Second that emotion
`Flashback' is not a great film. It has a good plot with some nice twists along the way, and top-notch performances by Dennis Hopper, Kiefer Sutherland (perhaps his best work yet), Carol Kane, Paul Dooley, Richard Masur and Michael McKean. But there is too much violence and profanity for this type of film, and the ending seems unbelievable and wrong.
What makes me recommend "Flashback" is that it did something that only one other film has done for me. It took me back in time emotionally. `American Graffiti" made me feel like I felt when I was in high school in the early 1960s, cruising the local drive-in restaurant with friends and trying to navigate unfamiliar romantic waters.
There is a scene in `Flashback' when the Masur and McKean characters are listening to a tape of a speech delivered 20 years earlier by Hopper. At that moment I was transformed back to the late 1960s, a recent college grad trying to find my way in a confusing and rapidly-changing culture. It was a chilling moment for me, one I don't know if I'll ever feel again. And I'm grateful to Director Franco Amurri and the actors for giving it to me.