intensely emotional and so much so and that it hard to watch in place . jon voight performance of a wwii veteran torture and twist mentally by his war experience be intimidate and even volatile . the story be set in the 50 and at a time when the u. s. be test nuclear weapon at a base north of la vega . jack chismore ( voight ) and the veteran and and his family live in the nevada desert near las vega . there be parallel story and weave the news of the nuclear technology around the conflict of chismore mental cruelty and abusive behavior to his family while in particular and his coming of age daughter rise ( annabeth gish ) . gish be sensational in this role while she hold her own in verbal sparring with the always skillful jon voight . you really feel her frustration and and love to hate chismore . the latter and though and slowly become more sympathetic a you understand his suffering more . come of age story have a few standard plot line and but theyre handle tenderly and resist exploitation here . rise have a boy friend and and she learn the fact of not only her own personal life and but the ugly and frighten fact of the world simultaneously . the final image be rivet while in a single shot and the twin point of loss of innocence rise and as well the world be meld together brilliantly with a single camera shot . a fine movie with a powerful theme .