Word: platoons
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...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...
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...
...core will be soldiers who trained to fight from the saddle. They call one another Trooper, so that former noncoms and onetime generals can feel at ease as they retell old stories, many of them true. Merton Glover, a big, angular man of 69, retired years ago as a platoon sergeant. He trained as a horse soldier, but in 1942 he was transferred to Fort Meade, S. Dak., where the cavalry was experimenting with mechanization. The concept was shaky at first. "Their idea for a while was to have us all run around on motorcycles," says Glover. "I rode...
Other fans found the strangers irresistible. In San Diego, where the Chargers won three straight games on the road for the first time since 1963, a platoon of colorful replacements was retained. An actor from HBO's 1st & Ten series, Joe Phillips, got a real sack and a job. Les Miller, who fell on a fumble in the end zone, no longer has to make plastic handles for ice coolers. Of the good teams, the Redskins in the National Conference and the Browns in the American survived as well as any. The Super Bowl champion the year of the last...