VIETNAM CLASSICS

The Deer Hunter (1978)
Directed by Michael Cimino
Starring Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep
183 mins; MA15+; DVD/VHS

An amazing one hit wonder, Cimino walked off with the 1979 Best Directing Oscar for his war epic The Deer Hunter (which also won Best Picture) and, after making a series of dismal filmic flops, stopped directing altogether. The Deer Hunter is marvellously directed and is at its core is a complex psychological thriller that chooses not to take the viewer into battle but to show the mental scarring endured by Vietnam veterans. The film opens on a Pennsylvania steel mill where three friends Michael (DeNiro), Steven (John Savage in one of his last roles) and Nick (Walken in an Oscar winning role) are drafted to war. The first third of the film shows the three men being sent off – Steven gets married to Linda (Streep) and there is a wedding reception of The Godfather proportions. Cut to Vietnam where there is a very brief (for a war film of this duration) battle scene and we see Michael, Steven and Nick trapped in an underwater cage, captured by Viet Cong soldiers who use them as fodder for Russian Roulette gambling games. Michael manages to kill the entire VC squad holding them captive and escapes however Steven is rendered paraplegic after a helicopter accident and Nick remains in Southeast Asia, partaking in the Russian Roulette games after developing a taste of danger when held as a prisoner of war. When Michael returns to Pennsylvania, he is guilt ridden for having let his two friends fall into harms way. Finally succumbing to his guilt, Michael returns to Southeast Asia to save Nick, with tragic consequences.

The Deer Hunter is one of the best Vietnam films and indeed one of the best movies that truly depicts the horrors of war. Showcasing a number of career-making performances (especially by Walken, who slowburns his performance from one of the lads to an emotional cripple, with amazing results), The Deer Hunter remains one of America’s most powerful films. 9/10

Apocalypse Now [Redux] (1979)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando
202 mins; R18+; DVD/VHS

‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning’ may go down as one of cinema’s most enduring quotes and the set piece in which it is said – a Marine landing on a ‘hot’ landing zone as bullets, bombs and napalm fly over the head of a deranged colonel – is undoubtedly memorable. Coppola’s third classic (after The Godfather and its sequel) is interesting but pales in comparison to classics such as The Deer Hunter and Oliver Stone’s Vietnam trilogy. (Very) loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella Hearts of Darkness, Apocalypse Now follows Captain Willard (Sheen), ordered to find and terminate a renegade Colonel (Brando), who has developed a cult-like following in the upper reaches of Cambodia in the depths of the Vietnam War. Willard and his team (including a young Laurence Fishburne) must head upriver aboard a patrol boat where the meet with their air cavalry escort Colonel Kilgore (Duvall), a surfer-dude who utters the immortal ‘napalm’ line.

The Redux version has over 45 minutes added and sees the introduction of some unnecessary scenes that drag the film along and make it tiresome and arduous to watch. Apocalypse Now is, at its best, an above-average Vietnam film that attempts to portray the horrors of war, however it is wildly overrated and its everlasting appeal is quite inexplicable. The fact that it was nominated for Best Picture, won Best Director and brought home the prestigious Palme D’Or award at Cannes is all the more strange. Many people really revere both versions of Apocalypse but the Redux is trite and drags on excessively. 6/10

Platoon (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker
120 mins; M; DVD/VHS

Oliver Stone is probably the best man to write and direct a Vietnam film having been a veteran himself so its no surprise Platoon comes off as being the best of the ‘Nam bunch. When Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen, echoing his old man’s role in Apocalypse Now) volunteers for the army, he has no idea the horror of what awaits when he is drafted to Vietnam. The film depicts Chris’ relationship with both his fellow combatants and two superiors – stoner Elias (Dafoe) and utter psychopath Bob (Berenger). Sheen is given conflicting advice by the two army men which subliminally echoes the contradictions of the war itself. Platoon walked off with Best Picture and Stone with the director statuette on Oscar night, showing that the grim topic of war is a favourite for awards season. Violent, harsh and unforgiving, Platoon is relentless when it comes to showing the grisliness of war, again opting against all-out battle scenes (except for the final half-hour) and showing some horrific set pieces, including one brutal and memorable depiction of war crimes committed against the innocent Vietnamese. A masterpiece of modern American cinema from one of its great auteurs. 10/10


Terror Firmer (1999)
Directed by Lloyd Kaufman
Starring Will Keenan & Alyce LaTourelle
114 mins; R18+; DVD

I mail-ordered out for this in order to expose myself to some quality horror-comedy, and I was not disappointed - Terror Firmer is well worth the $30.00 price tag attached to it. Terror Firmer is Troma’s most recent full-on project (setting it alongside Tromeo and Juliet and Toxic Avenger) and is directed by Troma’s boss Lloyd Kaufman. For those of you who don’t know who and what Troma is, you aren’t a real horror fan – but you can find out here.

Lloyd Kaufman goes autobiographical (nearly) and plays Larry Benjamin, a blind director of Troma films. His goal to make some art is floundered by a transsexual serial killer, who brutally murders his crew, threatening to shut down production. But the show must go on and the killer must be stopped.

Terror Firmer is the closest any modern film has gotten to emulating Eurotrash horror – its blend of horror, exaggerated violence and sleaze is used to hilarious affect. Kaufman really knows how to wildly entertain an audience, making them laugh as they are repulsed, and Terror Firmer is no exception. The trash maestro is on sublime (if such a word can be used) Toxic Avenger form, and Troma hasn’t created something this great since Toxie, who makes an appearance here. Stomp Visual in Australia have done very well by Troma, releasing most of their back catalogue under the header The Troma Collection not once but twice (Terror Firmer appears in Batch 2, which has nicer coverart). Most of Troma interactive (including the Troma Intelligence Test [TIT]) has been banned in Australia, but the extras are still bursting at the seams – two discs chockfull of goodies, including a downloadable computer game. Very irreverent and one of the funniest horror films I’ve seen in a very long time. 9/10

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (2000)
Directed by Trey Parker
Voices of Trey Parker & Matt Stone
78 mins; MA15+; DVD/VHS

In 1997 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone unveiled South Park, the world was shocked. Never before had such irreverence and profanity been seen on television – sure, some movies had covered it, but they were doomed to a life of obscurity; Parker and Stone shot sexual humour and anti-Semitism to the mainstream. South Park: BLU is the big-screen version of the TV show.

The film follows Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny as they come across a movie theatre screening of their idols, the Canadian film stars Terrance and Philip. They enter, only to be thrown out because they are underage. They re-enter after bribing a street urchin with a bottle of vodka, and are subjected to Terrance and Philip’s endless profanity – the kids hum to songs like Uncle Fucker as patrons around them begin to leave. When they exit the theatre three hours later, they become as potty-mouthed as their Canadian icons. Kyle’s mum (a bitch extraordinaire) wages war on Canada after she is unable to control her son’s swearing.

It’s easy to see why South Park has become so successful – never before has a TV show pushed the boundaries so far and so often. Every minority is insulted in this film – Jews (I’m sorry I called you a Jew/I am a Jew!/Don’t be so hard on yourself…), homosexuals (big Gay Al) and black people. And that’s why it's so refreshing. Never before has something so un-PC been screened and not prosecuted. The crappy animation is a novelty in an era of big budget CGI, and the film’s short running time works well in its favour. It’s a break even for me as to which is my favourite comedy film – this or the recent, side-splitting hijinks of Borat. But Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s big-screen revisioning of the fowl mouthed kids of South Park come out on top, simply because watching poorly animated eight year olds come out with gems like ‘donkey-raping shit eater’ is funnier than an ex-Soviet misogynistic Jew hater. Wait… 10/10

Troma Studios, the brainchild of Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman, has become synonymous with the kind of exploitation pictures that emerged during the sixties and seventies – trash films brimming with gratuitous sex and violence. The studio was opened by Herz in 1975 with its debut picture The Divine Obsession, a softcore movie directed by Kaufman. The film was a minor success and the duo went on to edit and release Joel M Reed’s violent exploitation film Master Sardu and the Horror Trio, which was released in 1976 in the US as The Incredible Torture Show and in Australia under the delightfully exploitative title Bloodsucking Freaks.

The studio’s breakthrough came in 1980 with Squeeze Play, which was supposedly conceived when a theatre requested an erotic film ala The Divine Obsession but with a softball theme. Kaufman and Herz invested their entire funds into producing the film only to find, on completion, no one wanted to screen it, including the theatre that requested the film in the first place. Salvation came when another theatre unexpectedly took Squeeze Play, which went on to make millions of dollars. That same year, Herz and Kaufman distributed Mother’s Day, which was directed by Lloyd’s brother Charles. The film derived much from classics such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and other such slashers however it has become something of a cult classic.

After the amazing success of Squeeze Play, Troma produced a number of lesser erotic comedies. However, in 1985, came a breakthrough unprecedented even for Kaufman and Herz – The Toxic Avenger, a horror-comedy that was the first of its kind. The idea came from an article Kaufman read titled ‘horror movies are dead’. The plot surrounds an unassuming young male teenager that, after falling into a vat of toxic waste, becomes a giant, virile monster that fights crime on the streets of the fictitious town of Tromaville. Violent, profane and littered with gross-out sexual references, The Toxic Avenger could be described as being a cross between Scary Movie and the Bad Taste, two films which formulated a similar horror-comedy concept with inferior results. The legend of the Toxic Avenger as well as the town the film was based in (Tromaville) has become iconic in Troma pictures, and many of them contain references to these two aspects. The film went on to spawn three sequels, all of which were directed by Kaufman and Herz. The profound impact of The Toxic Avenger on all elements of film culture is difficult to fathom and put Troma Studios on the map as being the forerunners in B-picture producers.

The Toxic Avenger was followed by Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986), about a school with pupils adversely affected by radioactivity. The science-gone-wrong and radioactivity plots became a trademark of Kaufman and Herz and Class of Nuke ‘Em High went on to spawn two sequels. Since then, Troma lulled in its creativity and focussed on distributing films. However, the studio made a comeback in 1999 when Kaufman went on to direct one of his most successful films Terror Firmer, which hilariously borderlines self-parody and is brimming with sex and violence. Kaufman is currently working on Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, and is slated for an early-2007 release date.

Today, Troma Studios devotes its time to producing and distributing B-grade films. They have distributed over 1000 films and a number are available to purchase online. The names Troma, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz have become iconic in the horror and independent film worlds in general. While the production house’s filmography is a mix of the good (The Toxic Avenger, Citizen Toxic: The Toxic Avenger IV, Terror Firmer), the bad (Tromeo and Juliet, Surf Nazis Must Die) and the downright ugly (Killer Condom), Troma remains a place where even the most jaded of filmgoers can find entertainment that enthrals, amuses and repulses.