Product Details

• Actors: Susan Sarandon, Sam Shepard, Nick Stahl, Marcia Gay Harden, Robert Sean Leonard
• Directors: Robert Allan Ackerman
• Writers: Deena Goldstone, Ellyn Bache
• Producers: Betsy Beers, David Gale, Diana Pokorny, Gale Anne Hurd, Ruth Vitale
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 16, 1996
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303444075
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,895 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This family drama, based on a novel by Ellyn Bache, is overly familiar in its concentration of cracked secrets and family revelations all pouring down during a brief crisis. But it has a fine cast led by Susan Sarandon, and they make the whole enterprise a watchable affair. Sarandon plays a middle-aged mother of a brood of mostly grown sons. Suffering from empty-nest syndrome, she tends toward anxious dreams in which one or another of the boys is missing overseas. After having a nightmare that one--a Marine assigned to a Sinai peacekeeping force--has been hurt, word comes that a terrorist attack has indeed left his status in question. As the rest of the family gathers in the glare of fear--including Sarandon's estranged husband (Sam Shepard), suffering some form of (metaphorical) blindness--lots of unspoken things are said about old rivalries, ancient grievances, etc. It's all a bit thickly designed, but the likes of Robert Sean Leonard, Sean Astin, Marcia Gay Harden, Nick Stahl, and most of all Sarandon make it entirely palatable. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Representation of the typical NORMAL American family., January 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Safe Passage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Watching this movie was like visiting old friends that one sees on the holidays or goes on vacations with. I simply loved this movie and all of the little quirks in each of the characters: Mag's classical music stress relievers, Patrick's blindness, Alfred's compulsive neatness, Izzy's annoying observations, Percival's rebelliousness, Gideon's guilt, Merle's and Darren's twinness, and finally, Simon's hair. The fact that each character has something different about him or herself shows that this "dysfunctional" American family is just about as normal a family as I've ever met. One of the best qualities of this movie is that the issues and the family roles that are portrayed by and between each character are very realistic. My mother and I, as we watched the film, could relate to many of the scenes. My mother continually nodded her head as Mag went from scene to scene with a motherly presence so dominating it simply defined her as the representation of every mothers' unconditional love. My favorite moments in the movie occurred between Mag and her youngest son, Simon. Right from the get-go, there is just some unexplainable bond between the two of them that permeates the screen when only the two are involved, even when they scream at each other. Their relationship is a very special one that I can relate to. Izzy's devoted relationship to his father is one that I can relate to as well. Considering this family as "dysfunctional" is like considering the Pope a Hindu, which brings me to my next best quality about the movie. I love the relationships in the film and the honesty that each character shares with one another. For example, the scene near the beginning of the movie where Izzy is greeted by Alfred and the two go on to joke about Mag and her "Mussorgsky-mode" stress relief is pure magic. A scene between two brothers such as this one shows how much the two brothers love and respect one another. It also shows how in-tune to the family they are because they know the goings-on that occur with their mother, the sporatic blindness that occurs with their father, and just about everything that occurs with their other brothers. The relationships in the film are what holds the film together so well. Each character is forced to reevaluate how he or she feels about every other family member and how those relationships will either improve or grow stronger from the hardships placed before them. Susan Sarandon's portrayal of Margaret Singer was absolutely golden, Nick Stahl's portrayal of Simon was both poignant and hilarious at the same time. Over the course of an hour and thirty-eight minutes, I absolutely fell in love with this family, I felt like I've known them for years. Wonderful feel-good film.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful movie about togetherness., September 28, 1999

By 

Charlette Kopko ([e-mail]) (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Passage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I thought that Susan Sarndon's character was incerdibly moving as well as Sam Shepard,Sean Aston and of course the young actor that always has my respect, Nick Stahl.A movie about family closeness and not missing a thing.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great stuff, January 24, 2004

By 

michael spinelli (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Safe Passage (DVD)

This is one of my favorite movies. As a 40 year male with no children I don't think I'll ever be able to get closer to understanding the feeling a mother has about her children than when I watched this moovie. Great ensemble cast. You'll defiantly laugh and cry in this movie. Sarandon and Shepard were great. I don't know the name of any of the children but it included the guy from swing kids and the guy from Mall Rats. The kid that figured out teh alergy situation has been around to and they all do a good job. Lots of realism in Surandans neurosis. There is a great piece of acting by the actress who played the wife of the "swing kids guy" in the kitchen scene with Sarandon. I call it the tequila and meatloaf sceen. That's the best scene in the movie mostly due to some dynamite dialogue. Other great scenes include the scene at the creek, the post dog attack, the fire in the driveway scene, the reporter confrentation, and the morning bunk bed sceen when the young kid says today's the day we'll find out.