The Boys in Company C (1978)
Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander, the young men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they purposely lose a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines.
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You won't be disappointed!
Simply Perfect
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
The Boys in Company C is an intense, ravishing war film that depicts as closely as possible to the dangers and hazards that lie in Vietnam. The character development is tight and the explosions are almost grueling to watch. This beats all other war films by a long shot. Just the boot camp scenes pay for this movie. By the end, where the film is showing the soccer game the intense level goes down a bit but quickly regains as the movie reaches the end. The beginning was so good so we can forgive the film for lacking the tiniest bit. But regardless, it's not worth shortening the rating of the film. Its brilliant in every way.The acting is what separates everything in this movie. In war, gambling, and action movies, voice tone is important. The right tone of voice is needed. Casino is my favorite Scorsese film for the language, Pesci, and the tone of voice in the entire film. It captures as close as possible to real casino life and actually depicts how true mob bosses were. Its an absolute masterpiece. Tone of voice is important here too. Its the key in this movie. There needs to be screaming and yelling in this movie for it to be good. The frustration among these characters is one of the main things about this movie thats so good. They don't want to be here so much they take anger out on each other.The film takes place in 1967 and 1968 in Vietnam during the war period of course. Drafted not to long ago, and after experiencing the awful treatment at Boot Camp, the men are now fighting for their country and their life with many things going wrong. Friends injured and even death, frustration stemming, and endangerment because of the ruthless commanding officer are some of the problems these men face. After learning that they can play Soccer against South Vietnam and lose the game, they can be out of Vietnam. All they have to do is lose the game and they're free. But after learning what they're fighting for and the closer they've come, its a question if they will give it up.The movie is so action packed and so dialogue driven (you know I love that) that it's extremely interesting. This movie could be shown in a High School Senoir class. Ignore the language, and go for the point. These men become close friends, but soon their friendships hang by a smaller and smaller thread that is starting to fade in which is the same as in the real world sometimes.I praise my dad for advising me to watch this. Hes not as in to movies as I am, but still he has a few ones that he calls his die hard favorite and this is one of them among others like Pulp Fiction, Robots, Slap Shot and other films. This is undoubtedly the best of the entire list from what I've seen of it.Stan Shaw should deserve an Oscar for his performance as Tyrone Washington. I like his tone of voice as well and his stress level is clearly seen. Which is what makes his acting good. He has a good voice and I hope to watch more things with him in it in the near future. The Boys in Company C may find itself sandwiched by Saving Private Ryan and Full Metal Jacket, but in retrospect and within my knowledge of war and it's filmography, is better than both and should be widely recognized more than it is currently.Starring: Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, Michael Lembeck, R. Lee Ermey, James Whitmore Jr, and Scott Hylands. Directed by: Sidney J. Furie.
Second only to SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA, this is the best Nam flick made so far. It celebrates the absurdity and stupidity of war, yet at the same time reminds you that if you don't want to fight for your freedom, better start learning Vietnamese, Russian, or Chinese! The characters are real, yet farcical (Colonel Ngo Long Dhong?), and their actions from time to time border on the insane, but then something happens to let you know just how human the characters are. I served with a frontline infantry company as a pointman, surviving two tours, so I can attest to most of the realism in the film. It just came out on DVD, so at the very least rent or borrow it, and I think you'll be buying it soon!
This movie was way better than Full Metal Jacket. In FMJ, the Vietnam part seemed tacked on to me, (before they encountered the sniper, they passed up a freaking tank platoon for Christ's sake. It didn't make sense that they didn't make use of the tank to take out the building that the sniper was in.) Plus, I love the Senior DI, Ermy, and the fact that the boot camp was in MCRD San Diego. The war scenes made more sense to me and the character development was a lot stronger in BiC C. As for the soccer scene, one might scoff at it's misplacement in a war film, but it was done in a way that made total sense to someone who knows how Marines are often put in positions and are given orders that contradict the nature of Marine Corps philosophy. I love how the Marines dealt with this dilemma. This movie deserves to be released on DVD. I have no problems dusting off the VCR and playing this movie, but Come on! When there are hundreds of thousands of copies of Paulie Shore's In the Army Now on DVD out there, they really should make Boys in Company C available on DVD.
Guess the lack of pretentiousness of "The Boys in Company C" just didn't fit in with the "Vietnam" films of it's time like "Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home". The film, director Sidney J. Furie, and actor Stan Shaw all deserve a lot more recognition then they were given at that time or since.Tyrone Washington (Stan Shaw) is a unique movie character for the time. He's the most sensible and able Marine in the company, a bad-ass who learns to lead instead of just taking care of himself, who is also a Black man from the Chicago streets who, initially, aspires to shipping drugs home from Vietnam. Shaw's portrayal of Washington is apt and the changes the character goes thru made very credible.The main heavy duty allegory here is that the Marines need to lose the soccer game in order to ensure their own survival. Of course this is contrary to their ethos, training, and esprit de corps.This is a somewhat tough to find film these days, and anyone that finds a copy if fortunate indeed!