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Post by Sarge on Aug 20, 2020 1:58:43 GMT
First Blood was a perfect storm. Most of America, including many who are flag wavers now, were hostile toward not only Vietnam vets but anyone going into the army even well into the 80s. The movie helped many realize that vets are human. Keep in mind the protagonists were all conservatives. Not being political, it just is what it is, people of both liberal and conservative mindsets resented Vietnam vets. I was a kid and just thought it was a cool movie.
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Post by gljbradley on Aug 20, 2020 12:58:10 GMT
Excellent points. There is a reason why there's a saying, "War is hell!" You know, I'll probably check out Platoon also. A deliberate self-assigned hell that is no way to live as decent and noble human beings. No wonder the word evil is live backwards, it is living in the wrong direction. Whoa! I actually got chills reading this! So poetic.
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Post by gljbradley on Aug 20, 2020 13:15:07 GMT
First Blood was a perfect storm. Most of America, including many who are flag wavers now, were hostile toward not only Vietnam vets but anyone going into the army even well into the 80s. The movie helped many realize that vets are human. Keep in mind the protagonists were all conservatives. Not being political, it just is what it is, people of both liberal and conservative mindsets resented Vietnam vets. I was a kid and just thought it was a cool movie but my friends and I had been playing army and start trek all our lives. Wow. I can't believe that Vietnam Veterans were treated so horribly, especially similar to how the treatment was depicted in First Blood. I already know that veterans from any era were treated horribly. But either way, it's not right to mistreat those who fought hard to protect you from danger and evil from all over the world. Then again, the ironic thing about this is that America never took care of the danger and evil from within.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 20, 2020 19:13:50 GMT
<off topic stuff deleted>
Anyway, the movie was important in that it helped the country heal and spurred conversation about the war and vets.
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 20, 2020 20:02:30 GMT
First Blood had no rating from the AHA because it was shot in Canada (which incredibly, had no animal welfare laws until the 2000 era) and the scenes with the rats in the cave--they were torturing them with fire and throwing them against walls according to set witnesses. I don't know if Stallone was involved but I wouldn't be surprised if Kotcheff was since he photographed the kangeroo massacre in another film. There were films about vets returning from Vietnam--like Joe Don Baker's Welcome Home, Soldier Boys from 1971--and there's no "spitting at the airport" scene. In fact, there were other soldier return movies, a tv-movie with Martin Landau, another with Dennis Weaver, and no hippies spitting on them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spitting_Image Lembcke was motivated to look further into the truth and origins of this spat-upon veteran myth, and the contradiction between historical fact and popular collective memory. Other observers had already noticed the proliferation of stories and questioned whether the spitting stories even made sense. In 1987, columnist Bob Greene noted: Even during the most fervent days of anti-war protest, it seemed that it was not the soldiers whom protesters were maligning. It was the leaders of government, and the top generals—at least, that is how it seemed in memory. One of the most popular chants during the anti-war marches was, "Stop the war in Vietnam, bring the boys home." You heard that at every peace rally in America. "Bring the boys home." That was the message. Also, when one thought realistically about the image of what was supposed to have happened, it seemed questionable. So-called "hippies," no matter what else one may have felt about them, were not the most macho people in the world. Picture a burly member of the Green Berets, in full uniform, walking through an airport. Now think of a "hippie" crossing his path. Would the hippie have the nerve to spit on the soldier? And if the hippie did, would the soldier—fresh from facing enemy troops in the jungles of Vietnam—just stand there and take it? |
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Post by Sarge on Aug 20, 2020 21:31:42 GMT
I don't know about the spitting, I wasn't there. I've heard the spitting stories since I was a kid and never once heard anyone IRL question it but then there are a lot of people who don't question things now. But it wasn't just hippies that treated vets like trash.
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Post by gljbradley on Aug 21, 2020 4:25:38 GMT
<off topic stuff deleted> Anyway, the movie was important in that it helped the country heal and spurred conversation about the war and vets. I've read what you wrote before you decided to remove it. I'm so sorry that you went through that crap. I absolutely agree that the film was very important in terms of how it opened America's eyes to how war has a devastating effect on the human psyche and how the country must help veterans to heal.
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Post by gljbradley on Aug 21, 2020 4:46:13 GMT
First Blood had no rating from the AHA because it was shot in Canada (which incredibly, had no animal welfare laws until the 2000 era) and the scenes with the rats in the cave--they were torturing them with fire and throwing them against walls according to set witnesses. I don't know if Stallone was involved but I wouldn't be surprised if Kotcheff was since he photographed the kangeroo massacre in another film. There were films about vets returning from Vietnam--like Joe Don Baker's Welcome Home, Soldier Boys from 1971--and there's no "spitting at the airport" scene. In fact, there were other soldier return movies, a tv-movie with Martin Landau, another with Dennis Weaver, and no hippies spitting on them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spitting_Image Lembcke was motivated to look further into the truth and origins of this spat-upon veteran myth, and the contradiction between historical fact and popular collective memory. Other observers had already noticed the proliferation of stories and questioned whether the spitting stories even made sense. In 1987, columnist Bob Greene noted: Even during the most fervent days of anti-war protest, it seemed that it was not the soldiers whom protesters were maligning. It was the leaders of government, and the top generals—at least, that is how it seemed in memory. One of the most popular chants during the anti-war marches was, "Stop the war in Vietnam, bring the boys home." You heard that at every peace rally in America. "Bring the boys home." That was the message. Also, when one thought realistically about the image of what was supposed to have happened, it seemed questionable. So-called "hippies," no matter what else one may have felt about them, were not the most macho people in the world. Picture a burly member of the Green Berets, in full uniform, walking through an airport. Now think of a "hippie" crossing his path. Would the hippie have the nerve to spit on the soldier? And if the hippie did, would the soldier—fresh from facing enemy troops in the jungles of Vietnam—just stand there and take it? I've read about the animal cruelty toward the rats on the set of the first film. That's just AWFUL. SMH. Good point on the whole Vietnam War protests and propaganda.
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Post by darksidebeadle on Sept 8, 2020 10:28:09 GMT
Part 2 is pretty bad
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