'' '68'' is a 1988

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Steven Kovacs. The film follows a full year of a Hungarian family living in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1968.

Plot

The father escaped the Soviet Invasion of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and now runs a Hungarian restaurant that is not doing well financially. The younger of his two sons is gay and struggling with

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

. His dad disowns him when he finally does. The older son is involved in the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

, gets kicked out of college, buys a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

, starts dating a

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

, and is also disowned by his father. The older of the sons runs afoul of an

outlaw motorcycle club An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or club (in Australia), is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of Cruiser (motorcycle), cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and chopper (motorcycle ...

; the younger of the two sons gets drafted but is rejected because of his homosexuality. The older one joins his younger brother in a gay rights protest. Major events of the year such as the assassination of Martin Luther King and the

assassination of Robert F. Kennedy On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles), Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and pronounced dead the following day. Kennedy, a United States senator and candidate in the 19 ...

are interspersed throughout the plot and depicted in the film using

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

Cast

* Eric Larson as Peter Szabo * Robert Locke as Sandy Szabo * Sándor Técsy as Zoltan Szabo * Anna Dukasz as Zsuzsa Szabo * Miran Kwun as Alana Chan * Terra Vandergaw as Vera Kardos * Shony Alex Braun as Tibor Kardos * Donna Pecora as Piroska Kardos * Elizabeth De Charay as Gizi Horvath * Jan Nemec as Dezso Horvath * Rusdi Lane as Bela Csontos * Nike Doukas as Beatrice *

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

as Westy * Frank X. Mur as Officer * Joel Parker as Protester * Paul Pedrol as Client *James Russel

Release and reception

68'' was first shown at the AFI

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

International

Film Festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

during March 11–26, 1987. Ben Kallen praised

's cameo performance in the

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

's collection of reviews, but found the film clichéd. The film was then regionally released on May 6, 1988. The film was also shown at the

Deauville Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival () is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Chouchan, André Halimi, and then Mayor of Deauville Michel d ...

in September 1988 in which Steven Kovacs was nominated for the Critics' Award.TCM Database
/ref> Reviewers found the movie to be nostalgic but lacking in substance. Michael Sragow of '' The San Francisco Examiner'' found the screenplay "over-stuffed" and "strident." Michael H. Price at the ''

Fort Worth Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Car ...

'' praised the film's historical accuracy and camera work, but found the film tortured. '' Time Out'' says "Kovacs' episodic attempt to evoke the trippy, dippy and momentous days of '68... finally peters out in a bathetic happy resolution of sorts."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:68 1988 drama films 1988 LGBTQ-related films 1988 films American drama films American LGBTQ-related films 1980s English-language films Hungarian drama films Hungarian LGBTQ-related films 1980s LGBTQ-related drama films Films set in 1968 Gay-related films 1980s American films English-language drama films