The New Platoon?
In nineteen eighty-seven Platoon assaulted the box offices and opened the doors for follow-on successes Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill and several other Vietnam movies. It was the high water mark of cinematic achievement for the Vietnam generation that they had waited for since the fall of Saigon twelve years earlier. A smattering of earlier attempts at the genre had been made, the most notable of which was Purple Hearts that featured a scorching hot young Cheryl Ladd, but none were very good. Platoon burst the dam and the next year Dana Delaney’s China Beach was one of the top rated TV series along with Tour of Duty.
“Jesus,” I said when my father and I saw the first preview of Tour of Duty. “When are we going to get something else besides Vietnam shows?” I could feel my two-combat-tour father tense up and the insects in the room suddenly run away like they do before a hurricane.
“The only thing better than a gunsmoke and horseshit spaghetti western is a Vietnam flick. It’s about time we fucking paid some attention to it. What the hell do you want? Cops and doctors?”
Now twenty-two years later his sage quip is coming true. There’s not one TV drama about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The insanely stupid Over There about a unit of the Third Infantry Division (Rock of the Marne!) was too wildly out of context for anyone to believe and therefore short lived. Army Wives currently airs on the Lifetime Channel, which my Army scoffs at as the ruminations of some serious ass clownery. It’s lame.
Instead we have an endless barrage of police procedural dramas, confusing courtroom capers, and depressing medical mysteries. There are currently four separate Law and Order series, three CSI’s, two NCIS’s, JAG, Bones, House, Dexter, The Mentalist, and all the soul-crushingly sad hospital dramas that always end up with my wife sobbing uncontrollably long before Grey’s Anatomy ends.
It’s not completely surprising. Hollywood has a history of lamenting combat and painting it in the most depressing light possible because the overwhelming majority of entertainers are liberals and pacifists. It’s de rigeur to demonize the military or make us look like exploited simpletons, ut it’s completely taboo to ground a show in a purely military theme with even the hint of a positive message. Instead we get David Carusso, Hugh Laurie, and Mark Harmon plodding their way through another gruesome murder.
When will it change? When will we have our Platoon? Ten more years. At least that’s the current line on the big screen. You see I’ve got a little inside info on this topic. When I’m not ranting on the Rhino Den, writing for Fight magazine, or penning books, I write screenplays and have had a couple of agents represent me. Their advice-“your script about your buddies in Iraq is moving and poignant, but no one will touch it until 2020.”
Just like Vietnam, which had to wait twelve years for true Hollywood recognition, Iraq and Afghanistan will be shelved by the people who don’t have the intestinal fortitude to develop an uplifting or remotely positive TV show or movie based on our brave troops for many years. Hollywood has chosen the historically liberal strategy of becoming ostriches – shoving their heads in the sand and ignoring the issue like it doesn’t exist.
It’s therefore somewhat gratifying (for us conservatives at least) that every movie about the war that cast the cause as evil and the troops as victims, has bombed. Stop Loss, Redacted, Grace is Gone, Lions for Lambs, and A Mighty Heart completely tanked. Despite being written by Academy Award winner Paul Haggis, In the Valley of Elah sucked ass at the box office.
While we wait for big screen success, the independent screen is doing the profession of arms justice. Many shoestring budget films are being made and showcased at the GI Film Festival in Washington DC every May. These brave filmmakers have artistic freedom because there’s no big studio looking over their shoulders, so their work is many times heartrendering and even uplifting. A good example is The Hurt Locker, a movie about an EOD Sergeant in Iraq that is both moving and realistic. But it’s not the equivalent of Platoon, which paved the way for Coming Home, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Good Morning Vietnam, and Brian De Palma’s Casualties of War. It could be this generation’s Purple Hearts, which preceded Platoon by two years, but probably not.
When the big studios finally pay attention to the war and make quality films, I’ll be standing there with my scripts in hand. And my son, who will be eighteen at the time, will lament the flood of GWOT movies out loud. I can’t wait.
Maybe it’s a demographic thing, which usually determines what studios greenlight (when they’re not enacting their nefarious liberal-pacifist agenda, that is). Less than 1% of US citizens serve in the armed forces. That’s about the smallest slice you can sell to, ranking just above say, 40-55 year old Pentecostals who voted for Perot. Couple that with most Americans not really wanting to hear about the ongoing wars anymore, and it’s no wonder that hollywood considers Iraq/Afghanistan movies a losing bet.
You’re right that GWOT movies will start to trickle out in twenty years, though.
I’m a retired (20 years) combat vet having served in the combat arms of both the Marine Corps and the US Army. First of all I’m stunned that Tim would mention Platoon as somehow the spearhead of ‘true’ war movies. I served with the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam. While I know Vietnam could be a vastly different experience depending on where you were, when you were there and what unit you were with, the fact remains that Platoon was a left wingnut’s wet dream. I know several of the guys I fought with were stunned and insulted by that movie. In counter insurgency you have enough problems to deal with and you certainly didn’t go out of your way to create more.
I’m not saying atrocities didn’t occur. They did and they do in all guerilla warfare scenarios. But in my experience the atrocities in Vietnam were mostly created by troops who spent most of their time in the rear with the gear and wanted to cut loose in the few times they ventured into the bush. Platoon portrayed American troops committing atrocities almost like it was on a daily schedule. Platoon was almost as bad as John Landis’ portrayal of Vietnam in the Twilight Zone remake as stoned out troops smoking dope and playing a ghetto blaster while on patrol. Yeah right. And may American civilians were dumb enough to believe that.
When Viet vets returned we were portrayed all over television in assorted dramas as baby killers, dope fiends, mass murderers and the like. This was the same society that sent us there. Platoon fit right into that left wing slamming of our military which continues to this day.
I would argue that one movie that captured the SPIRIT of our combat troops was Uncommon Valor. Platoon was and is a major joke.
Yeah, Army Wives is LAME. So dumb. I hate that show. I don’t even care about the stupid season finale. Yeah, so lame…… I’ve only seen it when my wife has it on. I’m not watching it though, cause it sucks. So boring. So girly. But, just out of curiosity…..did anyone see the season finale….I mean, what the heck!?! Did he or didn’t he???….er….not that I care because…so lame.
Kelly, you forgot the shining jewel of anti-American propoganda. “Valley of the Wolves – Iraq,” one of the chief reasons I will never support Tito Ortiz again. Where else can you find Gary Busey harvesting Arab organs for rich Jews?
ps I think maybe the best and most accurate portrayal of Vietnam was actually in a book, The 13th Valley by John Delvechio. Beautifully written and very accurately captures the action as well as the mindset of the troops.
I understand what you’re saying Kelly but Platoon and Casualties of War were not made to honor the sacrafice of the Vietnam vets. They were meant to demonize the war and paint a picture that every person who served in Vietnam was a blood thirsty baby killer. I wouldn’t mind if a movie was made about the two wars if they were made right. But the fact of the matter is I don’t trust Hollywood. I’m actually kind of glad they’re not making any movies because I know those asshats in Hollywood would fuck it up. There was a movie that was suppossed to be in production thats based on the Bing West book “No True Glory” but the liberals in Hollywood wouldn’t pick it up because they said they didn’t want to celebrate the war.
Did anyone see Taking Chance? It was a beautifully done movie with Kevin Bacon. Also look fo the documentary God and Country-both were done very well.
My point wasn’t to glorify Platoon, but rather to point out that it was the first major commercially successful movie about Vietnam that led to many more (and better) films being made. Platoon was not meant to glorify the combat soldier, but it opened doors for other films to do so.
Mindy-Taking Chance was a very good film, but like The Hurt Locker, was low budget and limited release. The point is that only independent film makers are doing the GWOT soldier justice.
What ever happened to ‘Lone Survivor,’ which was supposed to be in production? With Luttrell on as an advisor, there has to be both accuracy and truth involved, right? “the Unit’ wasn’t bad when it focused on the team, but it turned into a soap opera once it began to focus on the wives more…
I saw Hurt Locker and it was a pretty good movie with a few flaws. Such as the EOD team being outside their job like when they were doing the Infantry’s “haji hunting” or the scene wear they use a sniper rifle.
To whoever asked about Lone Survivor, I see dates for a 2011 release date. So 9 years short of Kelly’s 2020 number.
what… no love for Generation Kill?
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“The Hurt Locker, a movie about an EOD Sergeant in Iraq that is both moving and realistic.” Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? What part of that travesty of a movie is “realistic”?
Oh, it must be the lone wolf.. no, wait thats not real…
oh, it must be where he snuck off base… no, wait thats not real…
This movie was crap, ask any EOD Tech. Being as that I know a few of them, I asked them, they said the movie was crap and were embarassed that their MOS was used as the plot line.