Not everyone enjoys a globe-hopping lifestyle a la Indiana Jones and 007, or endures the emotional peaks and valleys of a Scarlett O'Hara or Blanche Dubois. But most of us do come of age sooner or later, which makes it easy to relate to the pivotal events involved in growing up. First crush. Dawn of sex drive. Loss of virginity. Breakup with sweetheart. Senior prom. Graduation day. Going off to college.

In like vein, we're all familiar with the issues confronting adolescents. Forging an identity. Fitting in. Handling peer pressure. Bonds/bounds of friendship. Erosion of childhood...

Action, action, yet more action. No action film worthy of genre would be caught dead without its fair share of red-hot lead and no-holds-barred fisticuffs, high-octane pursuits and gravity-defying gymnastics.

Then again, nonstop action soon wears thin absent a rooting interest in Last Man Standing.First Woman to Cross Finish Line.

Rooting interest inheres not in overt action, no matter how artfully choreographed or breathtakingly executed.

Rather, rooting interest comes from empathy for the protagonist and, more precisely, from the dramatic action embodied by the protagonist's...

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" spotlights the stories of three soldiers in three wars.

Three soldiers. Each someone's Johnny. Father, son. Brother, cousin. Husband, lover. Just plain buddy.

Three conflicts. Civil War, pitting brother against brother, North against South, Yank against Johnny Reb. Vietnam War, North-South strife with Orwellian overtones. War on Terror, Afghanistan theater.

Three life-and-death stories in screenplay format:

'Owl Creek Bridge," based on the Civil War stories of Ambrose Bierce, and expanded to feature-film length by incorporating the Siege of...