THE BOYS IN COMPANY C Movie Review
1977 Sidney J. Furie
If John Wayne's The Green Berets portrays American involvement in Vietnam as right-wing patriotic propaganda, the pendulum swings the other way in Sidney Furie's realistic, disillusioned look at the war. Structurally, it's a conventional unit picture that follows five young men from their induction into the Marines and through their first months of combat duty at a pivotal moment in history. The story ends on January 30, 1968, when the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive begins.
Voice-over narrator Alvin Foster (James Canning) keeps careful notes. He's a writer who hopes to turn his military experience into a book, and so the viewer always knows where and when the action is taking place. Alvin, from Emporia, Kansas, is one of five “boys” who take the oath on August 27, 1967, in San Diego. Joining him in Company C is Tryone Washington (Stan Shaw) from Chicago. Initially, he hopes to use his service in Vietnam to facilitate the drug business he's involved in back home. Billy Ray Pike (Andrew Stevens) is a hotshot athlete from Galveston, Texas, who has enlisted because it's the right thing to do. Long-haired peacenik Dave Bisbee (Craig Wasson), on the other hand, is brought to the induction center in handcuffs. Brook-lynite Vinnie Fazio (Michael Lembeck) thinks he knows all the angles and figures to weasel his way out of combat. This mix of draftees and volunteers comes under the none-too-tender care of Sgt. Aquilla (Santos Morales) and Sgt. Loyce (R. Lee Ermey), whose paint-blistering tirades have the ring of first-hand experience.
The basic training scenes cover familiar territory, though some of the individual problems are hurriedly introduced and resolved. (Several explanatory scenes may have been left on the cutting room floor.) The intention of the scenes remains clear, though. Washington is the natural leader of the group, but it's a role that he does not want to accept. The pressures of indoctrination force him to take on the responsibility. The situation and the characters are updated World War II stereotypes, but they're handled so forcefully the cliches seem fresh. When the action progresses to Vietnam, the tone darkens.
Director Furie and co-writer Rick Natkin depict the war strictly in terms of black and white. The South Vietnamese military is corrupt; American officers are ambitious incompetents who sacrifice men to advance their careers; Vietnamese peasants are innocent children; North Vietnamese soldiers are patriots. Doubtless, there is a degree of truth in each of those simplifications, but to leave them at that is too easy. The filmmakers take more care with the five protagonists. The relationship between Washington and Pike, who quickly finds his way into a drug habit, is believably complex. In the same way, the grunt's-eye view of the war is properly confused and senseless. The guys arrive as North Vietnamese activity is intensifying in the South, and so it is completely chaotic to them. They never realize precisely who their enemy is or why they are fighting. The filmmakers’ attempt to use a soccer game as a metaphor for the war is not a completely successful conclusion, but it's difficult to come up with anything that's more appropriate. Without dismissing the over-reliance on antiestablishment cliches, the film does present a consistent, passionate view of the war.
Though The Boys in Company C was released in the same year as the more expensive, ambitious, and prestigious The Deer Hunter, today it is clearly a much better film—more entertaining, and perhaps even more insightful.
Cast: Stan Shaw (Tyrone Washington), Andrew Stevens (Billy Ray Pike), James Canning (Alvin Foster), Michael Lembeck (Vinnie Fazio), Craig Wasson (Dave Bisbee), R. Lee Ermey (Sgt. Loyce), James Whitmore Jr. (Lt. Archer), Scott Hylands (Capt. Collins), Noble Willingham (Sgt. Curry), Santos Morales (Sgt. Aquilla), Claude Wilson (Roy Foster), Drew Michaels (Col. Metcalfe), Karen Hilger (Betsy), Peggy O'Neal (Nancy Bisbee), Stan Johns (Receiving sergeant); Cameo(s): Rick Natkin; Written by: Sidney J. Furie, Rick Natkin; Cinematography by: Godfret A. Godar; Music by: Jaime Mendoza-Nava. Producer: Andre Morgan. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 127 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV.