FORGOTTEN GEM? Tribes (1970)

                        Back when I was a teenager, there was something called the ABC Movie of the Week.  This was before DVDs and even before VHS tapes.  You went to a movie theater, waited for your favorite movie to play on TV, or you watched a made-for-TV movie like “Tribes”.  Most of those television productions were forgettable, but a few were noteworthy.  “Tribes” got huge ratings and struck a chord in Vietnam America.  It was directed by Joseph Sargent (“Tobruk”, “MacArthur”).  He was nominated for an Emmy for best TV movie.  The movie won Emmys for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Original Teleplay.  It was so successful it was given a limited release in America and played in British theaters as “The Soldier Who Declared Peace”.

                        The movie states its theme immediately by having a hippie ballad play over the credits.  Nixon fans needed to tune out at this point.  Adrian (Jan-Michael Vincent) is one of a group of new draftees who arrive at boot camp to be reamed by DI Drake (Darren McGavin).  He calls them “do-dos”!  Adrian is dressed as a hippy and has long hair (until the end of the credits).  “You and me are not going to get along.”  Like the audience needs to be told that.  But don’t expect this to be a typical boot camp movie.  Adrian is actually not a bad recruit and although Drake is hard on him, he is not a villain.  That role is reserved for his frenemy Sgt. DePayster (Earl Holliman) who makes it his goal to wash-out Adrian.   There is no dysfunction in the platoon, but it does go through all the key boot camp moments.  They march.  They shoot.  (But miss on purpose if you are Adrian.)  They pummel each other with pugil sticks.  (Or get pummeled if you are Adrian.)  They run the obstacle course.  Adrian does not spout much hippie peacenik crap, although he does tell Drake:  “Your whole bag is death.”   He does turn the recruits onto meditation to handle the sadism of the system.  Unlike the Hartman/Lawrence arc in “Full Metal Jacket”, in this movie the DI adjusts to the recruit.  Or at least, they come to an understanding.  Agree to disagree.  Drake:  “We’re from different tribes.”  (This one line makes the renaming of the movie “The Tribe” totally ridiculous.)

                        The Movie of the Week series was a mixed bag.  Most were very forgettable.  Some were high quality with decent casts.  “Tribes” was one of the better ones.  Vincent and McGavin have chemistry and give solid performances.  This was Vincent’s first big role.  The dialogue is fine and keeps the preaching to a minimum until the end.  You can watch it today and not laugh at some screenwriter’s idea of how hippies talked.

 

                        The problem with the movie is its strength is also its weakness.  Although firmly in the boot camp subgenre, it avoids most of the clichés and stereotypes.  Adrian is not the first pacifist to be put in a movie boot camp, but he is far from Bozz in “Tigerland”, a movie that is the opposite of this one.  The movie is not predictable because it defies the conventions of the subgenre.  The lack of dysfunction within the unit reduces the drama.  Only one recruit cracks.  This tame depiction flies in the face of most of other boot camp movie scenarios.  This was probably a combination of the cooperation of the military and the cautiousness of a TV production.   Adrian has a hard time not because he is a troublemaker or a detriment to the unit.  Drake is harsh, but he is not trying to break him.  The wild card is having another DI interfere with the Drake/Adrian dynamic.  This is unrealistic, but allows the movie to achieve its goal of having the military (personified by Drake) show it can adjust to the Vietnam generation.  Yet, it can still conclude with a sobering conclusion that pacifism and preparation for war cannot coexist.  

                        “Tribes” hit the country at exactly the right moment.  People were souring on the war and it tapped into that, but it is not a polarizing movie.  Although clearly anti-war, it is not overtly anti-Vietnam War.  Adrian is not a Vietnam War protester, he’s a pacifist.  I doubt the movie changed any minds.  It’s pretty tame as you would expect from a TV movie competing for ratings.  Mission accomplished.  However, it did not just get great ratings, it became a water cooler movie.  It is largely a forgotten movie, although not so much by people who saw it live.  It is not out on DVD, but you can see a less than high quality copy on YouTube. 

                        GRADE =  B-

My top 5 movie drill instructors:

5.  Hulka  (Stripes)

4.  Drake  (Tribes)

3.  Moore (The D.I.)

2.  Foley  (An Officer and a Gentleman)

1.  Hartman  (Full Metal Jacket)

FORGOTTEN GEM? Take the High Ground! (1953)

                   “Take the High Ground!” is set in the Korean War, but it stays on the home front to cover only training.  It was directed by Richard Brooks (“Battle Circus”) and released in 1953.  It was shot at Fort Bliss with Army cooperation after the Marines backed out due to the feeling that it showed their training program in a bad light.

                The main character is Sgt. Ryan (Richard Widmark) who was a Korean War hero, but is chafing as a drill instructor at Fort Bliss in 1953.  He greets a new crop of recruits and we scoot to the edge of our seats anticipating the reaming they are about to get, especially since there is a wisecracking college cheerleader and a hick.  Yawn, Ryan is no worse than your grumpy grandpa.

                In a trip to a Mexican border town to teach Sunday school or get rollicking drunk, Ryan meets a girl named Julie (Elaine Stewart).  She is buying drinks for four of the recruits at a bar.  Wait, isn’t that backwards?  The sappy music suggests romance will bloom between Ryan and this prize catch.  Julie had left her soldier husband before he got shipped out to inevitable death in Korea.  She has a rep.

                The movie covers a lot of training scenarios.  We get the obligatory obstacle course, but we also get the rare gas mask drill.  Nice touch.  The life ammo drill is well done.  Ryan:  “This is my rifle and not your gun; it’s made for shooting and not for fun.”  (This is 1953 and not 1987; it's said by Ryan and not by Hartman).  Another way to realize you are not watching “Full Metal Jacket” is a barracks scene where the recruits actually have a pillow fight that is choreographed like a high school production of “Grease”.  Ryan walks in and does not go ballistic or throw up.

                A major plot arc is the conflict between Ryan and his partner Sgt. Holt (Karl Malden).  Holt thinks Ryn is too hard on the men.  He did not let the men have cookies after the pillow fight.  There is also a love triangle dynamic involving Julie.  A potential tryst to the blinking of a street sign does not go well when Ryan brings up the tramp issue.  It’s a love / loathe relationship.

                Whether it’s a right cross from Holt or guilt feelings about Julie, Ryan seems to be mellowing and when one of the recruits goes AWOL, he uses compassion to bring him back into the fold.  When he hears Julie is leaving town, he rushes to the train station and proposes.  She turns him down because he’s married to the Army (like Sgt. Stryker).  Besides, he already has Holt.  Bros before hos, as they used to say in 1953.

                Take a trip back in time with this movie.  In 1953 Hollywood, Ryan is supposed to be a horse’s ass who is a martinet.  One soldier goes to the Chaplain to complain about how horrible Ryan is.  You can hear the film’s technical adviser laughing in the background.  Here’s one difference between PG and R when it comes to war movies, R allows you to be more realistic.  Who should be the poster boy for Drill Instructors – Ryan or Hartman?  I theorize that the movie was meant to reassure American mothers that if Ryan was the worst their boys would face at boot camp, it was okay to give their sons to the Army.  The Marines must have anticipated the howls of laughter from its veterans if the movie had been about Marine training.

                The plot does have some interesting twists.  The guy does not get the girl.  However, the subplot of differences in philosophy between Ryan and Holt is undeveloped.  The love triangle does not work.  The acting by Widmark and Malden is good, of course.  Elaine Stewart is in over her head.  Russ Tamblyn was cast as a recruit and then gets to show off his gymnastics skills and provide comic relief.  I wanted to slap him.  He would have been eaten alive by a real DI.  The dialogue is inconsistent.  Widmark gets some snappy lines, but he also has to utter some sappy crap that makes you feel sorry for him.  I do not like feeling sorry for Richard F’in Widmark!  The soldier talk is G-rated and lame.  The best thing about the film is it is a good tutorial about basic training activities.

                Forgotten gem?  Forgotten yes, gem no.  It can be entertaining if you have seen “Full Metal Jacket”.  You will spend a good bit of the time shaking your head and grinning.  Did I mention there is a song about Julie in the movie?

grade =  C+
 

CRACKER? Tigerland

      “Tigerland” is a Joel Schumacher (“Batman Forever”) film released in 2000. It was barely noticed when it was in the very few theaters it played in. Since then it has developed a reputation as one of the better Vietnam War films. Is this revisionism justified?


      The movie is loosely based on the Army’s advanced infantry training school located at Fort Polk in Louisiana. Tigerland was designed to mimic conditions in Vietnam and prepare grunts for combat in the Nam. The movie is set in 1971 which means the war is in its final stages and the soldiers have a widespread belief that the war is lost and dying in Vietnam will be useless. The brass is portrayed as interested in sending cannon fodder to Vietnam, but keeping them alive as long as possible.

      The main character is Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) who is a charismatic troublemaker. He is insubordinate, disobedient, and insolent. He is an anti-hero in the mode of Sefton (William Holden) in “Stalag 17”. We first see him coming out of the stockade far from chastened. He befriends an enlistee named Paxton (Matthew Davis) who is in the Army for the “experience” which will lead to a book. He keeps a journal. The rest of the platoon is typically heterogeneous. Besides the boat-rocker and the intellectual, we get the psychopath Wilson (Shea Wigham), the country bumpkin Cantwell, the father’s disappointment Miter (Clifton Collins, Jr.), and a bunch of black guys. The drill sergeant makes Sgt. Hartman from “Full Metal Jacket” look like a pussy cat. He physically and verbally abuses the trainees, especially Bozz. It doesn’t help that Bozz yanks his chain at every opportunity.

Colin Farrell has exposed his ass again

     The movie takes us through the training. You get the impression that the Army has gotten very cynical at this point. There is a training session on how to torture prisoners. Apparently, the My Lai Massacre has not filtered down to Tigerland. The soldiers are often told they will return home in a box. The training appears to be aimed at taking as many gooks with you as you can before you inevitably get killed. Another theme seems to be that you create leaders by breaking all the obvious candidates until you arrive at the most unlikely. Miter is promoted to platoon leader and then given the impossible task of taming Bozz. When he fails, he is humiliated into a mental breakdown. Guess who is chosen to replace him? Guess who accepts this new role? If you can’t break them, put them in command.

      Bozz is a popular platoon leader because he voices what many of the men are feeling. His charisma draws them to him. It helps that the Army forgoes its usual policy of punishing the unit for the misbehavior of one troublemaker. The screenwriter does not allow Bozz to become Private Pyle from FMJ. Bozz is also popular because he has a knack of getting soldiers discharged. He is a “barracks lawyer” and gets both Cantwell and Miter sent home (which they both deserved). Why doesn’t he free himself? At one point he tells Paxton “I’m not that brave”. WTF Bozz’s motives are unclear throughout the film.

Scut Farcus changed his name to Wilson

      Bozz makes a enemy of the bigoted, super-patriot Wilson. (Wilson makes Animal Mother from FMJ seem stable.) Wilson tries to kill Bozz on the pistol range and only a miraculous misfire saves Bozz. The commander decides not to court-martial Wilson for attempted murder. Apparently the post My Lai Army needs as many psychotic killers as possible. At a time when we were drawing down in Vietnam , “Tigerland” would have us believe the Army was desperate enough to hang on to a Wilson type.

      In Tigerland, Bozz’s squad is given the task of masquerading as Vietnamese villagers. Surprise, the patrol that arrives tasked to find the VC in the village is led by Wilson! Not only has he not been court-martialed, he has been promoted! Tigerland should have been called Bizarroland. There is a dust-up that results in the fourth fight between Bozz and Wilson (if you are scoring, it’s Bozz 3 - Wilson 1). That night Bozz sneaks off to go to Mexico in spite of Pvt. Johnson’s guilt-tripping about leaving Paxton to Wilson’s mercies. Next morning, the squad awakes to Bozz’s abandoned bedroll. Psyche! Bozz comes strolling in from taking a pee. Guilt-tripping works on the idealistic. The day’s activity is another bout with psycho squad. In an ambush situation, Wilson removes his blank firing adaptor and puts in live ammunition. Will he finally kill Bozz? Watch and find out.

       It had been a long time since I saw this movie. A recent review by my bunkie at All About War Movies rekindled my interest. My first impressions were confirmed. It is an interesting little movie, but the implausibilities sink it in the end.

       The camera work makes it look like an independent film. There is a lot of quick cutting and hand-held. There is even some POV. The live-fire exercise has a “Band of Brothers” look to it. It is well acted although the characters are either one dimensional or two-faced (Bozz and Paxton).  Farrell makes a strong impression in his first significant role (and the first significent showing of his backside, ladies) . The villains are cartoonish, but the actors make the best of it. The friendship of Bozz and Paxton is realistic. Strange bedfellows.

      The movie is not so much anti-war as it is anti-military. The heavy-handed depiction of the brutalities heaped on the recruits is diluted by the films unbelievable depiction of the Army putting up with a psychotic (Wilson) and a cancer (Bozz). The brass come off as brutish, yet coddling. An unusual combination.

       Where the movie gets it right is in its feel for the state of the war in 1971. Morale was low even amongst the officers. The platoon reflects the draft net that tended to capture the poor and the down on their luck. The characters are appropriately depressed about their prospects and this explains their admiration for an anti-hero like Bozz. You do get the impression that the trainers are frustrated with having to prepare reluctant men to serve a country that is now reluctant to put much effort into the war. You can sympathize with both sides.

      The movie is definitely thought provoking. Most of those thoughts start with the word why. Why does the Army put up with Bozz and Wilson and even promote them? Why doesn’t Bozz free himself? Are we supposed to like Bozz?

      Is this movie going to crack the 100 Best War Movies list? No. It is worth seeing, but it is not in the front rank of Vietnam War movies. Full Metal Jacket’s boot camp half is still the gold standard.