User reviews

This is a really dated movie for a perpetual and chronic problem that effects so many people. I was court ordered to watch "Shattered Spirits" in alcohol education class. The only problem was the 25 or so other people in the room who had no appreciation for the campiness of this outdated piece. It would be like ordering 19 year old junkies to watch "The Man With The Golden Arm". Great to see "Albert" from Little House on the Prairie driving the van like it was an unruly 747. Marty Sheen's acting was brilliant as usual and he had that crazy, raging drunken dad thing down perfectly. Some people think the lawn mowing scene was over the top but I've seen and done worse. I've yet to see a really good film on the topic of alcoholism in mainstream, middle class families - most are Hollywood or Disneyfied garbage that leave out the true madness.

If you have ever lived with an alcoholic this movie will hit home. It does well at defining and portraying the roles of an alcoholic family. There is the Dependent (Dad), the Codependent (Mom), the Hero (oldest child), the Scapegoat (middle child) and the Lost Child (youngest child). They just needed one more kid to portray the Family Masscot to cover all of the typical roles of an addicted family. I have lived in this type of family and this was painful for me to watch at points because it is realistic. I work in the treatment field, and we have shown this film to clients in group to demonstrate the roles of the alcoholic family.

Shattered Spirits (1986) was another made-for-t.v.-movie from Martin Sheen. This time around he tackles the problems of alcoholism and and the effects it has on the family structure. Instead of treating it a sense of realism, Sheen comes across as a mean version of Foster Brooks. Too bad really because Mr. Sheen could have done a much better job instead of acting like a total goof in front of the camera. Some of the things he does makes you want to laugh out loud or scratch your head.

You can actually get a few laughs from this movie. I know me and friends did when we saw this one t.v. The subject matter needs to be handled with kid gloves. One screw up could turn what was meant to be a serious subject matter into a heavy handed joke fest.

Slightly recommended.

When you have an alcoholic in your family, its not easy to deal with it. Especially when he or she denies that they have a problem. Shattered Spirits is an amazing film, with Martin Sheen giving the most believable performance in the history of motion pictures. If I ever would meet Mr. Sheen, I would congratulate him for bringing the reality of being an alcoholic to the screen and making families face the truth when alcoholism is in the family. Thankyou Martin Sheen.

I saw this movie while in a high school health class. The instructor thought so highly of it he said he would show it to all his classes no matter how dated it was, I see why! I haven't seen "Shattered Spirits" since 1995 on cable, but I remember it well. With the huge success of "The West Wing" and the reissue of "Apocalypse Now" perhaps Martin Sheen's star will get this movie back in the arena. This movie is about a hard working, reliable family man who has only one problem-drinking. It deals with the issue in a totally believable way. Sheen's 'family' consists of Melinda Dillion (the mom from "A Christmas Story"), Matthew Laborteaux (Albert from "Little House on the Prarie"), and Lukas Haas ("Witness"). Although it does reek of the mid 1980's, that won't matter. If you can find this on video, or if it ever shows up on TV somewhere...SEE IT! You won't regret it.

Final rating: 9/10 "A classic. No flaws or complaints from me, just doesn't have that 'special magic' to give it a full 10."

If ever there was a movie that you should watch to battle alcoholism, this is it. It deals with such important issues relating to the addiction- family relationships, denial, social behaviour, work, the heartbreaking effects and the treatment. This may be just a TV Movie but boy does it pack a punch, thanks mainly to the performance of Martin Sheen which is nothing short of superb. In fact it's hard to think of anyone else who could have done better if half as good. There are some truly memorable scenes - Sheen lawnmowing at night, and the family confrontation in the family room where Sheen destroys the room and then his kids are taken away, are almost hard to watch because of the honesty and detail of such a disrupted family. I watched this movie on Foxs Hallmark channel and im glad i did. If you can get past the dated 80's look and feel (tic tac toe, bubble gum, terrible hair and music apart from Billy Idol) then this is one you should not miss. An important film that everybody should watch. 9/10.

Martin Sheen brings his own personal experience with family alcoholism into this story. I have used this film many times in my outpatient substance abuse treatment group therapy sessions to "trigger" processing and to bring folks out of their own denial about alcoholism. I have used many other resources in the past six years but this movie is the unanimous first choice among my clients for impacting their recovery decisions! Sometimes difficult to watch, especially the family violence, but truth is often difficult to watch!

I'm sorry for whoever thinks this is such a great movie. I saw this flick years ago in my health education class in high school and I think most people in the class laffed. Well yea we were young, but I've seen this and still think it's funny. I have been around boozers this bad and I understand. But I can't get over the scene where Sheen whips out the lawn mower at like 3 AM. I crack up to this day thinking about that scene. I do like the scene where he decides to hit the bar and the kid drives the van home. I learned so much from the enabler crap in that movie, that it seems like anyone who is around that kinda of madness and doesn't talk about it turns into an enabler.