User reviews

Rocket Gibraltar was definitely a film in a class of it's own. It is the story of an aging patriarch brilliantly played by Burt Lancaster, a formerly blacklisted poet, and widower , his children, and grandchildren who gather to pay homage to him for a birthday. The interesting thing is how eccentric they all were. What I found most interesting was the way the characters were portrayed. This is one of the few films in which almost every character is portrayed in detail. Among them is the Suzi Amis character. She is portrayed as a bit of a libertine, a part that she plays with style and flair. The grandchildren however steal the film. The way those kids were able to dominate the film was a true work of genius on the part of the director/s. The ending to the film which I will not describe is truly a grand finale. The film is quite entertaining, leaning a bit towards a black comedy.

this heart felt film is well worth watching. the simple script is full of characters any family will recognize, it is lifted by the talents of a huge ensemble of incredibly talented actors. while the film is carried by the soon-to-be lauded adult actors, the children add completely uncommented truth. the combination of the two drives the film into your heart. watch it if only for the glimpse of Kevin Spacey, Patricia Clarkson, Frances Conroy, Burt Lacaster, Bill Pullman, even a fresh faced Macaulay Culkin. a must see, especially for those big east coast families of beach summer traditions. watch it with the whole family, but be warned the heart wrenching ending may catch you by surprise

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.

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.

I too came across this little gem while channel hopping late one night. After watching fro a few minutes, i was into it.

This movie put me on to Billie Holiday. The old man lies on his bed, listening to a voice that had me enraptured. I almost wished the movie would end so that i could find out who the singer was.

Since then, Billie has been on the top of my list of female vocalists...perhaps her contribution to the movie alone should score it a few points?

That aside though, the movie is worth watching. Sometimes it takes the "innocence" or rather the openness of children to show us what is important in life

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.

"Rocket Gibraltar" might be a good instructional film for children to learn about dying, but as family entertainment it is marginal at best. Burt Lancaster spends much of his screen time looking like he is dead or actually being deceased. The supporting cast of his children mostly wastes some pretty good actors and actresses with the rather bland script. Bill Pullman is a struggling baseball pitcher, Kevin Spacey a struggling comic etc. etc. The grandchildren are a mixed bag and more or less cavort about on their bikes most of the time. Basically, until the Viking funeral this is pretty bland viewing. ..................... - MERK

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.

So I have been an avid IMDb fan since, let's say, 1998, when I was in middle school. I wasn't the first to view the site and based on the date, not here from the beginning. I have roughly 2,000 star-click reviews on netflix but never joined here... and never really felt a need to join.

I joined tonight after almost 13 years of viewing this site because of the reviews I saw here and what I think is missing from those reviews.

I am not a movie snob, and respect Independent films to foreign films to old films to actually admitting to liking Norbit, Like Mike, and Blue Crush. No one's opinion means anything against your own judgment, but I hope my opinion makes you want to see this film.

Often we see movies where directors cast multiple children. Many times, people underestimate that a director has the desire to use this as a way to direct children on a higher level than say a "Spy Kids" or "Sky High." They want to create a movie for all levels, to understand at any stage in life.

First, this movie takes place in Sagaponack, NY. if you read the news, this zip code has become the wealthiest zip code in the country and is smack in the middle of the Hamptons. You never really hear of it as a Hampton town because there are no stores, only one post office attached to one Deli. This movie is one of the few media examples that documents what the Hampton's once were: a playground for artists and free spirits that had 'made it' and wanted a retreat. In the 22 years since this film was released, we see not only a change in our culture, but a change in how we spend and show the money we have. Today, the Hamptons is a playground for the wealthy. While artists are still there, it is not to the level it was when real estate wasn't 'the wealthiest zip code in the country.' In the landscape of this film, you can see how much we've changed.

Furthermore, people claim that the adult characters are stereotypes and really characters that don't come alive like some great films can manage to do. I disagree. I think that the film shows characters that can be understood on all levels, whether the person watching is the age of the children or the age of the adults. They are simple enough for children to understand what their purpose and identity is, and complex enough (sexually, maturely, etc.) for adults to see the things that kids will only understand over time. The best example I cam possibly think of is by the same director, Cocoon

I used to watch this as a child with my whole family. The first time I saw it was 1995, our first year living in Sagaponack. As you can now tell, I have a strong bias for this film but I hope my review proves my opinion is beyond bias. Rocket Gibraltar represents so much to me. Viewing it as a child, i loved the innocence of the children's quest to provide the Grandfather's seemingly simple last wish. As I got older, I understood how the reality of the adult real-world sometimes forbids us from listening clearly to our own family's desires- and even forbids us to listening to the innocence and straight-forwardness of a child. As a kid, I also loved Kevin Spacey's character as being 'out there' and sarcastic, Suzy Amis' character for being sexual in a way I knew was taboo but not why, Bill Pullman's character because I knew as a young male what being a sports wash-up would be like, and of course Burt's character for being that Grandfather that was soooo bad a$$ that none of his own kids could ever empathize with the life that he had lived.

I am not getting into depth with the children's performances because I will let you find the own child within you to realize how they each play their own part, and each represent not only a small part of you but on an exaggerated level, each can be linked to one of your own friends growing up.

As I got older, I realized things each and every time I watched the film, but I never forget how the movie represented a different mentality and state of being with each level of maturity I was a viewer.

The story itself, is very strong. Conflict is present. It is not in a truly original way, in which each and every character we've seen time and time again. But, while they all are recycled players, they are placed within a landscape of a story that is truly original and bold in what it was able to pull off. I really believe this movie is trapped in time. It couldn't be made now, for so many reasons.

Regardless of my ramblings, just go check this one out for yourself. Try to be the kid I was, the pubescent young man, the high-schooler, the college kid, and the man I was when I watched this film. If you do that, you really will see that it deserves much higher than a 6.4.

Levi Rockwell (Burt Lancaster) has gathered his family for his 77th birthday on the family's Long Island home where his wife is buried. His youngest Aggie (Suzy Amis) is living single and fancy free. His other children, Rolo (John Glover), Ruby (Frances Conroy), and Rose (Patricia Clarkson), have brought their families and their issues. Baseball player Crow Black (Bill Pullman) is married to Rose. Comedian Dwayne Hanson (Kevin Spacey) is married to Ruby. Amanda (Sinéad Cusack) is married to Hollywood producer Rolo. Then there are the kids.

This cast is stacked. Even the kids have a couple of recognizable faces. The most recognizable youngster is Macaulay Culkin before Home Alone in his theatrical debut. He actually has a big role, possibly the second lead. There may be too many characters which leaves the relationships a bit confusing. Honestly, I can't remember who's married to who unless it's right there in my face.

As for the plot, it doesn't do anything until the hour mark. It meanders around with a slow moving family gathering. It's a nice summer vacation but nothing more. The characters come in and out with various issues. None of it sticks. The big reveal is interesting. A better construction may be to have only Cy know about the secret. This was an indie that went nowhere although it's interesting to see the generations of acting talents on display.

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.

On the 77th birthday of the widow patriarch Levi Rockwell (Burt Lancaster), his son and daughters come to his house by the sea with their families to celebrate his birthday. The promiscuous Aggie Rockwell (Suzy Amis) comes alone but soon finds male company. Rose Black (Patricia Clarkson) comes with her husband Crow Black (Bill Pullman), who is a baseball player with problems, and their children Cy Blue (Macaulay Culkin) and Dawn (Angela Goethals). The workaholic Rolo Rockwell (John Glover) comes with his wife Amanda 'Billi' Rockwell (Sinead Cusack) and their children Orson (John Bell), Kane (Dan Corkill), Flora (Sara Goethals) and Emily (Emily Poe). His daughter Ruby Hanson (Frances Conroy) comes with her husband Dwayne Hanson (Kevin Spacey), who is a comedian, and their children Max (Nicky Bronson) and Jessica (Sara Rue). During the night, the children are on the beach with their grandfather and they ask him what he would like to receive as a birthday gift. Levi tells that he would like to have a Viking Funeral since the worms eat buried corpses. When Blue sees an abandoned boat on the beach, he suggests his cousins to repair the boat to give to their grandfather for his funeral. Levi and his doctor hide from the family that he has an aneurysm and may die in any moment. When their grandchildren find him dead on his bed, they decide to honor his wish and give a Viking Funeral to him.

"Rocket Gibraltar" is one of the most beautiful and sensitive films of reunions ever made. The story and the screenplay are perfect with the combination of death and the innocence of children, showing a sensitive work of the writer Amos Poe. The cast is a constellation with inspired performances, highlighting Burt Lancaster and Macaulay Culkin in his debut in the cinema industry. This film is also the debut of Kevin Spacey. The soundtrack with Billie Holyday and David Bowie among others is classy. Unfortunately this wonderful film is not available on DVD or Blu-Ray in Brazil. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Rochedo de Gibraltar" ("The Rocket Gibraltar")

I'm told that this was Burt Lancaster's last film. I happen to like his acting, but the script for this effort could have been better. There are the adults, who are rather shallow caricatures of real people with problems. The kids who play grandpa's grandchildren, however, make the best part of this opus. I could almost see myself in their places so many years ago. Of course, my siblings and I wouldn't have done some of the things these grandkids end up doing. The last 10 minutes of the film make up for some rather boring parts spent on the adult characters.

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.

How glad I am that I had the Bravo channel and insomnia last night! I ran across this movie and couldn't look away even when I finally got tired. This is a really interesting look at what happens as families grow older - dynamics change yet stay the same, and new additions add layers of complexity and sweetness. And the Hamptons as a background = eye candy to remind you (or take you to) every summer vacation you (n)ever had. The plot is unique, but the cast is the biggest treat: this felt like a flip through an old yearbook with surprising faces popping up everywhere! Burt Lancaster... Kevin Spacey and Suzy Amis together again, before their turn in The Usual Suspects... Macauley Culkin in a performance that reminds us why we adored him in the first place... cameos by Frazier's David Hyde Pierce (as the head caterer) and NYPD Blue's James McDaniel (as the sheriff)... a sleeper (or not, in my case) that you really should try to catch.

(My only issues: Bill Pullman's subplot seemed a bit superfluous, except as an additional feeling of mystical well-being and closure - and the character was very one-dimensional... also... at the end I couldn't help but think "would I trust the CPR of an eight-year-old?")

This movie has more than one of the last movies of Burt Lancaster and the screen debut of Macaulay Culkin. It also contains the screen debuts of Angela Goethals and Sara Rue. It was the third of these kids mentioned that got me more interested in seeing it, and the fact that no video chain is selling rental copies anymore which got me to buy a copy. Angela Goethals grew up to be quite a babe, and LESS THAN PERFECT turned me into a fan of Sara Rue, whereas before I simply recognized her throughout the 1990's from the short-lived NBC Sitcom GRAND, and somehow I have a feeling that Emily Poe is related to the original playwright Amos Poe. But I digress;

Levi Rockwell(Lancaster), a writer, teacher and stand-up comedian blacklisted during the McCarthy-era is celebrating his 77th Birthday at his house in Sagaponack, Long Island with his children, their spouses and grandchildren. The family consists mainly of writers, as well as an aging baseball player(Bill Pullman), a washed-up comedian(Kevin Spacey) and a promiscuous aunt(Suzy Amis). That promiscuous aunt is actually kind of cute, but the kids are the most important part of the movie, next to Lancaster's character. It's clear that Grandpa Rockwell has very little time left on this earth, and confides in his grandchildren that he only wants one present -- a boat that he can use for a viking funeral when he dies. And while the adults seem partially wrapped up in their own lives while arranging the birthday party for Grandpa Rockwell, the kids are determined to fulfill his wish.

While the movie takes place in Sagaponack, it's actually filmed in and around Westhampton Beach. FYI, Sagaponack, Long Island is a real town that's much further east than Westhampton Beach. It's the last town along Montauk Highway before you cross the Southampton-Easthampton Township line. But if you can forgive Neil Simon for using segments of Long Island to pass as the mythical "Twin Oaks, Ohio" in 'THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS(1970), you should have no problem with this little geographical error.

After surviving a heart attack, we find Levi's personal physician, Dr. Dean Bonacker(George Martin) had a crush on Levi's late wife. Some may find it less of a story if it doesn't lead to a fistfight or an over-dramatic argument. I also noticed in one scene, Sara Rue occasionally put her arm around Macaulay Culkin. Hmm. I wonder if she had a crush on him back then. Anyway, the movie is super-sappy and sentimental, but it does contain one car-chase and some lines that'll bring a few chuckles, mainly from the kids. If you hate yuppies you may find this movie hard to live with, but you'd be missing out on an interesting tale.

(1988) Rocket Gibraltar DRAMA

All star cast which includes Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, Suzy Amis, Bill Pullman, Patricia Clarkson, John Glover and a moving 'movie' debut by Macaulay Culkin as Blu one of many grandchildren all star about a family visit to their father/ grandfather played magnificently by film veteran Burt Lancaster as Levi for his 77th birthday. Upon hanging around their they all revisit old times where theirs hardly any plot to speak about, using the characters themselves to carry the movie. Pullman plays a baseball pitcher, Spacey as a struggling comic comedian and the movie's title "Rocket Gibraltar" is a name of a boat. Film not for the simple minded.

I think that some viewers overlook a lot of what the movie is trying to tell its audience. The portrayal of the adults in the film along with that of the children and the dying grandfather is quite accurate. The film chooses to portray the adults of the film as being selfish or "shallow" because it strives to show us the connection between the very young and the very old. It is often thought that there is a wisdom found only in early childhood and lost in later life that is regained with old age. The magical connection between the grandchildren and their grandfather is something both entertaining and touching to view. The film is well done and I do agree that the children really do make the film, with the help of a great veteran actor.