Hi Neo -- glad you had a great time in Gotham. My daughter lives there and loves the Christmas season there.
Re. Vietnam movies, I think all are flawed -- in some ways overdone for dramatic effect where no overdoing is necessary.
Full Metal' has elements of greatness, but, IMO, is too much a two movie film. Material in the first part could have been done with far greater economy.
There was, you may recall, a fundamental problem getting that movie done. Clashing of views between director and the person who provided the material -- a lot of "What the hell are we trying to accomplish here?"
My recollection is that the storyline came out of Philip Caputo's excellent book, "A Rumor of War." From that book and personal associations, I understood FMJ combat to be based on Caputo's account of Marine operations in the city of Hue. Mentioned in the book and, I understand, of some influence in the POV of the author was a young Marine named Dale Dye.
So, in a sense, the second part of FMJ was, in part, a Dye story. The delicious irony of this is that the technical advisor (military) for the "other" film -- Platoon -- was none other than former Marine Captain, Dale Dye.
I once had a professional interest in Dye's work, but although we share personal acquaintances, we have never met.
I missed a chance to ask Steven Rogers (who said he had a role in the filming of Platoon) if he knew Dye and, if so, was FMJ ever discussed.
As far as favorites, I liked Apocalypse (which, of course, also went outside the envelope and crashed and burned in the end). Ah, the smell of napalm in the morning!
Mike |
