Re: '95 Vietnam films

Ben Friedlander (V080L3NP@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu)
Mon, 29 Jan 1996 10:35:04 -0500

> From: Kitty Schweyer <schweyer@fis.utoronto.ca>
>
> In another reply to Ted Morgan's query, Randy Fertel mentions _First
> Knight_ as a film reflecting persistent post-Vietnam soul-searching. I
> think he's right. I was struck by the ways in which the plot paralleled
> stories from the western/frontier genre -- the genre through which
> Hollywood so often refracts its representations of U.S. wars, Vietnam not
> least.

Along these lines, I've been struck at how strangely prophetic a film _The
Searchers_ is. (It came out about two years after Dien Bien Phu.) A
twisted prophecy, since Wayne's unrepentant Confederate (i.e., a soldier
who fought on the losing side) is a "Vietnam Vet" even before he goes "In
Country."

Ben Friedlander
SUNY Buffalo

VO8OL3NP@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu