Recommended from age 10. War and a brother's death in combat.
Reason translated with AI from our Spanish original.
Good to know
- Death or separation
- Someone loved dies or disappears, often a parent.
- Difficult themes
- War, bullying, illness, broken families, hard real events.
Medium confidence
Medium confidence · They broadly agree.
Where to watch
UK
Included with subscription
Rent
US
Included with subscription
Free
Rent
Spain
Included with subscription
Availability as of 18 October 2026. Data from JustWatch. Streaming data and logos: JustWatch.
Top cast
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Sam Shepard (opens in a new tab) Willie Grogan -
Hamish Linklater (opens in a new tab) Tom Spangler -
Alex Neustaedter (opens in a new tab) Homer -
Meg Ryan (opens in a new tab) Mrs. Macauley -
Jack Quaid (opens in a new tab) Marcus Macauley -
Tom Hanks (opens in a new tab) Mr. Macauley
Directed by: Meg Ryan (opens in a new tab)
Cast and photos: TMDB.
TMDb user score
What it’s about
In a small town in California's San Joaquin Valley, 14-year-old Homer Macauley is determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger anyone has ever seen. His older brother has gone to war, leaving Homer to look after his widowed mother, his older sister and his 4-year-old brother, Ulysses. And so it is that as spring turns to summer, 1942, Homer Macauley delivers messages of love, hope, pain... and death... to the good people of Ithaca. And Homer Macauley will grapple with one message that will change him forever - from a boy into a man. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan's 1943 novel, The Human Comedy, ITHACA is the quintessential wartime tale of the Home Front. It is a coming-of-age story about the exuberance of youth, the sweetness of life, the sting of death and the modesty and sheer goodness that lives in each and every one of us.
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