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Gardens of Stone | Year: 1987 Classification: Drama Directed: - Francis Ford Coppola Actors/Actresses: - James Caan - Anjelica Huston The End Result of War Moving story about the Old Guard at Arlington Cemetety in Washington during the war in Vietnam. Good movie for war film buffs This is a decent film for anyone who likes war-themed movies. There aren't any intricate combat scenes and the plot involves a love story or two that are a bit thin, but if you're a fan of military films, this one is worth watching at least once, if only for the one-liners delivered by James Earl Jones. Some of the film's highlights (aside from the one-liners) include a star-studded cast and good performances by the principle characters. The movie is set in the "Old Guard" in Washington, D.C., where the cast struggles in each person's perception of the war in Vietnam and how they deal with it. In eternal glory... This is a film with a difference -- many people come to it with preconceived notions of how a military-themed film should be, and are somewhat disappointed. This is not an action film, and while it fits the overall genre of being a protest film about Vietnam, it is not unambiguously so. It is an anti-war film, to be sure, but is not an anti-military or even anti-American film. It has an emphasis on duty and honour that transcends minor considerations of the particular patriotism for particular nations -- the themes as old as the Roman centurion's honour for fallen compatriots run through to the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetary. The plot winds its way around the Old Guard, the honour guard at Arlington National Cemetary, charged with the performance of a hallowed trust, one of the few in a secular nation such as the United States -- that of overseeing the gravesites of the honoured dead who died after service to the nation, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The primary senior characters are Platoon Sergeant Hazard (James Caan) and Sergeant Major Nelson (James Earl Jones), two crusty veterans overseeing operations; both served in Korea and Vietnam with distinction, and are now sitting on the sidelines of the expanding war in Vietnam in a place where the body count is very apparent. Into this mix comes the young and idealistic Specialist Willow (D.B. Sweeney in one of his earliest roles), an Army brat whose father is (of course) a friend of Hazard and Nelson. Willow has an unrequited love (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) in the daughter of a colonel, who seems to think that the son of a sergeant is beneath his daughter, even as Willow has ambition toward becoming an officer. Willow also has ambition toward the experience of real combat -- he sees duty at the Arlington National Cemetary as being uneventful -- Willow is certainly not a Patton-esque character, but rather portrays that element of the military and citizenry who wishes to be where the action is when action is happening. Hazard (and, to a lesser extent, Nelson), being world weary, tries to temper Willow's enthusiasm, knowing (and stating several times) that Vietnam is not the typical war -- when Willow says that he wants to be on the front lines, the retort from the more experienced soldiers is invariably that there is no front line in Vietnam. Ultimately, Willow does make it to Vietnam, and Hazard does decide to leave the Old Guard for a more active engagement in the war where he can do more good (or so he feels) than simply burying the dead who return. Hazard also is involved (as a subplot) with a woman who struggles to deal with the contradictory nature of the war, embodied by Hazard (Angelica Huston plays the correspondent who has a largely anti-war feeling, but again this is tempered by not being anti-military). Hazard's intimacy with her grows throughout the film, being tested when he announces his intention to leave the cemetary duty and go to Vietna Buy Gardens Of Stone at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Gardens Of Stone Search with the Priority Search Engine on Gardens Of Stone This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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