Post by StevePulaski on May 3, 2012 20:36:14 GMT -5
A scene of combat in The Boys in Company C.
Rating: ★★★★
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. I consider it to be a bold masterpiece, but I consider Sidney J. Furie's The Boys in Company C to be even bolder. FMJ incorporated far too many comedic elements the beginning, yet took the smarter route of becoming much darker in its final act. The Boys in Company C is consistently dark, and captures the idea of going into war when you really don't want to extremely well. This is a remarkable film, with one of the saddest endings I have yet to see.
The film revolves around five Marines who are enduring miserable treatment at a Vietnam boot camp in 1967, and are plagued by the dangers of combat, the incompetence of their leaders, and the complete disregard for safety. They are told that if they win a soccer game against the competitive and impressive South Vietnamese team, they are allowed to spend the rest of their service partaking in exhibition matches, rather than combat. This leads to the struggle for survival not on enemy lines, but on the court.
Why is it "Required Viewing?": I feel too many people believe they have seen the best and will fail to seek out the rest when regarding war films. The Boys in Company C is a masterpiece because of not only its direction and script, but because of its passion for humanity. It sympathizes with these characters and you can tell that just by the way the camera focuses on the men. Also, it was one of the first war films (came before FMJ) to focus on a real life war with fictionalized characters, not to mention, despite the long term success of Patton, a different part of a man's service. It is a worthy, inherently likable war picture that has gone under-appreciated and unseen for far too long. Quite possibly one of my favorite films of all time as well.
My original four star review of The Boys in Company C here, stevethemovieman.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=perfect&action=display&thread=1200