Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Release Date: 07/25/2000
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: 2
Run Time: 170 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Lions Gate
Four friends struggle to find themselves in the decade that brought us disco, platform shoes, and those smiley-face buttons in this miniseries, which first aired in April of 2000 on
NBC. Byron Shaw (
Brad Rowe), his girlfriend Eileen (
Vinessa Shaw), and his sister Christie (
Amy Smart) are all at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen open fire on students protesting the war in Vietnam, leaving four people dead. Byron's high-school buddy Dexter Johnson (
Guy Torry) is also there -- but as a Guardsman rather than a student.
Dexter quits the Guard in disgust and moves to Watts, where he opens a movie theater and becomes a key figure in the Black Power movement. Byron quits law school and takes a job with
Richard Nixon's re-election campaign -- just as the Watergate scandal begins to break, Byron becomes an informant to the Justice Department and is nearly killed by a sniper. Eileen embraces the feminist movement and later seeks a career in the advertising industry, where she discovers that women's rights have not advanced terribly far. And Christie becomes a successful model, but fame and fortune do not bring her happiness as she's lured into a religious cult known as "The Path."
The 70's soundtrack is loaded with period-appropriate hits, including classic tunes by
Stevie Wonder,
Jefferson Starship,
Marvin Gaye, and
Three Dog Night.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide