Take Me Home Again (1994 TV Movie) User Reviews (3)

Not Much Of A Journey

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 10 November 2004]

Screen legend Kirk Douglas in a TVM ! What a casting coup , I bet the teleplay had an outstanding script to entice Douglas to play the lead role Ed Reece . I can see why Douglas would have wanted to take the role since it deals with a dying old man living his last days and may have tugged heart strings since this may at the time we'd ever see Douglas acting . However this doesn't make TAKE ME HOME AGAIN outstanding

The problem is with a very mawkish script . Ed's draft dodging son Larry returns to the family home much to the disgust of the other family members . Granting his dying father one last wish Larry takes his father on a sentimental journey across America . If the family were disgusted at Larry before the journey they're even more disgusted now . It might be a good idea for viewers to keep some insulin handy due to the sugary sentiment on screen . Nothing very exciting happens apart from the father and son getting accosted by some rednecks and like all rednecks found in TVMs they're multi cultural ones

As a footnote this is available on DVD in Britian where it's known as THE LIES BOYS TELL which is a ridiculous title ( It conjures up images of a court case involving child abuse ) and TAKE ME HOME AGAIN seems far more sensible

Dying Man's Saucy Attempt At Fulfillment By Rejoining His Past Is Inertly Structured.

[rsoonsa · 3/10 · 15 June 2007]

Following a trite formula laced with hackneyed dialogue is not to be recommended for a production intended to develop abiding interest in viewers, but this tiresome and weakly directed work does just that, with predictably lacklustre results. Terminally stricken by cancer, Ed Reece (Kirk Douglas) desires only to die in the bed wherein he was born, and the curmudgeonly old-timer is able to interest his estranged son Larry (Craig T. Nelson), notable chiefly for draft dodging and for abandonment of his wife and two children, in accompanying Ed to California, apparent location of the sought after bed, a pilgrimage contrary to the wishes of other members of the Reece family. As father and son wend their way westward, all the while barely maintaining a disquieted sense of filial comradeship, Ed's wife and other children, along with various in-laws, can only surmise at the route the pair is taking, at the same time vigorously squabbling among themselves. Director Tom McLoughlin vainly endeavours to establish a picaresque tone at the storyline center, but most of the film's sequences fall flat with mawkish dialogue to the fore, including an episode featuring a visit of Ed with an old flame, performed by Eileen Brennan. Reece clan members left behind call into service various law enforcement agencies in an attempt to halt the quixotic trek, while Ed tries to bring about a reconciliation between Larry and his forsaken spouse Connie (Bess Armstrong), as scenes of ostensible humorous intent are desperately non-comedic, one predictable event following closely upon another throughout this leaden affair. McLoughlin leads his cast in flaccid manner, viewer tedium increased by having supporting players standing listlessly about while principals exchange lines that are consistently pretentious and boring, although it must be stated that a weak script hampers any effort at organizational adroitness. Less agitation among the secondary Reece characters might have handily contributed to a less scrambled, inert plot line, one having a much-needed greater basis in those elements that foster narrative flow. As a member of the Reece tribe, Lee Garlington wins acting honours here despite a thinly written role. A Fremantle DVD release offers no extras but its visual as well as sound quality is each very high.

Liked to have a part of it and want to know it will ever be out DVD or Video?

[gshybarger · 8/10 · 24 December 2003]

Take Me Home Again,(aka: The Lies Boys Tell) was an interesting film. I had a chance to work one day as an extra on the movie and met many of the princlple actors in the movie. It is also interesting to have seen that many of the places where the film was shot were right here in San Jose. Two of those scenes were the airport sequence and the final scene where Kirk Douglas's character dies. I was involved with the airport scenes and later that same day with a scene that didn't make the final cut. I still hope that it will come out on DVD or Video, because, although made for TV, it would be better to have commercial free copy. The story was also well portrayed. Like so many films of this kind a large part of it home. The reunion of a father and his son had some simularities to my own life, that's why I liked it.