WHITE GHOST

US, 1988, 88 minutes, Colour.
Reb Brown, Rosalind Chao, William Katt, Martin Hewitt.
Directed by B.J.Davis.

White Ghost is a Vietnam action thriller, probably made for the video audience. It is strong on action and plot outline - but minimal presentation of motivation. Hence it appears more brutal than it needs to be. William Katt is the Vietnam veteran, surviving in the jungles of that country. A mission goes in to get him out - but led by someone who wants revenge on him. There are violent confrontations between the Group, the Vietnamese, the hero and the Vietnamese. Ultimately, Reb Brown is the hero who comes in officially to rescue Katt and his wife. The film capitalises on emotions about the Vietnam war, about veterans missing in action, the possibilities of survivors. The film is exploitative in the sense that it takes a serious situation and merely gives an action thriller without depth.

1. Interesting Vietnam war story? The aftermath of the war? Survivors? Special squads and missions? Vengeance? The official American standpoint?

2. Locations, the jungle? Central American settings? Washington? Thailand? The stunts and action sequences? Musical score?

3. The title, Shephard and his reputations, surviving in the jungle, harassing the Vietnamese? Confrontation with the Americans?

4. Shephard as the white ghost, his mission in Vietnam, information to America? His love for his wife? Surviving? The mission, his puzzle, confrontation with Walker? The fights, the capture of his wife and torture, rescuing her? The explosive action? With the sympathetic American soldier, his death? The final confrontation with Walker to the death? The final rescue?

5. The mission, the American official, commissioning Walker and his group? Not getting sufficient files, misunderstanding Shephard's role? Decision to go to Thailand, the official and his getting the helicopter, flying, the confrontation, the final rescue?

6. Walker and his assistant, the brutal mission in central America, the young man unable to kill the woman, Walker's brutality? Leading the mission, cutting off the phone from Washington? His vengeance, the, background of his killing during the war? Shephard trying to get a court martial? The mission, the destroying of his group, confrontation with the Vietnamese? His assistant and his death, leaving the wounded man to die? The young man and his inability to kill? The confrontation with Shepard, the fight, his death?

7. The members of the group, American special squads, in central America, in Vietnam? The danger of ruthlessness?
The presentation of the Vietnamese, the hostile attitude of the screenplay, references to gooks, the popular image of Vietnamese and the Viet Cong during the war? Prolong the antagonism? The contrast with the sympathetic wife, her being tortured, the American men tortured - and brutality?

9. The value of this kind of film? Designed for what audience? For entertainment? For interpretation of the war?