Word of Honor
Word of Honor
| 06 December 2003 (USA)
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Prompted by a just-published book that holds ex-lieutenant Ben Tyson accountable for a hushed-up massacre committed by his platoon in a Hue hospital 18 years before, the army recalls Tyson to stand trial for murder. Tyson, confronted by an army authority anxious to save its own face, an embarrassed federal government, and a threatened marriage, and entangled, furthermore, in his own past lives and present sense of guilt, must call on all his cleverness and his own inner toughness to fight his case.

Reviews
NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
dansview Don Johnson has a certain presence that makes him watchable in most of his projects. It's a sort of a gravitas combined with the cool alpha southern guy. He does not possess a huge range, as evidenced by this performance and most others, but in the final courtroom scene, he gives a fine emotional yet understated performance.I was convinced that this was going to be another movie depicting American soldiers as sadistic, maniacal murderers and rapists. It basically was, but Johnson's speech at the end balances things out with an interesting and original use of logic.He admits that his fellow soldiers did something terrible, but suggests that their acts were crimes of passion during an otherwise honorable period of service and subsequent honorable lifetimes.The only way the movie can exist is if we don't get to hear Johnson's account of the key event in Vietnam until the end of the movie. Everything hinged on this suspense. Therefore he awkwardly refuses to tell his own wife and kid what happened, and we don't hear him tell his own lawyer.One reviewer already mentioned that the key witness, a French nun, became black over the 30 year period since the war. She was a missionary, but perhaps we are supposed to assume that she went through a skin pigmentation darkening process. Michael Jackson was a missionary too.I usually love Jeanne Tripplehorn, but she was wooden in this one. I usually love John Heard too. I guess he was OK, but I really didn't get a feel for who the hell he was.More importantly, I still don't understand why the soldiers massacred everyone. I guess Johnson's speech about temporary insanity explains it. They were distraught over the deaths of their fellow soldiers and suspicious of everyone, they were fatigued, and they just lost it.There is one born again Christian in the adult version of the platoon whom we see when they reunite in D.C. But it would have been nice to see Don Johnson's character consult with a clergyman.Also, as one other reviewer cleverly mentioned, I saw no evidence that the Johnson character's marriage was so sacred. He tells his lawyer that his wife and kid are everything to him, but it seems like his wife is just a sexy blonde with whom he has a lukewarm relationship.This picture is slow, has low budget production values, is filled with clichés, and makes little sense. The Vietnam sequences are totally unrealistic and clichéd too. One soldier even says, "Don't die on me man," while he holds his bloodied friend. I've never heard that one before.Stay away from this stinker, unless you are a Johnson fan, or just have a penchant for anything to do with Vietnam. It includes Arliss Howard, a pleasing actor from the 80s as well.
emanuel42 The film as well as the book by Nelson De-Mile really causes frustration and un-easiness.We have here a civilian with a successful career and an unblemished record as a combat officer , faulty accused by a 'rightuous civilian ' of being a war criminal. I'm an israeli , and we also experience here motions provoked by 'snow white'civilians from all sorts of 'human rights' organizations to put soldiers and commanding officers to trial, describing any military action taken by those accused to be a criminal act, while on the other hand outrageously ignore enemy's criminal activities like bombing buses , civic centers , schools etc.FOOD FOR THINKING!!!! let's condemn these organizations !!! Betzelem, Shalom achshav, women in black, machsom watch etc.
badabingbubba1965 'Word of Honor' was a fabulous and very touching movie. It's a movie that really makes you think about the world and why things are done the way they are. Don Johnson's outstanding performance as Lieutenant Benjamin Tyson, a Vietnam Vet who has carried the horrible secret of a brutal massacre committed 30 years earlier, was superb! The passion was real...the love was real...the intensity was real...the tears were real. This movie really shows how the media can take one person's life and completely tear it apart and turn it upside down...and how one man's struggle to save his family, his marriage, and his life, goes through the ultimate test of all. Can he protect his family, his men and himself? Was Lt. Tyson made an example of by the Army, for events that happened years before? Now, I'm a huge fan of Don Johnson, but even if you're not a fan of Don Johnson, this is a movie that's definitely worth watching...you won't be disappointed! Word of Honor is one of THE BEST tv movies of 2003!
Carycomic At least, as far as I'm concerned. *Some spoilers ahead.* Jesse Johnson was nicely cast as flashback-Tyson. Not only for his resemblance to Daddy Don! But, also, the sincerely promising potential he showed, as an actor, in general. What's more, I just loved the way they maintained the mystery behind older Tyson's silence, right up until the end. Whether they deserved it or not, he thought of his ex-platoon mates before himself. A feeling they obviously didn't think had to be mutual (the b******s)! In short, this is a five-star movie that does NOT make me regret missing certain portions of "Picking Up & Dropping Off," against which this was counter-programmed.
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