drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Marshall Herskovitz
Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz (born February 23, 1952) is an American film director, writer, and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are ''Traffic'', '' The Last Samurai'', '' ...
, written by
Steven Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay ''Schindler's List'' (1993) and has earned Oscar no ...
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him a Gold ...
Miko Hughes
Miko John Hughes (born February 22, 1986) is an American actor known for his film roles as a child, such as Gage Creed in ''Pet Sematary'' (1989), ''Kindergarten Cop'' (1990), ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''Spawn'' (1997), '' Mercury Rising'' (1998), ...
, and
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, humanitarian, and musician. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a sta ...
.
Plot
Jack Leary and his younger brother Dylan start over in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, in 1972 following the death of their mother Elizabeth, who was killed in a car collision. The boys live with their father John, who entertains late-night horror film audiences as ''Midnight Shriek'' host-commentator "Al Gory." Even though he is a loving parent, John has a drinking problem that disrupts the smooth running of the household. Some parental duties fall to Jack, who takes Dylan to his first day of
preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...
.
One of the Learys' neighbors is a young man, Norman Strick, who walks with a cane due to a car accident as a teen. Norman is an anti-social neo-Nazi who feels the neighborhood is going downhill.
Jack has a love affair with his classmate Karen Morris. Jack's friend and next door neighbor, Dexter, comes from a broken home. Dexter resides with his grandparents; he begins suffering a downward spiral after his grandmother died while becoming acquainted with Norman. On Halloween, having given Dexter a
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
costume, Norman approaches John to ask for a donation for a racially prejudiced candidate. During an airing of ''
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in Superscope and in the film ...
'', a drunken John interrupts the movie and mimics the racially charged beliefs of Norman while naming the candidate.
The next day, Jack is woken when Norman's golden retriever Cheyenne dies on their front lawn from poisoning. John apologizes for his actions on television while giving his condolences despite Norman refusing to shake his hand. Backlash from John's previous actions on his show jeopardizes his job and endangers Jack's relationship with Karen. Taking out his anger on Dylan and leaving him with Dexter, Jack learns that his brother was kidnapped by Norman.
Jack calls the police as he and John are extremely worried until Dylan is found alive in a nearby forest a few days later and taken to the hospital. He has been traumatized by the ordeal of being left to die in the wilderness. The emotional trauma has rendered him mute.
Three days later, bringing Dylan home with Norman not seen for days, John begins getting agitated to the point of taking out his frustration at the Strick home with a bat, terrorizing the Stricks for their son's whereabouts before destroying Norman's beloved T-Bird. Fearing for his current state of mind, John lets his in-laws take the boys to their home in Los Angeles as he decides to shape up. Jack sneaks back to Oakland and falls asleep watching '' The Wolf Man''. By the time John arrives home, Norman cuts the power as he sneaks into the house. Stirred awake by the outage, Jack is aware that someone intruded but accidentally knocks John out with a bat. Found by Norman, Jack runs upstairs and out the bathroom window to a branch of a nearby tree with Norman in pursuit as John regains consciousness. However, chased up to the higher point of the tree, Jack watches Norman losing his grip and falling into the backyard behind the Leary house where he is mauled to death by the neighbor's
Doberman Pinscher
The Dobermann (; ), or Doberman Pinscher in the United States and Canada, is a medium-large breed of domestic dog that was originally developed around 1890 by Louis Dobermann, a tax collector from Germany.Abbott and Costello.
One afternoon, the neighborhood children all appear and ask if John will play one of his monster games with them as usual. After his experiences with Norman, John tells the children he won't play the monster game anymore. When they ask him why, John sees Dexter smoking a cigarette while realizing he's going down a dark path. John looks to the children that there are real monsters out there, but he promises to play a better game with them. Later finding Jack playing his mother's lullaby on the piano while getting Dylan to say the lullaby's title, John tries to comfort his son when he breaks down crying. As John gives Jack and himself closure, the two embrace Dylan after he says the title of Elizabeth's lullaby: "Jack the Bear." The next day, with their lives beginning to return to normal, John watches his sons playing in the front yard.
Cast
Reception
Out of 17 reviews on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''Jack the Bear'' carries a 29% 'rotten' rating.
Awards and nominations
;1994 Young Artist Awards
* Won – Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Actress:
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...
* Nominated – Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Actor: Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.
* Nominated – Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor 10 or Younger:
Miko Hughes
Miko John Hughes (born February 22, 1986) is an American actor known for his film roles as a child, such as Gage Creed in ''Pet Sematary'' (1989), ''Kindergarten Cop'' (1990), ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''Spawn'' (1997), '' Mercury Rising'' (1998), ...