Jacknife

Joseph 'Jacknife' Megessey is a Vietnam veteran whose sense of home has been bent by years of memory and guilt. He shares a stubborn, tense life with his sister Martha, who begins a romance with her former army buddy, David 'High School' Flannigan. David is a reminder of a brutal battle they survived together, and his presence unsettles Joseph more than any argument could. As Martha's affection deepens, old traumas surface and loyalties collide. The film follows a fragile household where whispered fears and unspoken resentments threaten to derail hard won routines, forcing painful choices without easy resolutions. The pressure between them tightens as memories of shared battles return, shadowing daily life and testing the limits of care and restraint.

Directed by David Hugh Jones, this 1989 drama was written by Stephen Metcalfe and stars Robert De Niro as Jacknife, with Kathy Baker and Ed Harris anchoring the relationships around his volatile memories, in a taut, character driven approach today.

Box office data for Jacknife are not widely documented, which points to a limited release and a modest commercial footprint rather than a broad blockbuster. A subsequent home video release helped the film reach viewers outside major markets in time.

Jacknife did not receive major award nominations, and it won scant recognition from mainstream ceremonies. Critics praised De Niro and Harris for grounding the drama, while the screenplay was noted for its restrained, morally tense exploration of memory, loyalty, and family fragility, earning a small but devoted audience elsewhere perhaps.

Critics highlighted the film's sober portrayal of postwar strain, showing how trauma reshapes trusts and daily life. The film foregrounds memory as a living pressure and examines how a sister's romance can become a catalyst for confronting past sins and forgiveness, leaving viewers with a stark sense of consequence today.