Product Details

• Actors: Bradley Whitford, Samantha Mathis, Aiden James Forte, Aaron Marchbank, Max Burkholder
• Directors: Rodrigo García, Jared Rappaport, Rob Spera
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Showtime Ent.
• DVD Release Date: August 30, 2005
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009UVBGI
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,205 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A heart warming saga filled with tender and poignant observations on the paternal-filial relationship. Fathers and Sons take a closer look into the lives of three suburban families who share the same street. Through stories that span time and multiple generations, the fathers and sons living on Caleb’s Path Road struggle to cross the chasm of alienation and past hurts to finally understand one another. With its honest and unflinching portrait of family life, Fathers and Sons will leave you uplifted about the potential of humanity and the promise of new beginnings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Spectrum of Relationships Between Fathers and Sons, September 1, 2005

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In many ways this film, originally made for Showtime audiences, feels like a triptych: there are three stories here written and directed by three men - Rodrigo García, Jared Rappaport, Rob Spera - with the unifying thread being that the three stories deal with three families who live on the same street. The technique of creating and producing each story is different, some more successful than others, but it does serve to enhance the concept that no two fathers and sons have the same sort of relationship.

In one story there is an overbearing father, obsessive compulsive in his parenting to offset his own feeling that his father wasn't involved with him. When the stronger parent (the mother) dies, and the man's father dies, he is left to watch the maturing of a son he really doesn't know. In the second family the distant pilot father (a fine John Mahoney) is adulterous, has a crumbling marriage, and tries to understand his gay son's life and lifestyle (the son here being portrayed by Ron Eldard in his consistently fine tradition of character development). How he interacts with his son when his son's first love succumbs to AIDS is the glue that mends his life. And in the third story the cantankerous father is dying and his successful lawyer son (Gale Harold) returns home to prove that indeed he has fulfilled his father's expectations only to discover the longer for intimacy at the end of the father's life.

The families are loosely connected and the name of the street on which they all live serves as the name of each of the three segments. A good idea, a bit of varying showmanship of concept, and in the end it all works fairly well. The actors are consistently fine with some cameos by older actors we haven't seen in a while. There are no solutions to father/son roles here, only a gentle exploration of how important the impact of that relationship is on forming future lives. Recommended. Grady Harp, September 05

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Peek Into The World Of Fathers And Sons, October 26, 2005

By	Timothy Kearney (Hull, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

FATHERS AND SONS is a film that attempts to explore the complex relationships between fathers and sons. The film is composed of three segments and each tells the story of three families live on the same street. One house has a father who is uncertain of his parental abilities and is almost afraid to bond with his son. The other is a strong, distant and harsh man who is unfaithful in marriage and can't come to terms with his gay son. The third father is a failure in life who seemingly resents the success of his son. Overall the plots do not intervene with the exception of two sons who are childhood friends.

Each story is told independently. The first story involves a father son relationship between a man named Anthony and his son Nick. The story line is rather predictable. Father loves son but doesn't know how to relate. Things change when the mother dies and the pair grow somewhat closer, but the essence of the relationship does not change. This keeps it from slipping into the realm of the predictable where father and son would instantly bond. The second story is probably the strongest of the three sections involving a hard father figure in the person of Gene and his son Tom. The fact that Tom is gay is probably not the reason he is estranged from his father. Gene is such a hard character it would be difficult for anyone to be close to him, which makes the unashamed attitude of Tom all the more believable. Gene reenters his son's life at a time he desperately needs him, and the results are surprising and again not cliché. The story that could get very predictable is the third segment where a father named Noah is visited shortly before his death by his successful son Elliot. Noah is a shell of a man throughout his life and his difficulties are revealed in the segment.

The film does not explore any new ground in father/son relationships, and at times comes too close to relying on stereotypes, still it is interesting and worthwhile. The fact that it is well acted and moves along helps too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heartbreaking experience, November 2, 2006

By	G. Ludwig (Duesseldorf, Germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rarely saw a sad story so beautifully told - and it's three of them. A must for everyone to watch - not only for fathers and sons, it's for daughters and mothers too!