THE BAD NEWS BEARS & 5 MORE MOVIES THAT ARE SECRETLY ABOUT VIETNAM

I wrote a piece at IFC.com, originally titled "Holy shit, six movies I hadn't realized are totally about VIETNAM." They changed the title, but it's still pretty good. You can read it here. It's "smart", in a Cracked.com sort of way. 

Interestingly (well, interesting to no one but me) -- my college thesis was about Vietnam in popular memory, so this essay was a return to that. I barely graduated college because of my non-traditional thesis-lecture-show. So writing this essay about Vietnam movies felt very Rambo; but instead of returning to Vietnam I was going back to the treacherous landscape of media studies. "Do I get to win this time?" 

Lastly: I would make a case that GHOSTBUSTERS is about Reagan not dealing with the ghosts of Viet Nam. But I don't want to risk "ruining" someone's childhood with that theory. 

RELATED: 

My STAR WARS personal essay. (Don't worry, I don't argue that STAR WARS is the first pro-war film since John Wayne's THE GREEN BERETS.) 

The RICHARD NIXON figures of my youth

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW TRIVIAL PURSUIT

I watched TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D (2013) last night. 

It's like jury-duty for fans of the original. 

Anyway, there's a scene where Leatherface (aka "Jeb Sawyer") goes to a carnival and encounters a guy in a pig-mask weilding a chainsaw. 

Was this a MOTEL HELL (1980) reference or just a coincidence? 

Either way, I wish the film had taken advantage of the carny setting and made some inside jokes about Tobe Hooper's THE FUNHOUSE (1981). 

But this movie was not made for me. 


* * * 

Bonus Fun-fact: 


I was playing a game of TRIVIAL PURSUIT with my wife and the silver-screen category asked: 

What 1980's horror movie includes a climactic chainsaw duel. 

I told my wife: The answer on the card will be "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Part 2" but the REAL answer is "Motel Hell." 

I was right. You gotta know the limits of the questionnaire.