I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ■ I I ■ I I I I ■ I I I I I I I I I I I i a i i > i i i i i i i i I N i i i ■ i i i i i i ■ i ■ i ■ i ■ ■ i ■ a ■ ■ i i a a a a a a a a a ■ ■ ■ ■ a a a ■ a a a a a a a a a a a Hard-hitting Films Hollywood Ignores "GO TELL THE SPARTANS Starring: Burt Lancaster, Craig Warron, Jonathan Goldsmith, Marc Singer. Director: Ted Post; Screenplay: Wendell Mayes from the novel "Incident at Muc Wa by Daniel Ford. By Denis Chericone South Vietnam, 1964; “This is a sucker’s war,” prophetically remarks Burt Lancaster as he slowly begins to realize what lies ahead for the American Military in Vietnam. This is before the massive American buildup, before the extensive press coverage, before most Americans were aware of what the word Vietnam meant. This is the time when American soldiers in Vietnam were classified as “advisors” to the South Vietnamese military and they numbered no more than 12,000 men. Theoretically, their purpose was to forge and prepare the South Vietnamese military into an efficient and self reliant fighting force. Everyone understands now how well that idea worked. “Go Tell The Spartans” deals with the American military involvement at a very basic early stage, when the seeds of the eventual disaster were planted. Burt Lancaster portrays a hard bitten career American Army officer Major Ara Barker in charge of a military area that includes the small village of Muc Wa. He does a good job in the role. Major Barker is ordered to send a team of men to the village of Muc Wa for the purpose of organizing the village population into a self defense force. Barker objects because the village has no strategic value and it has remained relatively peaceful over the years. But the orders are explicit and are to be obeyed. Barker complies and sends five men to the village. These men represent an accurate and subjective description of the men who fought the Vietnam war. Jonathan Goldsmith should receive special mention for his performance of a harried career sargent who has been too long in Vietnam. Craig Wasson plays the All-American boy-draftee who watches the war slowly destroy his altruistic confidence in the intensions of the American effort. Joe Unger as the young second Lieutenant fresh from the USA, gives a revealing portrait of an overzealous, naive; yet courageous soldier, whose mission is to follow orders and whip the enemy. Dennis Howard is the medic who is really only the promise of things to come. Mass escape is still a few years away. The film fatefully entwines these men with each other. It does not linger too long on combat footage as it uses action sequences to enhance the feeling of hopelessness, rather than explain it. The characters themselves explain the situation and its hopelessness to the viewer through their relationships with each other and the Vietnamese. This is what makes the film different from other Hollywood war movies. Through the interactions of the cast, the film successfully imposes an aura of alienation and of nagging resignation and suspicion upon the cast. The viewer may not be concerned so much with the eventual outcome of the military encounters as with the mental and physical well being of the American soldiers. Will they survive the inconsistencies and frustrations of fighting a phantom enemy? Can they survive their own moral interpretations and realizations? This is indeed a sucker’s war and the audience will descend into the quicksand as thoroughly as the soldiers at Muc Wa. Denis Chericone is a former Green Beret sergeant. He was involved in reconnaissance and terrorist activity on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. THE STORY OF THE LOVE LIFE OF THE SIDESHOW 'Detected ^7cd 32
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