A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

In the 42 years since the end of the war in Vietnam, Hollywood has produced a number of films about that "lost crusade," ranging from the grand yet surreal vision of Apocalypse Now to the very commercial and silly Missing in Action and Rambo . In 1986, writer-director Oliver Stone ( JFK, W. ) took audiences into the frightening spectacle of jungle warfare in Platoon. This film, based on Stone's combat experiences in Vietnam circa 1967, is the story of 19-year-old Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), an upper-middle class type, who has volunteered for combat duty. His fellow GI's are from the slums and small towns of America. They're the ones with little more than two years of high school - poor, unwanted and drafted to fight for "our society and our freedom," as Chris says in a letter to his grandmother. Of course, the story of men in battle has been told before, and Vietnam War films all seem alike, with their helicopter assaults and seemingly endl

Red Dawn  Release Date: August 10, 1984 Screenplay by: John Milius and Kevin Reynolds, based on a story by Kevin Reynolds Directed by: John Milius Starring: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Ron O'Neal, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, William Smith, Powers Boothe, Jennifer Grey Director John Milius' 1984 Red Dawn is one of my favorite "what-if" action movies. Set in the late 1980s, Red Dawn depicts an invasion of the United States in a truly dystopian post-Reagan world. "Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years. Labor and food riots in Poland. Soviet troops invade. Cuba and Nicaragua reach troop strength goals of 500,000. El Salvador and Honduras fall. Greens party gains control of West German Parliament. Demands withdrawal of nuclear weapons from European soil. Mexico plunged into revolution. NATO dissolves. United States stands alone." - Prologue title cards, Red Dawn Originally conceived by Kevin