde hottie should have jumped Levi's (her father's) bones one day (possibly in the very same hammock), and gave him the long-awaited heart attack, and then taken boughs in front of the rest of the family: At least that would have been funny.I gave Rocket Gibraltar six stars, anyway. I didn't hate it. It's just that I think everyone has a story to tell, and the movie would not allow Levi to tell his.

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.

Daniel Petrie's "Rocketship Gibraltar" was shown recently on cable. It is an elegiac tribute, in many ways, to the great Burt Lancaster, whose last movie this was. The film's message seems to be telling us how impressionable children are as they interpret facts told by a grandfatherly figure.When we first meet Levi Rockwell, he appears not to be well. His upcoming birthday is the occasion for a family reunion. We watch as the clan descends to the patriarch's home in Long Island. The adults are all self-absorbed in their own little dramas. The eight grandchildren take the occasion for reacquainting themselves with Levi. In turn, the grandfather tells them his views on dying and how he would love to be buried at sea, which he loves more than anything in the world. The film last sequence is amazing, as we see the children take charge of the situation.Burt Lancaster is fine. It seems he must have known his own end was near as we watch him looking mistily toward a family that love him, but are somehow distant. The children, especially a sweet Macauley Culkin, are delightful to watch because being so young, they still know of malice, and other evils they will learn later on.The film is sad and uplifting at the same time. We, in turn feel grateful Levi, the great writer has been given his last wishes.

This movie invoked in me a funny kind of feeling. What feeling exactly, or why I don't know, but it was with a definite contentment that I watched it. Just go and rent it, you'll see. Maybe it was the time that I watched it, Sunday afternoon, or the fact that I felt good for other reasons, but the interaction between Lancaster and Culkin is so nice and touching ('cuse the sappy language) that it makes you feel good with the world. The movie just has the right atmosphere and incomparable good acting by Culkin (8 years at the time) especially.I don't want to go into the story line or that kind of crap, just go and see it.