Product Description

The profound, unlikely friendship between two men of different generations delivers the fullest possible emotional impact (Los Angeles Times) in this powerful character-driven drama. Oscar® nominee* Ned Beatty (Network) and Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate,The Sum of All Fears) are simply great (Leonard Maltin) in this remarkable, deeply affecting (Variety) story. Ex-con Paul (Schreiber) hopes for a fresh start at his new job, but his personal demons threaten to sabotage his shot at a second chance. Fortunately, his co-worker Murph(Beatty) is a straightforward guy who believes in lending a helping handjust what Paul needs if he can find the presence of mind to accept it. *1976: Supporting Actor, Network

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85746 in DVD
• Brand: BEATTY,NED
• Released on: 2002-09-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
This gentle story of friendship follows two city groundskeepers in a small town: a young ex-con named Paul (Liev Schreiber, The Daytrippers, A Walk on the Moon) with aspirations of holistic healing, and an old hand named Harold (Ned Beatty, Deliverance, Hear My Song) who's grappling with the illness of his son. There's no plot to speak of, just the slow rhythms of a developing friendship, captured with grace and nuance. In the wrong hands, Spring Forward could have been unbearably precious; but Beatty and Schreiber are both superb, giving their characters a wholeness that few movies take the time to allow. The supporting cast--including Campbell Scott (Big Night), Peri Gilpin (the TV series Frasier), and Ian Hart (Backbeat, The End of the Affair)--create deft character portraits that flesh out Paul and Harold's world. It's a sweet movie that deserves to find an audience. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

A US movie that happily plays like a foreign film
SPRING FORWARD has been released on DVD and hopefully will be featured in displays that will garner the atttention this superb film deserves but lacked during its theatrical release. This is a quietly powerful film, made all the more so because it is created in such a simple, straight forward, coverstational style. This is one of the finest scripts for a film in many years. And Director Tom Gilroy allows the concepts and messages it contains to speak clearly and in an unfettered fashion that drives the points of the story home in the most sincerely beautiful say imaginable.

Ned Beatty adds yet another crown to his acting career as the aging, Parks and Recreation worker who gives employment to a newly relased from prison lost youth (Liev Schreiber) and in doing so changes the misguided young man into to a solidly complete human being. Beatty owns this role - the father of a gay son in a small town who has been the victim of homophobia and now is dying of AIDS, while the father mourns the fact he has never been able to relate how deeply he loves this son. These life lessons pour into Paul (Liev Schreiber) who is hungry for acceptance and a sense of future in a world he sees as shallow and offensive. The manner in which these two men slowly develop a relationship that nurtures each other's needs is marked by encounters with small town people who are perceptively defined by superior cameo actors such as Peri Gilpin, Campbell Scott and others whos names fly by too quickly in the final screen credits. The four seasons in this unidentified New England town have rarely been so beautifully captures both in scenery and in the adaptive lifestyles each season commands. But some of the rarest moments are just the quiet, humor-laced, emotionally sensitive simple conversations tha grow between the two main character men. For example, in a discussion about reading, Beatty asks Schreiber about poetry and Scbrieber alludes to the fact that Native Americans use the same word for "breathing" as they do for "poetry", that the importance of making poems is the importance of living each day.

Oh, this film is rich in simple philosophy, in the glow of real friendship, in the interplay of each of us as caring, involved-in-living individuals on this communal planet. This is a quietly brilliant achievement, a film you'll want to own.

Hidden gem!!
Can a movie with no plot or action to speak of be any good? Well, the answer is yes and no and it all depends on who's asking. Most of the people I know would have no patience to sit through Spring Forward probably because it's a slow moving character study and involves no action. No guns, car chases, or explosions, just wonderfully written dialogue and strong fleshed-out characters. These days those qualities seem to be in such short supply and that's one of the reasons I loved every minute of this film.

The movie follows two Parks Department workers around on their daily errands. Harold(Ned Beatty)is the veteran who is on the verge of retirement and Paul(Liev Schreiber)is the new guy who just got out of jail for armed robbery. I knew what to expect from Beatty but was greatly surprised by Schreiber's performance--he was brilliant throughout. I never even heard of him before this movie.

The movie moves at its own pace, which is rather slow, but once I got into it the time went by rather quickly. The only conflict in the movie stems from Paul and his inclination toward self-desctruction. Paul's hit on some bad times and things haven't been looking up, but he seems like a decent guy who's trying to improve himself. Harold sees that and trys to give him some guidance without being overbearing. In return, Paul helps Harold deal with some guilt he feels towards his seriously ill son. The relationship that develops between the two men is truly special and handled with any hint of sentimentality.

I saw Spring Forward on a recommendation from a friend at work and couldn't thank him enough after I had watched it. I watch a lot of movies but there always seem to be some great ones that I haven't seen and love the feeling of discovering them for the first time. This is definitely one of them.

Simple, Awesome movie!
My husband and I rented this movie because it "sounded interesting"... now I bought it because it is such a simple, awesome movie about "life." No bells and whistles... sometimes you're almost confused because you expect this big dramatic scene... but it is just so cool. The actors are great and relate to each other so well... you see their lives "happen" through the seasons... just normal everyday life, but somehow it's more. The movie, for some reason, leaves you thinking and reflecting... what a great film.