Product Details

• Actors: Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein, David Alan Grier, Guy Boyd
• Directors: Robert Altman
• Format: Color, EP, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Parade Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000006CPD
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,843 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great film on the dramatic consequences of censored communication, November 19, 2009

By 

John Frame "There Is No Substitute For Equality" (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Streamers (DVD)

The following is my original comment which I posted to im[...] on 20th October 2003. You'll notice that some of my lines have been directly lifted by Amos Lassen for his 7th Nov 2009 Amazon review (I'll take that as a compliment):

There is no other film that deals so confrontingly with homophobia - and with honesty.

It's a deliberately pressured and closed set, but careful editing softens the effect of the confined space. As in Hitchcock's "Rope", the camera never leaves the room, so the viewer feels caged, while the characters can come and go.

The setting is an army barracks in which the men will at any moment be sent overseas for active war duty. The characters have no choice but to negotiate how much they want to know or to accept about each other.

Long before "don't ask - don't tell" became official US Forces policy, society in general had enforced rigid control over how open any homosexual could be - and Service Personnel have always held the worst reputation for homophobia.

So when Richie flaunts his complete disregard for machismo and swishes around the barracks, he's making one hell of bold statement. He teases Billy mercilessly with come ons, and Billy does his best to call Richie's bluff.

"Streamers" is about the truly dramatic consequences of censored communication. It's a gripping, demanding, powerful and very satisfying film that leaves your head spinning and your heart racing.

You practically need a de-briefing session afterwards, but "Streamers" is certainly one of the most memorable of dramatic movie experiences - on par with "A Clockwork Orange".

The performance by the entire cast is impeccable.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the big screen it was potent and powerful as any, January 18, 2004

By 

Thomas Lapins (Orlando, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Streamers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

On the big screen it was potent and powerful as any film I had seen. The tension created kept me on the edge of my seat. Maybe as a gay man I perceived something of the conflict between myself and this rigid frigid military environment that crept into many a nighmare of mine. It had a live stage feel to it. Many emotions and personal historys were left up to the audience to interject, kind of compressing many diverse backgrounds into a short though volitale interaction. It remains one of my favorite films and I would very much like to see it on dvd.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent adaptation of a brilliant play, November 26, 2000

By 

Joseph "God" Jordan (Bronx, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Streamers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ever since I read "Hurlyburly" about five years ago, I have been a fan of David Rabe. When I became aware that "Streamers," possibly his best play, was made into a film, I wasted no time in renting it. I found the it to be true to the original script, with minor additions that do nothing to help or hinder the play's dramatic impact. The plot concerns the interaction of six men in a desolate army barracks. It is only days (weeks?) before the men are to be shipped out to vietnam, where they will, most likely, die. This tentative, chilling circumstance is the impetus for the story's action. The central characters are Billy, a moralizing, confused college graduate, Roger, a street smart black man, Richie, who is an uninhibited homosexual and Carlyle, a lonely and paranoid psychopath. The diverse nature of these individuals makes symbiosis difficult, and their respective tensions and prejudices culminate in a nihilistic and violent explosion that metaphorically represents the conflict in vietnam, and the conflict inherent in mankind. Streamers is an intelligent, claustrophobic and highly disturbing film that I emphatically reccommend to any who appreciate good cinema.