User Reviews

My Stars, my "One line summary" sounds camp, but this picture was truly lovely and very moving for me.

I had seen it years ago, as I am a fan of anything involving period re-creations, but seeing it again recently moved me way past the perfect 1963 backgrounds and the Melmac cups in the kitchen cupboards...

This review may contain *spoilers*, so Viewer Beware.

Michelle Pfieffer portrays a woman obsessed with the glamour of the Kennedy family, particularly Jackie, and is thrilled to catch a glimpse of her as the First Couple arrive at Dallas Love Field Airport on November 22 of '63. Circumstances (humorous ones, at that, in the form of fabulously annoying character actress Peggy Rea) don't allow for her brush with celebrity, and of course the assassination crushes her. Her husband is less than sympathetic as she explains her need to attend the funeral. She escapes anyway, and catches a bus to Washington. She meets up with a black man and his young daughter (Dennis Haysbert and Stephanie McFadden) and the journey becomes very complicated indeed. Intrigue and mystery cloud his initial introduction, however Pfieffer's character is concerned for him, especially for the daughter's welfare. Soon the trio are entwined, and stubborn ethics keep them from abandoning one another. This is when they are suddenly on their own, and the story takes off.

Visually, the mixture is wonderful - the extremely "white" and VERY blonde Pfieffer, trying her hardest to look like Jackie even down to her home-made suits, and the curious "coloured man" and his silent, somewhat frightened daughter. Both actors are absolutely excellent as two individuals who become literal victims of their own time. There are the subtle vocal references to the child as "a coloured girl" by Pfieffer, who holds no prejudice but simply talks the way everyone else does; and then the stronger and much more "controversial" implications of the man and the woman and any kind of a relationship they may have, however shadowed by the mores of the early 60's, the confusion and upset the World is undergoing due to Kennedy's murder, and even the geographic locales they travel through.

We are reminded that Pfieffer's character is still a married, albeit unhappily, woman of principle, and that the mere sight of an interracial couple in that time would cause near hysterics - still we WANT them to overcome it all, and the fact that the very human need for love has to be compromised by the times is communicated intensely yet with enough restraint that the characters do not suffer being imbued with too much "foresight."

Stephanie McFadden as the 6-year-old daughter is incredible as well, her facial expressions saying so much more than the six or seven lines she speaks in the whole picture. Her poignant close ups drive the viewer to WILL her to understand, to see what is happening around her, comprehend it, see beyond it, but of course she cannot. Much of the story is this way, one wants to just clear away the limitations and the social ills and let them all BE. There are moments of tension (rednecks [they are even credited as such!] that pass the couple on the road and then come back to stir up trouble) balanced by those of palpable relief (a curious, inexpressive old woman and her retired husband, who take the three in for a night). This is sufficient to provide a realistic level of suspense, even angst, but it is the triumph of overcoming barriers, whether they are bad husbands who just don't know any better, or suspicious and bigoted backwoods policemen, that make for the emotions one experiences while watching.

This picture left me wondering who and where these brilliant people are, the writer, Don Roos, and dual-producers Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford, and particularly director Jonathan Kaplan. Why haven't we heard of these folks, and why wasn't this beautiful film hailed in 1992? Rarely, very rarely, have I seen a picture that left me wanting to personally congratulate the folks directly responsible for it!

Needless to say, but important to emphasize, production values shine in all forms, as the film contains some spectacular period-recreations of downtown Dallas and other townships, even down to the store-front displays and seas of vintage vehicles buzzing around (Oliver Stone eat your heart out!), and the shockingly realistic Love Field Airport scenes, complete with the obligatory Pink Nubbly Suit on an incredible Jackie K. look-alike, are stunning. The interiors, the magazines in the racks, everything, is spot on; and the photography is breathtaking, as unpicturesque as a bus in the middle of Nowhere, Virginia, may seem to be.

A splendid, highly recommended motion picture in ALL regards.

Multiple stars. Much praise!

I had always skipped over this movie, although I'm not sure why. I guess I had in my mind what it was about...not sure where that idea came from...and I was wrong. So, I watched this one evening when I wasn't feeling very well and, WOW, what a great film.

I thought it was interesting how they tied in 2 separate plots -- the assassination of JFK and the pairing up of an interracial couple...seemingly unrelated, yet the JFK part of the story set the time very nicely, thus making possible the story of the interracial couple. On the other hand, as the story wends its way to a conclusion, there are a few loose ends...like how they got away from the police a few times...but, it's a movie, and the point of the story isn't exactly their being wanted by the police...it's just one aspect of the story.

This may be Michelle Pfeiffer at her best (which would explain the Oscar nomination). I'm impressed with her here, and I say that as a person who is not a particular fan. Dennis Haysbert is excellent as the "Negro", and he plays the part just right for the time the story is taking place. Stephanie McFadden as the young daughter is excellent here. I was pleased to see Louise Latham in the film; a character actress I had forgotten about, but always appreciated over the years when she was still active.

Don't let a few of the reviews here stop you from watching this film. It's a strong film, nicely done, good production values, and rather true to the time period in which the story takes place.

I was tempted with an "8", but instead give it a very strong "7".

Love Field is an airport near Dallas, named after the pioneer aviator Moss Love. Its relevance to this film is that it was the airport into which President John F. Kennedy flew for the visit which was to end in his assassination. (This has not, however, prevented some people from giving the title a more literal interpretation; the German title, for instance, was "Feld der Liebe", or "Field of Love").

The film is set in November 1963, around the time of the assassination. The main character is Lurene Hallett, a thirty-something Dallas beautician obsessed with the President and even more with his wife Jacqueline. (Jackiemania of this sort appears to have been a genuine phenomenon of the early sixties; it was satirised by the British humorist Michael Wharton ("Peter Simple") who wrote of "typical housewives' fan clubs" with names like the "Revisionist Anti-Our Jackie Onassis"). When she learns that the President has been assassinated she is determined to travel by bus to Washington to attend his funeral, without either the knowledge or approval of her husband Ray.

During her journey, Lurene meets Paul Cater, a black fellow-passenger, travelling with a young girl named Jonell, who he claims is his daughter. She senses that something is wrong, jumps to the conclusion that Paul has kidnapped the child and raises the alarm. When she realises the truth- that Paul is indeed Jonell's father and that he has rescued her from an orphanage where she was being mistreated after the death of her unmarried mother- Lurene feels that she needs to make amends for her well-intentioned but ill-judged interference, and helps Paul to make a getaway. The two find themselves on a perilous road trip across several Southern states with the police in pursuit.

This was the film which won Michelle Pfeiffer her third Academy Award nomination in four years (the others were for "Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Fabulous Baker Boys"), thus completing her successful transition from sex symbol to serious actress. Her Lurene at first seems a slightly ridiculous figure, and not merely because she has the sort of Christian name generally used by Hollywood scriptwriters as shorthand for "dumb blonde trailer trash". Her thick Texas drawl, her overdone makeup and her platinum blonde bouffant hairdo, the sort of big hair that screams "early sixties!" at you, all initially make it difficult to take her seriously. (Even by the end of the decade, this hairstyle had been forbidden by law on pain of extreme ridicule). Her obsession with the President and First Lady seems naïve and childish, an adult version of a teenage crush. Yet as the film progresses, we realise that she is not just a dumb blonde, but someone who has hidden reserves of kindness and decency, especially as she is no middle-class liberal, but comes from the class which, in the South, has always constituted the main reserve of racist bigotry.

Films about racial prejudice are today commonplace, and even in the early nineties were not as daring or original as they would have been a few decades earlier. What was original about "Love Field" is the way in which it treats this theme. Lurene's deepening relationship with Paul is always going to cause both of them problems, given that they are travelling through rural areas where even a platonic friendship between a black man and a white woman will always be regarded with suspicion and anything deeper than that with outright hostility. When the couple realise that they are falling in love, they also realise that they have violated a fundamental taboo of their society. Indeed, this was a courageous theme even for 1992. Even ten years later when Dennis Haysbert, who plays Paul here, was to star in "Far from Heaven", another film with a similar theme, it was made clear that his character's relationship with Julianne Moore always remained non-sexual.

Like "Frankie and Johnnie" in which Pfeiffer had starred the previous year, "Love Field" is essentially a romantic comedy, but one which contains a greater degree of psychological depth and insight than is usual in films of this type, at least in its portrayal of Lurene. Haysbert's Paul is perhaps the sort of standard stoical, dignified black man common in films with a race relations theme, but it is Michelle Pfeiffer's performance which keeps us watching. I should also mention Jerry Goldsmith's excellent piano score which enhances the appeal of this film. 7/10

Love Field is the kind of movie where you just know the words `set against the backdrop' were used in its pitch: A love story between a black man and a white woman, set against the backdrop of the Kennedy assassination. It's not a particularly comfortable mix of ideas.

What's strange is that it handles both threads rather well, if taken separately. The sense of shock at the assassination feels genuine for the most part, mainly because of the inclusion of a contemporary news clip as the newsreader struggles to find words and clear his throat as he announces Kennedy's death.

The love story is rather less successful, but comes close to being touching every so often. As Michelle Pfeiffer makes her way to the Kennedy funeral, she meets Dennis Haysbert and his daughter on a long-distance coach. Their growing fondness for each other is mostly convincing, and we should be grateful that there is no mutual-animosity to change to affection, an idea so old it can ruin a movie immediately.

Regardless of their individual merits, combine these threads together and the movie starts to unravel. Its heart is in the right place so it can't really be called tasteless, but it skirts the edges a little too often. In one scene we have to switch from the travellers spending a restful night at a friend's house to them watching the TV as Lee Harvey Oswald is shot. This kind of uncomfortable transition is made a number of times, and grates on each of them, none more so than in the climax, when Jackie Kennedy looks at Pfeiffer as she is driven past her on the way to her husband's funeral. Its intention was certainly not to trivialise the assassination, but too often it seemed to be used for dramatic effect in an otherwise unrelated love story.

The film seemed to lack confidence; believing that its main story was simply not interesting enough, it included racism, segregation, wife-beating, kidnapping and child abuse for good measure. These darker tones were treated with the gentle touch as everything else, which didn't earn them the credibility they deserved.

Love Field probably aimed too high. It just didn't have the weight to carry off the issues it dealt with or the messages it tried to send out. Had the assassination been played down it could have been a great love story. Had the love story been played down it could have been a great story about segregation. Had segregation been played down it could have been a great movie about the impact of the assassination on the lives of ordinary people. It tried to be all these things together, and together they weakened their own credibility.

It seems harsh to include these criticisms of a movie that was lightweight and mostly enjoyable, but that was the problem; a film that dealt with these issues shouldn't have been lightweight or enjoyable. Its tone wasn't dark enough to pull them off. It was a nice enough movie, with good performances from Pfeiffer and Haysbert, but it asked too much of itself and forced us to ask the same.

This is an American story of irrealizable love between a black man (Haysbert) and a white and already married lady (Pfeiffer), whose meeting is arranged by the chance of President Kennedy's murder. Apart from its effective stressing on the suffocating racist climate of the time, the course of the plot proceeds along the path of averageness and predictability; nevertheless Pfeiffer's enlivens the otherwise meager scene with her magic. About 10 years later Dennis Haysbert will play in another, deeper and closer to poetry yet despicably imitative and also possibly more biased towards commerciability, retelling of this story, «Far from Heaven› by Todd Haynes.

Can't believe that this is another movie that I find the legendary Roger Ebert's review to be totally worthless. The performance are uniformly great particularly Michelle Pfeiffer and Dennis Haysbert. The story is involving and ultimately moving. The little girl's almost numb with abuse and fear, shock is well portrayed. The story is believable, and the ending happily, optimistic. A shame that the film is comparatively unknown. See it, if you like something more substantial than a simple chick flick, or the latest blood and gore offering. A movie for people with an adult mentality. It once again proves that Michelle Pfeiffer was perhaps the most under appreciated actress of her time.

Lurene is a Dallas beautician who is obssessed with Jackie Kennedy. She has a notebook filled with newspaper and magazine clippings about Jackie and Jack. She sees their marriage as the ideal type of marriage. Her own marriage to a local guy is dull and childless. (She miscarried months earlier.) When the Kennedys are coming to Dallas in 1963, Lurene is thrilled and has no intention of missing the chance to see them in person.

Of course the day ends up being tragic, and Lurene is now obsessed with being at JFK's funeral. Her husband tells her she is crazy obsessed and he's tired of it. Thus, Lurene sneaks off to the bus station in the dead of night. On the bus she meets Paul and his daughter Jonell. Paul is black. Lurene is in the last white row before the black section, where Paul is in the front row.

Paul tries to be aloof, because talking to a white woman on a segregated bus can be dangerous. But Lurene won't shut up for a minute and she is being kind to young Jonell, who strangely does not speak. So begins the journey of Lurene, Paul and Jonell. When the bus goes off the road due to a crazy car driver, that journey becomes one thing after another. Yes, unfortunately, it soon became tiresome wondering what was going to happen next.

I even fast-forwarded through parts where Paul is attacked by rednecks, and when the three end up at the home of one of Lurene's co-workers' mother in Virginia. The story obviously had good intentions, but it didn't stay captivating enough. The very end was laughable, too. A year after the trip, Lurene had gone from a Jackie Kennedy hairstyle to a Carol Brady one. (This was years before Carol Brady, mind you.) In addition, she made a decision no woman in Texas would make unless she definitely had plans of moving out of the South very, very soon.

I'm speechless. The acting was sentimental on Michell's part, but who's wasn't when JFK got shot. She had a hum-drum life with a man that knew nothing about compassion or empathy toward others. He was only interested in himself and whether or not she'd stay with him. He could not understand the importance of her wanting to "pay her respects" to he late President. Her character actually GROWS in this movie, and she begins to fall in love (maternially) with the black man's daughter. (Not to mention the black man......hot!) In the end, I actually thought they were heading their separate ways, but then you see her car return to where the man's daughter is staying. Now that is true romance, and it goes against most of society which hints, "Stick with your own kind,"and I like the fact that she decided to return to him where she felt herself and safe.