The Boys in Company C
The Boys in Company C | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Sidney J. Furie |
Written by | Sidney J. Furie Rick Natkin |
Screenplay by | Rick Natkin & Sidney J. Furie |
Produced by | Andre Morgan |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Godfrey A. Godar |
Edited by | Frank J. Urioste |
Music by | Jaime Mendoza-Nava |
Production companies | Golden Harvest Good Times Films S.A. |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 125 minutes |
Countries | United States Hong Kong |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,000,000 |
The Boys in Company C is a 1978 war film directed by Sidney J. Furie about United States Marine Corps recruits preparing for duty and their subsequent combat in the Vietnam War.[1] The film was written by Rick Natkin and Sidney J. Furie, based on an original screenplay by Natkin, which was a term paper for a film seminar course at Yale University in 1973. It stars Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, Craig Wasson and Michael Lembeck. It was among the first Vietnam War films to appear after the Vietnam Era, and was also the first role for R. Lee Ermey of Full Metal Jacket fame.[2] It is the first in Furie's Vietnam War motion-picture trilogy, followed by Under Heavy Fire (2001) and The Veteran (2006).
The film was a co-production of Golden Harvest and Columbia Pictures, the latter originally handling theatrical distribution. It was filmed in the Philippines.
Wasson plays guitar and sings the theme song "Here I Am", used within the film and over the end credits.
Plot
In August 1967, a group of boys arrive at the USMC induction center. They include hippie and draft dodger Dave Brisbee, who is delivered in handcuffs by FBI agents. The other inductees include hardened drug dealer Tyrone Washington, naive and unassuming Billy Ray Pike, streetwise New Yorker Vinnie Fazio and mild-mannered aspiring writer Alvin Foster. Foster begins writing a journal detailing his experiences.
The five boys go through boot camp together. The training is dehumanizing and brutal, designed to make them think and act in unison. Sergeant Loyce and Staff Sergeant Aqullia use a combination of extreme training, brute force, and their own combat experience to teach the recruits. Washington's leadership skills flourish and he is promoted to squad leader. The five are then assigned to the same unit and shipped to Vietnam, and as their ship docks, the shelling begins. Vietnam is a bewildering chaos: bureaucratic incompetence, callous officers concerned only with monthly "body counts" and the constant threat of death.
The Marines first firefight occurs while they are taking "vital supplies" to an army outpost. Those supplies turn out to be crates of cigarettes, liquor and furniture being sent to a general for his birthday, and two men die in the fighting. The officers in Company C are mostly incompetents who endanger the lives of their men through blind adherence to rules or timetables; their nervous Marines open fire on anyone and anything at the slightest provocation.
In January 1968, Company C is ordered by its commanding officer to throw a soccer game against a team of South Vietnamese in order to bolster the morale of their ally. The Americans are told that if they lose, they will see no more combat; if they win, they will be sent to Khe Sanh. Despite everything, the Americans win. The game ends with a Vietcong attack, during which Foster heroically throws himself on a grenade to save some children.
The film concludes with the final entry in Foster's journal, written moments before his death: "...I've decided to give up writing this journal, because I don't know who'd believe it after today. We had a chance to go home, and we blew it off for a soccer game...I guess we'll just keep on walking into one bloody mess after another, until somebody figures out that living has got to be more important than winning."[3]
Cast
- Stan Shaw as Tyrone Washington
- Andrew Stevens as Billy Ray Pike
- James Canning as Alvin Foster
- Michael Lembeck as Vinnie Fazio
- Craig Wasson as Dave Bisbee
- Scott Hylands as Captain Collins
- James Whitmore, Jr. as Lieutenant Archer
- Noble Willingham as Sergeant Curry
- Lee Ermey as Sergeant Loyce, junior drill instructor, later promoted to staff sergeant, succeeding Aquilla as senior drill instructor.
- Vic Diaz as Colonel Trang
- Rick Natkin as drug dealing soldier at Long Khe
Nominations
Andrew Stevens was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Acting Debut – Male (1979).
Home media
This film has been issued numerous times on video since its theatrical release, first in-house via Columbia Pictures, and later through other companies as certain ancillary rights changed hands (it ended up becoming part of the library of ITC Entertainment). Today, the major rights are held by independent film company Fortune Star Media, which also now holds the film's copyright, with distribution by Hen's Tooth under license.
References
- ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:The Boys in Company C
- ^ According to Andrew Stevens on the DVD commentary, Ermey was discovered by the director, Furie
- ^ Hyams, Jay. "War Movies" (1984)
External links
- 1978 films
- 1970s war comedy-drama films
- American films
- American satirical films
- American war comedy-drama films
- Anti-war films about the Vietnam War
- American association football films
- Columbia Pictures films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Sidney J. Furie
- Films set in 1967
- Films set in 1968
- Films set in San Diego
- Films set in Vietnam
- Films shot in the Philippines
- Hong Kong films
- Films about the United States Marine Corps