Customer Reviews

Every Time We Say Goodbye [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie is amazing. I saw it once many years ago and I never really got over it. It's an incredibly dramatic, romantic, touching, and realistic story of young love in the 1940s. Hanks plays a WWII American pilot stationed in Jerusalem who falls in love with a Sephardic girl played by Christina Marsillach. Of course, Marsillach's family is dead-set against their daughter dating the American. The film focuses in on their forbidden love affair, and Hanks and Marsillach have amazing on-screen chemistry. The characters are remarkably real and raw, as is the storyline. There is no sugar-coated perfect ending, but it's not depressing either. This is one of those rare films that is able to capture at once both the dispair of human prejudices and the optimism of human determination. I rewatched this movie recently, and I was overwhelmed by the same feelings I felt when I watched it for the very first time. Although it's out of print and one of Tom Hanks' lesser known films, it's definitely worth the effort. Try getting your hands on a copy--you won't regret it. Highly, highly recommended.

This is a quietly great movie. It did not hit the top charts after its premiere and soon went into oblivion. Only after Hank's success in the 90s, this film "resucitated" on TV. Every... needs concentration from viewers, and a basic understanding of sephardic history to appreciate its value. Mr. Hanks once said this is his most fondly remembered movie, believe or not. Hanks plays the role of an american fighter pilot enlisted with the RAF. After his plane was shot down in North Africa, he convalesces in Jerusalem. He meets a young sephardic jew (Cristina Marsillach) with whom he falls in love. Her family overall resists this romance. She is also caught with the dilemma: my family traditions or my love for somebody who is "different"?, and hesitates, but not for long. The film accurately reflects a part of the life of sephardic jews. The director is israeli (and sephardic I presume). It is also a true experience to hear Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish. As a Spanish speaker, I see it as a form of medieval Spanish preserved across time. This is unique. The only weakness I found was the audio. I highly recommend this movie.

I have loved this movie for years, and I'm amazed it still is not available on DVD! Please somebody... put on DVD!

I couldn't agree more with the critiques that precede this. This is pretty much my favorite Tom Hanks movie, I caught it on late night HBO and I fell in love with this sweet understated tale of two people in love under some very difficult conditions. Tom Hanks'is an American volunteer with the RAF who is wounded and sent to a hospital in Israel, while he heals he meets a young Spanish Jew that he falls in love with, however her family is againist the union, with so much difference i.e war, foreign military, religious differences and culture, the chances seem very slim for them. The writing, directing is great, the music, romantic songs from world war two,is terrific, and the great underlying humor is some of Tom Hanks best work. I don't understand why this isn't on DVD and considered one of Hanks best movies. I loved this, and recommend it to anyone who is a Tom Hanks fan.

This is my favorite Tom Hanks movie. I first saw it on TV and the story and acting struck me immediately. I was able to catch it again on TV and tape it. Then I found it on VHS and have waited for years for it to come out on DVD. There is a tension as the viewer, watching to see if these two young people, obviously in love, will ever overcome their cultural and family differences and then stop playing their own personal emotional games so that there is a possibility to have a future together. The flow of the emotion between the two characters and the many "close calls" to resolving their relationship is wonderful to watch. "Every Time We Say Goodbye" is not only my favorite Tom Hanks movie but one of my favorite movies of all time.

I purchased this because of all the feedback for this film on Amazon and I was not disappointed. Beautifully filmed with the acting exactly right, this poignent love story will really absorb and move you.

Thank you to all the people who said such nice things about this film. It really deserves such comments. Otherwise I would not have purchased it.

I loved this movie.
I saw it for the first time on BBC-tv a couple of years ago but didn't record it and then spent ages searching for it, finding it eventually on Amazon USA (Amazon UK didn't have it).
Hanks is a recuperating American RAF pilot in Jerusalem, who meets Marsillach through another RAF pilot and it is the story of their forbidden love (He's the son of a Protestant minister and she's from an Orthodox Sephardic family).
Being Jewish myslef I can understand some of the torment involved in such a relationship, and the ending is not your usual sugar-coated Hollywood "it all turns out right in the end" style movie.
This movie has a wonderful feel about it and Hanks and Marsillach play their parts beautifully. Buy it and enjoy.
The only fault I can find is that whilst it is set in 1942, Hanks is flying a 1944 P51D Mustang fighter. Also, the DVD box has a picture of a B17 on it and they weren't used in North Africa in 1942 (but only a "picky" Brit like me would spot that!)

What a wonderful film! Other commentators have outlined the plot, so I won't repeat the obvious. If you have a heart and a shirt, sell your shirt and buy this DVD (finally, after many years of availability only on grainy VHS). This is a quintessential love story, modestly uncontrived and straightforward. Tom Hanks is fresh-faced and wonderful in a boyish, aw-shucks sorta way, not surprising since he plays a character from Montana. Cristina Marsallach is simply stunning, an understated Spanish beauty whose eyes are haunting and expressive. The chemistry between both develops slowly but inevitably in the face of the pressures of war and time and diverse culture and family backgrounds. Hanks and Marsallach's characters are literally worlds apart; even so, the common denominator of love is their connection in the midst of war. I only regret the absence of some deux ex machina on the part of the storyteller at the film's conclusion, and fervently hope that he keeps his promise to come back after the war, and that she keeps her promise and is waiting for him. Life in post-war Jerusalem would have been difficult as we already know, but they would have had the strength and comfort of one another to face an uncertain future. This is a chick-flick without doubt, and a feel-good movie certainly. But it is believable, the characters credible and alive, the conflict not overblown but palpable. Love wins in the end, as it should. This is money well spent. Buy the DVD.

This is a gem that was obviously made on a low budget, nothing spent on anything, no well-known actors, at the time, yet the story is of such a special nature with a magic of inexplicable charm that I can say it is one of my favorite little movies of all time. You don't know me. My reviews hold no unusual weight. My opinions garner no undue attention, but if you trust anything I ever say then get this one and to any age group, personality type, or of any type of relationship to you, show it to them. They will smile the rest of the day at the thought of the movie and that you were so perceptive in offering it to them. Few people can agree on the type of movie they like. This one is universally accepted as a little known pearl of great value.

I couldn't agree more with the other reviews about this wonderful movie.

Many comments discuss Tom Hank's great acting in this film. But, there was another great acting role here; and that was Cristina Marsillach's performance as Tom's lover in the movie. Nothing short of outstanding.

Can't wait for the dvd to be released, too.