Go Tell the Spartans is a Vietnam war different from most that I have seen. The fact that it was shot on such a low budget worked to its advantage. This gives it a more realistic feel in comparison to other Vietnam war films (or War films in general). I still don’t know whether I like it or not, but at the very least, I think it is an important film.
The army's not accepting of Major Barker as the general didn’t really matter to me. From the Major, you get an important realization of Vietnam in comparison to others. When Barker states, “Too bad we couldn’t show you a better war” you realize the insignificance and worthlessness of the Vietnam war. Not only was the war a waste of life and money for the United States, but it was also a military embarrassment. Go Tell the Spartans makes no lies about that. At the end of the film when Barker is laying dead and naked, it couldn't get any more embarrassing and dehumanizing than that.
At no point in the film does the war seem appealing or heroic. The men over time become more fed up and emotionally unstable, one higher officer even commits suicide. The soldiers look out of place in Vietnam just as they were. It never looks like they are helping anyone, and certainly not themselves.
In the beginning, it is interesting how the soldiers make fun of France for their failures. America ending up doing nothing in Vietnam and its arrogance is revealed in Go Tell the Spartans. The film just left me feeling bitter. At least it was more honest than Oliver Stone’s rich kid cry-fest, Platoon. But even then, I think I was still entertained and enjoyed Platoon a lot more.
I don’t even really consider Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now to be a Vietnam war film. It may be set in Vietnam, but comes off more as a bizarre nightmare. The fact they he repeatedly tried to receive support from the U.S. military is a joke. I can respect him for trying, but I don’t see how that film could benefit the United States or its military. Coppola claiming that Apocalypse Now was “honest, mythical, pro-human, and therefore pro-America,” was the funniest reasoning for why it should be supported. Although I think Apocalypse Now is a fun film, I would never want the government to waste money on it(among other things).
When comparing Go Tell the Spartans and Apocalypse Now, they are about as different as Vietnam war films can get. Go Tell the Spartans is as realistic and banal as a war film could be. Apocalypse Now is more like a fantasy. I find myself going back to Apocalypse Now once every couple years. I don’t think that I will revisit Go Tell The Spartans.
The army's not accepting of Major Barker as the general didn’t really matter to me. From the Major, you get an important realization of Vietnam in comparison to others. When Barker states, “Too bad we couldn’t show you a better war” you realize the insignificance and worthlessness of the Vietnam war. Not only was the war a waste of life and money for the United States, but it was also a military embarrassment. Go Tell the Spartans makes no lies about that. At the end of the film when Barker is laying dead and naked, it couldn't get any more embarrassing and dehumanizing than that.
At no point in the film does the war seem appealing or heroic. The men over time become more fed up and emotionally unstable, one higher officer even commits suicide. The soldiers look out of place in Vietnam just as they were. It never looks like they are helping anyone, and certainly not themselves.
In the beginning, it is interesting how the soldiers make fun of France for their failures. America ending up doing nothing in Vietnam and its arrogance is revealed in Go Tell the Spartans. The film just left me feeling bitter. At least it was more honest than Oliver Stone’s rich kid cry-fest, Platoon. But even then, I think I was still entertained and enjoyed Platoon a lot more.
I don’t even really consider Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now to be a Vietnam war film. It may be set in Vietnam, but comes off more as a bizarre nightmare. The fact they he repeatedly tried to receive support from the U.S. military is a joke. I can respect him for trying, but I don’t see how that film could benefit the United States or its military. Coppola claiming that Apocalypse Now was “honest, mythical, pro-human, and therefore pro-America,” was the funniest reasoning for why it should be supported. Although I think Apocalypse Now is a fun film, I would never want the government to waste money on it(among other things).
When comparing Go Tell the Spartans and Apocalypse Now, they are about as different as Vietnam war films can get. Go Tell the Spartans is as realistic and banal as a war film could be. Apocalypse Now is more like a fantasy. I find myself going back to Apocalypse Now once every couple years. I don’t think that I will revisit Go Tell The Spartans.
-Ty E
i just remember the scene where burt lancaster was telling marc singer how the president had walked in on him just as he was receiving a blow job from a beautiful gorgeous sexy young girl, a girl that he had also already fucked and buggered, its funny but i dont seem to remember much else about the film (it must be 20 years since i`ve seen it) although i think there was another beautiful gorgeous sexy young girl in the film who everybody wanted to fuck, bugger and sodomize (i think she was a sexy little vietnamese bird).
ReplyDeleteThe famous picture of the chink geezer shooting the other chink geezer in the bonce has never had any emotional effect on me at all, perhaps because the lives of orientals dont really seem to matter very much with-in the great scheme of things, (a), because of they`re appalling behaviour in World War 2, and, (b), because of how racially inferior they are to the Dutch.
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