Word: platooning
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...draw Dukakis. Staffers do not bother to pass along political nuggets because they know the Governor has little interest. He reads few books but consumes the details of briefing papers. He is indifferent to movies. When friends last year urged him to watch a couple of highly praised films, Platoon and Hoosiers (they believed exposure to the Midwestern flavor of the latter might serve him well in the Iowa caucuses), no one was surprised that Dukakis returned the videocassettes unviewed. Recently staffers on the road arranged for him to see Moonstruck, a new film starring an actress cousin he likes...
...been a strange year for American movies. The most popular films of 1987 have a dark hue: violent policiers (Beverly Hills Cop II, The Untouchables, Lethal Weapon, Stakeout), corrosive Viet Nam memorials (Platoon and Full Metal Jacket), thrillers about sexual anxiety (Fatal Attraction). Steven Spielberg has flown to the dark side of E.T.: in Empire of the Sun a boy goes to war, and nearly goes mad. Even the comedies are cynical. The Secret of My Success got Michael J. Fox into bed with his uncle's wife to help advance his career. The Witches of Eastwick sent Satan...
...either consciences or bad company. The film seems intended as a blend of morality play and classical satire -- Everyman meets Volpone. Stone always comes at you with big dreams and nightmares; he wants the first and last word on every subject he touches, whether Central America (Salvador), Viet Nam (Platoon) or Wall Street. This time he works up a salty sweat to end up nowhere, like a triathlete on a treadmill. But as long as he keeps his players in venal, perpetual motion, it is great scary fun to watch him work...
William Walker is a figure flitting through the thickets of those impenetrable contemporary backgrounders about the situation in Nicaragua. An American adventurer who gathered a mercenary army -- well, actually, it was more of a platoon -- and "invaded" that unhappy land in 1855, he briefly became its President before being deposed and executed. It was the sudden death of his fiancee (Marlee Matlin) that turned Walker into a Manifest Destiny zealot (hey, whatever works for you!). Contrasting formality of speech and manner with ruthless righteousness, Ed Harris makes him a furiously compelling creature...
...course, some of the Big, Serious Oscar-winners won fair and square. "The Killing Fields" and "Platoon" did justice to their subject matter. They were also exciting and entertaining. Every year, those of us in living room seats will root for other exciting, entertaining movies. And every year, we'll be disappointed. It just doesn't seem fair that the Best Picture Award so frequently goes not to the best movie, but to the best movie with a "relevant" topic...