Marco Gonzales

Eng 112b

5/5/05

Annotated Bibliography: American in the Vietnam War

Literature:

Eliot, T.S. The Hollow Men. 1925 <http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~evans/hollow.html>

This poem was used as a source reference.

Greene, Graham. The Quiet American. New York: Penguin, 2004.

This novel based in Vietnam during the first Indo-China war follows the story of two outsiders to Vietnam sent there for two entirely different reasons. The narrator of the novel is a middle-aged journalist from Brittan named Thomas Fowler. Fowler refrains from attaching himself politically to either side of the war and finds himself content in writing his columns and living with his Vietnamese concubine. The American Alden Pyle, however, although seeming to be unattached politically as well is secretly aiding the war efforts of the Vietnamese Socialist party. Posing as an American relief worker Pyle befriends Fowler but the two seemingly have a rigid relationship partly due to Pyle�s interest in Fowler�s mistress. Fowler comes to learn of Pyle�s true role in the Indo-China conflict and sells Pyle out to the nationalists who eventually assassinate Pyle, but not before Fowler is taken on an emotional roller coaster as to whether he should attempt to warn Pyle of the danger that lies ahead.

Kovic, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July. New York: Pocket, 1980.

This New York Times bestseller (more than one million copies sold) details the author's life story from a patriotic soldier in Vietnam, to his severe battlefield injury, to

Gonzales Page 2

his role as the country's most outspoken anti-Vietnam War advocate, spreading his message from his wheelchair. Born on the Fourth of July brings back the era of the Vietnam War at a time when the Establishment is trying to make the nation forget what they call the "Vietnam syndrome." Ron Kovic's memoir is written with poetic passion and grips your attention from the very first page to the last. It is a classic of anti-war literature and I hope it will be read by large numbers of young people, who will be both sobered and inspired by his story. --HOWARD ZINN

Author Ron Kovic served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. He was paralyzed from his chest down in combat in 1968 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Along with Oliver Stone, Kovic was the co-screenwriter of the 1989 Academy Award-winning film based on the book (Tom Cruise stars in the role of Kovic in the film). <http://www.amazon.com>

O�Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Broadway, NY, 1990.

Based on accounts of soldiers involved in the Vietnam War, Tim O�Brien does a wonderful job of creating realistic stories based on fictional characters. Dubbed a combination of memoir, novel and collection of short stories, The Things They Carried provides a humanistic experience to American soldiers involved in the war. Each character has his own personal unique story that only at the end of the novel the reader learns is fictional. The book is narrated from a third person point of view, which the reader believes to be Tim O�Brien although he never identifies himself. This is a wonderful example of historical fiction.

Gonzales Page 3

Film:

Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. 1979. United States, 153 min.

Shot in the jungles of the Philippines this film embodies the madness surrounding the Vietnam War. The film tracks the movement of Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen as he works his way up river in pursuit of renegade Colonel Kurtz played by Marlon Brando. Willard�s journey up river is impeded by a number of characters that include the likes of Colonel Kilgore played by Robert Duvall who speaks lovingly of �the smell of napalm in the morning.� Loosely based on Joseph Conrad�s Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now explores the darkness of one�s soul during time of war, which in this case is the Vietnam War.

Born On the Fourth of July. Dir. Oliver Stone. 1989. Unites States, 145 min.

This film starring Tom Cruise as Ron Kovic depicts him as a proud American willing to go to war for his country immediately following his graduation from high school. Kovic is wounded during a firefight with members of the Viet Cong in which he becomes paraplegic. The story follows Kovic�s return to American at a time when the majority of Americans no longer supported the war effort in Vietnam, and Ron�s struggle with feeling like a villain and victim rather than a hero.

Hearts and Minds. Dir. Peter Davis. 1974. United States, 112 min.

A courageous and startling film, Peter Davis' landmark documentary Hearts and Minds unflinchingly confronts the United States' involvement in Vietnam. Using a wealth of sources-from interviews to newsreels to documentary footage of the conflict at home

Gonzales Page 4

and abroad-Davis constructs a powerfully affecting portrait of the disastrous effects of war. Explosive, persuasive, and shocking, Hearts and Minds is an overwhelming emotional experience and the controversial winner of the 1974 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Platoon. Dir. Oliver Stone. 1986. United States, 120 min.

Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side. The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice--pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a you-are-there quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. --Jim Emerson <http://www.amazon.com>

The Quiet American. Dir. Philip Noyce. 1995. United States, 101 min.

This adaptation based loosely on the novel with the same title stars Michael Caine as Thomas Fowler and Brendon Fraser as Alden Pyle, who is the �Quiet American.�

Gonzales Page 5

The largest adaptation from the novel is the resolve in the method in which Fowler plans Pyle�s demise.

Why Vietnam? Dir. Zeneger. 1965. Untied States, 31 min.

Documentary presents the official government rationale used in 1965 to justify our involvement in Vietnam. It places war in the context of America's traditional goal of preserving global freedom, citing the "domino theory" and the idea that "aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed." Produced by the Directorate for Armed Forces Information and Education, Department of Defense.