The Vietnam Trilogy

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, A COMPREHENSIVE AND FASCINATING CRITIQUE OF MOVIES ABOUT VIETNAM! Heroic. Brave. Daring. Until the 1960s, movies about war were good box office. That all changed with Vietnam. Since the war was unpopular and confusing -- lacking clear objectives and easily identified enemies --movie-makers, like many Americans, transferred their dislike for the conflict onto the soldier. Consequently, Hollywood produced pictures that can now be recognizes as misleading, distorted, sensationalistic, or just plain dishonest. In Vietnam at the Movies, Vietnam vet Michael Lee Lanning traces the genesis of the "war movie" from the Spanish American War all the way up to Vietnam, taking Tinseltown to task for its treatment of the Viet vet--painstakingly separating fact from the fiction, and reviewing the quality and accuracy of more than 380 films and TV movies, including: Air America * The Big Chill * Birdy * Born on the Fourth of July * Casualties of War * Coming Home * The Deer Hunter * Dogfight * Easy Rider * First Blood * For the Boys * Friendly Fire * Full Metal Jacket * Good Morning Vietnam * Hair * In Country * JFK * The Killing Fields * Lethal Weapon * Nashville * Platoon * Running On Empty * Slaughterhouse-Five * Streamers * Suspect * Swimming to Cambodia * Taxi Driver * Tender Mercies * Top Gun * Year of the Dragon * And many more! Alphabetically organized for quick and easy access, this comprehensive volume gives film audiences and VCR viewers the opportunity to understand exactly what they are watching when they see Vietnam at the movies.

Through the stories of veterans and the author's own understanding as a psychiatric social work officer in Vietnam and his extensive post-war experiences as a mental health professional, A Vietnam Trilogy describes the impact of war on veterans from a psy.

Essay from the year 2000 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 71% (Distinction), Monash University Melbourne (School for Social and Political Inquiry), course: The Vietnam War, language: English, abstract: Oliver Stone is probably one of the most controversial film directors in Hollywood. His films - like JFK or Natural Born Killers - often receive enthusiastic praise as well as fierce criticism. A subject that frequently reoccurs in Stone's work is the Vietnam War. Stone, who is a veteran of the war, wrote and directed three films that directly deal with the conflict and which he calls his "Vietnam trilogy": Platoon, (1986) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven and Earth (1993). Apart from those, many of his films make references to Vietnam, most obvious JFK (1991) and Nixon (1995) and to a lesser extend The Doors (1991). This essay focuses on the three films of the Vietnam trilogy. To what extend do they represent the truth about the realities of the war and how are they influenced by the director's own experiences as a GI in Vietnam? First I will give a brief Biography of Oliver Stone, followed by a chronological discussion of the envisaged films with reference to the questions presented above. Due to the large nature or this topic, I will only broaching some of the numerous aspects and interpretations of the films. [...]

From 'The Deer Hunter' to 'Platoon', the Vietnam cycle of films that America has been producing since the 1970s has had an impact on audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. This book offers an overview of the genre, including such films as 'Full Metal Jacket', 'Platoon', 'Rambo: First Blood' and 'Apocalypse Now'. Aiming to show the ways these films operate as fantasy wish-fulfilment, an attempt to come to terms with the war, and as simply an opportunity for action, this book will appeal to all viewers, students and fans of the Vietnam War film.

Three powerful plays about the Vietnam War that will capture your attention... Survivor is the story of a man who survives intense combat in Vietnam but is haunted by the experience and racked with guilt, years after returning home. The war still exists within him as he goes down a precipitous path of self-destruction. The Innocents of War tells the story of the family of a soldier who is MIA (Missing in Action). Over a period of twenty-plus years, the effects of his uncertain fate plays out on each family member differently. In the end, harsh reality takes a surprising twist. Rap depicts combat veterans who have returned home from Vietnam and years later are struggling to sort out their lives. Through group therapy at the Veterans Administration, they try to make sense of readjusting from the combat zone to civilian life. For many of the men, it's difficult. For some, it's impossible. There is a complex tapestry woven from the characters in each play, showing how war can affect each individual emotionally, mentally, and physically. Veterans will be able to relate to the aftereffects of combat, and those who haven't experienced it will walk away with a clearer understanding of the impact of the war experience on both the soldiers and their families. The Vietnam Trilogy presents a realistic view of the men who fought, the ones who died, and the ones who were psychologically scarred by the war.

Three classic novels by John M. Del Vecchio about Vietnam, Cambodia, and the aftermath of war. A classic combat novel and National Book Award finalist, The 13th Valley follows the terrifying Vietnam combat experiences of James Chelini, a telephone-systems installer who finds himself an infantryman in the North Vietnamese Army–infested mountains of the I Corps Tactical Zone. Spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of conflict and darkness, this harrowing account plunges Chelini into jungle warfare and traces his evolution from semi-pacifist to all-out, combat-crazed soldier. The seminal novel on the Vietnam experience, The 13th Valley is a classic that illuminates the war in Southeast Asia like no other book. Some reviewers have called For the Sake of All Living Things the most terrifying book they have ever read. This saga follows a rural Cambodian family—father Chhoun; his beautiful daughter, Vathana; and his young son, Samnang, who becomes the Khmer Rouge yothea Met Nang—from the mid-sixties through the escalation of the civil war, into the horrors of the holocaust, and finally to the country’s quest for rebirth. Documenting their story is American Special Forces Captain John Sullivan who served with the Military Equipment Delivery Team, and who has fallen in love with Vathana. Carry Me Home brings the troops back to America—a nation confused and divided by the wars in Southeast Asia. In this poignant epic, Del Vecchio transports a group of soldiers to their final battlefield: the home front. High Meadow Farm, in the fertile hill country of central Pennsylvania, becomes their salvation. In Vietnam they had been brothers in arms. Now, in the face of personal tragedy and bureaucratic deception, they create an even deeper allegiance—one of the spirit and of the land. This is the remarkable story of the veterans’ struggle to find one another and themselves. In its scope, breadth, and brilliance, Carry Me Home is much more than a novel about Vietnam vets; it is a testament to history and hope, to hometowns and homecomings, to love and loss, and to faith and family. It is an inspiring and unforgettable novel about America itself.

A nationally renowned PTSD authority reveals the psychiatric impact of war on soldiers and veterans, dented or minimized by government and the military. Through efforts to treat veterans of past conflicts he illustrates the inevitability of lifelong psychiatric scars from today's conflicts as well.

Scurfield (social work, U. of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast) has been involved in treating post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans for nearly 40 years. This text is the second of three volumes in which he reflects upon his therapeutic career and recounts a trip to Vietnam in the year 2000, in which three Vietnam veterans returned to former