
Frank Stirn (Eric Stoltz) moves with his family to become a barber for the American Army and POW camp at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1944. Embittered that he cannot fight, Frank must take a stand when a Nazi SS Officer threatens his wife (Kate Connor, playing her real-life grandmother). Her Catholic sister (Lyndsy Fonseca) falls for a Jewish soldier (Andy Hirsch) haunted by the battle of Monte Cassino and the death of his best friend (Matthew Lawrence). Their auda... (Full plot summary below)
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Frank Stirn (Eric Stoltz) moves with his family to become a barber for the American Army and POW camp at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1944. Embittered that he cannot fight, Frank must take a stand when a Nazi SS Officer threatens his wife (Kate Connor, playing her real-life grandmother). Her Catholic sister (Lyndsy Fonseca) falls for a Jewish soldier (Andy Hirsch) haunted by the battle of Monte Cassino and the death of his best friend (Matthew Lawrence). Their audacious friend (Camryn Manheim) encourages the couple, while the local priest (Seymour Cassel) cannot. Frank's daughter befriends a German prisoner boy during this magical summer, but war still finds its victims even thousands of miles from the battlefields in rural America.
Leave your thoughts about Fort McCoy.
| The PlaylistKevin JagernauthOverstuffed yet trite and empty, Fort McCoy attempts to mix heavy drama, slapstick comedy and romance all in the wrappings of a coming of age tale set in the summer of 1944, but flounders on all fronts, resulting in a picture that offers a rather naive and simplistic view of the murky territory between good and evil. |
| VarietyJoe LeydonConnor and co-director Michael Worth allow Fort McCoy to proceed at an unhurried pace, giving Stoltz ample opportunity to subtly convey undercurrents of guilt and anger percolating beneath his character’s affable exterior. |
| L.A. WeeklySteve EricksonIf the film has a major flaw, it's the profusion of subplots in a 100-minute running time. Still, it is a real accomplishment. |
| Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzThere are some compelling elements here, probably too many for one film, but they're too often presented in a cliched way. Connor and co-director Michael Worth go for the easy sentiment, the expected route, leading to middling results. |
| The Hollywood ReporterKarsten KastelanAlthough many of the subplots play nicely, they take away from the main thrust of the film: a tightly knit family living so close to the enemy, who rarely is seen and never understood. So this is relegated to a footnote in favor of story lines that, while wholesome, are neither dramatic nor cinematic. |
| Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenThe period details are so lovingly burnished in this uneven, if heartfelt, feature that for a while they threaten to overpower the story, which delves gently into a rarely explored aspect of the war. |
| User ReviewGreg Wbased on a true story about a family who father is a barber and with his family spends the summer of 1944 at a place called ft. mccoy cutting the hair of american soliders and german and Japanese p.w. and this is all told through the eyes of his 9 yrs old daughter. this drama has action, drama, romantic and the hardships of war torn America. |
| User ReviewKeith MYes, it's slow, and uneven; but worth watching. Several moral stories are wound throughout this film. It is sentimental in a good way. |
| User ReviewLee MIt was a great story and was done fairly well. I felt like I was watching a play more than a film. However I enjoyed the movie and I'm glad I when's to see it. |