Notes from awards committee: Hollywood premiered some ambitious films about the Vietnam War in 1978, and two of those films (Deer Hunter and Coming Home) swept the top Oscar awards. Those two films are discussed in detail below. Both films feature main characters with mostly bitter memories of Vietnam. The filmmakers avoid any attempt to consider the war in more geopolitical or historic terms. Since the war ended so recently (April 1975) perhaps that is a task for future movies to explore, as America and movie makers ponder what to think about the undeclared, unpopular, long and expensive war. Was the long trudge and high cost in blood and treasure actually worth it? Neither Deer Hunter nor Coming Home begins to answer that key question. The HC Best Motion Picture for the year is also a Vietnam War film: Go Tell the Spartans. GTTS keeps the camera firmly fixed in Vietnam and does not bounce back and forth from the war to the American home front. See below for the full review. The World at Large
Fun Surprises - Go Tell the Spartans - When the French bailed out of Vietnam in 1954 they warned the American big shots not to go in. Of course, the war hawks did not listen. This good movie gives a clear eyed look at what happens when a modern, mechanized military stumbles into a brutal jungle war. War movies are so often full of shabby jingoistic claptrap it is a refreshing change to find a Hollywood war movie that has a strong dose of realism softened by some ironic humor, as well as, teaching a valuable history lesson. Let the Rambo and Chuck Norris brigade look elsewhere, but if you like real war movies about real people don't miss this one. GTTS is the best Vietnam War film about America’s early involvement in Vietnam, and also one of the most overlooked. This film was overshadowed by the pop cultural favorites about the war: Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and Deer Hunter. Burt Lancaster is outstanding here as Major Barker, but he was snubbed by the Academy. We are pleased to correct that mistake and award Mr. Lancaster the HC Best Actor award. Barker is a battle hardened, irritable, profane officer in charge of a small team of American Military advisors and a ragtag band of anti-communist Vietnamese troops. Their foe is the Viet Cong guerrillas who strike without warning and disappear into the jungle. Parker is also beginning to have serious misgivings about America's involvement in the war. There is a particularly telling scene when Major Barker has to request more troops from the local South Vietnamese army commander, Col. Minh. In contrast to the tough, hard fighting Viet troops, Minh oozes with corruption and typifies the horrible military leadership class that doomed South Vietnam to ultimate defeat on April 30, 1975 when the army collapsed and Saigon fell to the commies. The Cheap Detective - Not since the 1963 It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World had so many funny people gathered together for one film. Even mostly serious actors like Fernando Lamas, Louise Fletcher and Ann-Margaret seem to be having a ball just hamming it up. Peter Falk has a field day as Lou Peckinpaugh spoofing three of Humphrey Bogart’s most famous and beloved characters: Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon (1941); Rick Blaine from Casablanca (1942) and Philip Marlowe from The Big Sleep (1946). My favorite character, aside from Falk, is Eileen Brennan as Betty DeBoop doing an outstanding spoof of Lauren Bacall’s lounge singer, Marie “Slim” Browning from To Have and Have Not (1944). Set in 1940 San Francisco, with a delightful jumble of detectives, dames, Nazis, documents and a treasure hunt, you can't describe any kind of plot. The whole thing is so much wonderful nonsense. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. The First Great Train Robbery - is a clever heist flick based on the true story of an infamous crime, circa 1855, in which a gang of thieves stole the payroll of the entire British Army during the Crimean War. The cash shipment of £12,000 (equal to USD$1,281,550 today) in gold coins and ingots was the crime of the century. The trio of lead actors are excellent; Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down. The plot is straightforward with wonderfully detailed Victorian setting of London and Merry Old England. Animal House – is low brow humor to the tune of “Shama-lama-ding-dong”. What’s not to like? Death on the Nile –is a first-class whodunit with an outstanding cast. Hop aboard the luxury steamer Karnak for mystery, suspense and murder most foul. Lois Childes is an underrated actress, and she is positively juicy looking in this flick as heiress, Linnet Ridgeway, on her honeymoon cruise up the Nile River. A troupe of unsavory, suspicious characters also sails on the Karnak, and almost everyone on the riverboat has reason to hate Linnet. Avoid the terrible 2022 remake; this vastly superior version has Peter Ustinov in the role of Hercule Poirot, and a support cast to die for. Wild Geese - is an instructional movie regarding a cost effective approach to foreign policy. Watch WG to learn how a team of well-armed, veteran mercenaries, with brass San Antones, is all you need for a healthy regime change in the corrupt, backward parts of the globe. Instead America has the dumb and wasteful neocon gang that spent $4 trillion and 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban. Halloween - Who would have thought this indie, B-movie made for $300k by a group of 20-year-old kids, would be the surprise box office super hit of the decade, and become an all-time classic horror film? Yet with only a token advertising budget, the film relied on word-of-mouth for success, and suddenly box office receipts went thru the roof. The plot is simple and effective – the personification of pure evil. The minimal cast is excellent – we have Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut playing an innocent, yet surprisingly resilient teenager; and Don Pleasence at his most eerie. The story is perfectly paced and restrained – there is no blood and gore; just a steady building of tension and fear to the sound of a creepy, haunting music score. The Last Waltz - is widely acclaimed as the greatest rock & roll concert movie ever made. Martin Scorsese was a big fan of The Band, and he personally directed this film about their final concert in San Francisco on Thanksgiving, 1976. Levon Helm on drums and Robbie Robertson on electric guitar, performing the group’s big hits makes this film enjoyable, and the cherry on top is guest appearances by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, and other R&R luminaries. This film only improves with age. Foul Play – is Goldie Hawn's career best film. She plays the not so dumb blonde, and never looked better. In fact she looks like a genius when paired with the bumbling Chevy Chase, in his movie debut - post SNL. This flick captures the 1970s mood and tastes; from Goldie’s yellow VW bug, Barry Manilow tunes, and goofy swinger Dudley Moore. Hooper - is a pleasant diversion about legendary stuntman, Hooper, that never takes itself too seriously. Just before things start to get a little too serious or sentimental, someone jumps off a tall building or drives into a violent car crash. Overall, the film has a nice pace. The gags are occasionally hilarious, and the stunts are outstanding--I believe this film holds the record for longest rocket car jump. And Hooper (Burt Reynolds) can deliver brilliant lines like; "If you don't try to do any stunts, I won't try to do any acting." Disappointments - Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Few spooky flicks have a more talented cast – see Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum in their younger days, Brooke Adams is lovely, Leonard Nimoy nails the role of the know-it-all doctor, and Veronica Cartwright, with eyes bouncing like ping-pong balls, is the best hysterical scream-queen in the movie business. They are all excellent. That said I am not a big fan of this film. The premise is weak – innocent looking plants invading earth does not rank very high on the fear-factor scale. After an interesting first half, the movie fades and dies a slow painful death like azaleas in a Texas drought. Convoy – is Sam Peckinpaugh’s ode to truck drivers and the big rigs. Kris Kristofferson is believable as the “Rubber Duck”, our truck driving hero, with Ali McGraw along for the ride. The movie thunders along at a good pace and entertains until the truckers pull over for the night. Did someone forget to write some funny, witty dialogue for the truck stop camp out? The Eyes of Laura Mars – stars Faye Dunaway as a fashion photographer who suffers from horrible nightmares about her friends and colleagues being murdered. The film veers chaotically between high fashion photo shoots and horror. Favorite scene: fashion model Lulu haplessly trying to explain to the press why violence is important in fashion photos. This movie is so bad; it is good. The Deer Hunter – is an endless movie about an endless war. By the time the film finally stumbled to the ending, I did not feel I had learned much about Vietnam, nor the men who fought there. The filmmakers did convey the fact that infantry fighting in the Far East has a beastliness all its own, but the American Marines and British veterans of WW2 already understood that in the bloody, hyper-violent 1940s. Coming Home – is a messy Love Triangle movie that just happens to coincide with the Vietnam War. Jane Fonda is the big star of the show as Sally Hyde, the wife of Marine Corp officer (Bruce Dern) who is sent to do his job in Vietnam. While he's away, Sally tries to make herself useful by volunteering in a local veterans' hospital, where she encounters an old school friend, Luke (Jon Voight). Luke was seriously wounded in Nam and paralyzed from the waist down. Luke also has psycho problems – most likely PTSD. In the most unlikely and too-quick-change, Luke transforms into Prince Charming and flips the movie into a cliché-ridden Love Triangle story. As expected with Jane Fonda in the lead role, the film has a strong anti-war vibe with a preachy script. The film also throws some shade on the VA hospitals before stumbling toward a giant plot hole ending that left most viewers shaking their head in disbelief. This movie was vastly overrated and quickly forgotten the day after the awards ceremony.
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