What movie did YOU just FINISH watching?
Aug 3, 2021 6:08:57 GMT
teleadm and jeffersoncody like this
Post by Prime etc. on Aug 3, 2021 6:08:57 GMT
WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER BOYS! 1972 -- Rewatch. This is another one of those Hollywood obscurities--a few familiar faces in the cast--as well as some who make you think they were hired amateurs--the small town atmosphere feels so convincing.
This was ten years before Rambo and it's about 4 Vietnam vets who cannot re-adjust to society (or society won't adjust to them--it's left a little vague). A massacre breaks out in the last scenes--very over the top--and nihilistic. Is it an anti-war movie?
Well, I don't think there's much of a positive message here. Well-made yet following the zeitgeist of the time to be about failure. It presents small towns as alienating or trite. There's a hotel owner played by Geoffrey Lewis (best scene) who pretends to read the Bible until he sees he has customers that are not conservative and he has prostitutes on standby for them.
The showdown in the last scenes feels very forced--Joe Don Baker doesn't fit the role of a hothead--he seems more intelligent than the character is supposed to be and so his impatience feels a little convenient. Someone on IMDB said this was his worst performance and it doesn't seem a good fit for him. He has a dramatic scene with Francine York yet there's nothing there, at least on his side. She's acted opposite creatures resembling Tor Johnson with pingpong balls taped to the head but he's not as experienced.
And the way the military is used-- they are depicted as incompetent and overestimating the forces against them--I don't know how well this did but I would not be surprised if it was not a hit.
Rolling Thunder was more engaging than this.
This was ten years before Rambo and it's about 4 Vietnam vets who cannot re-adjust to society (or society won't adjust to them--it's left a little vague). A massacre breaks out in the last scenes--very over the top--and nihilistic. Is it an anti-war movie?
Well, I don't think there's much of a positive message here. Well-made yet following the zeitgeist of the time to be about failure. It presents small towns as alienating or trite. There's a hotel owner played by Geoffrey Lewis (best scene) who pretends to read the Bible until he sees he has customers that are not conservative and he has prostitutes on standby for them.
The showdown in the last scenes feels very forced--Joe Don Baker doesn't fit the role of a hothead--he seems more intelligent than the character is supposed to be and so his impatience feels a little convenient. Someone on IMDB said this was his worst performance and it doesn't seem a good fit for him. He has a dramatic scene with Francine York yet there's nothing there, at least on his side. She's acted opposite creatures resembling Tor Johnson with pingpong balls taped to the head but he's not as experienced.
And the way the military is used-- they are depicted as incompetent and overestimating the forces against them--I don't know how well this did but I would not be surprised if it was not a hit.
Rolling Thunder was more engaging than this.