FRIENDLY FIRE

US, 1979, 147 minutes, Colour.
Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, Dennis Erdman, Timothy Hutton.
Directed by David Greene.

Friendly Fire is one of the strangest phrases in the English language. It means that a service person has been killed by his or her own side. It is used as a euphemism for the accidents of war.

This film was released in the same year as Apocalypse Now, the beginning of the era when American cinema faced the issues of the Vietnam war, four years after the fall of Saigon. The breakthroughs came with Coming Home and The Deer Hunter.

This film was made for television and features the very popular comedian Carol Burnett who, with Ned Beatty as her husband, is informed about the death of their eldest son in Vietnam. However, as they try to get to the truth of what happened, they find that government officers are not particularly interested and they get entangled with the red tape.

Carol Burnett shows that she was a fine dramatic actress as well as an excellent comedian. Ned Beatty is always a strong screen presence. Timothy Hutton, a year before winning his Oscar for Ordinary People, portrays the younger son of the family, a silent and grieving son. Sam Waterston is also in the cast as a journalist who tries to help the family find out the truth as well as getting caught up in the red tape.

The film was directed by David Greene who had an almost fifty-year career, mainly in television but who during the 1970s made a number of feature films including Godspell and Gray Lady Down.

1. The impact of the Vietnam war on Americans? World opinion? The involvement of America? middle America and its families? Their presuppositions about their country, its history, loyalty, supremacy? The nature of patriotism and its test by the war? The truth about the war - in the 60s, 1970? The late 70s when so many films about Vietnam were made? The experience of the aftermath? The families suffering losses? The repercussions of the veterans' return? The necessity of films like this in the late 1970s?

2. The impact of the film as a telemovie: length, intentions, the audience aimed at, the type of response demanded? Emotional? Understanding? Protest? The skill in re-creating a mood, showing a period, establishing situations and characters? Audience involvement? The quality of this telemovie for home viewing?

3. The title and its ironies? The explanation of friendly fire as a technical term for death in the war situation? The horror of its reality? Its indication of complex themes about the war? A euphemism about the war? The film portraying the euphemism, the cover-ups, the truth, the consequences?

4. The structure of the film: the initial dedication and indication that the film portrayed a true story? The presentation of the home life of Middle America, the quality of family life, presuppositions, relationships, work, education, heritage? Iowa, the background of the Indian wars and the reminiscences about the history of the state? Michael portrayed within this situation? His leaving it? The middle Americans and their values? the influence of. for example, Catholicism? The collage of the letters from Michael? The seasons and their passing? The impact of the war and its remoteness? The reality of death? The beginning of the mishaps, the cover-ups, the protests? The obsession of the parents, the book, the visits, the truth? There being no end to the story? The repercussions after three hours of the fact that it was a true story? The authors contributing to the film?

5. The importance of the initial sequences of family life, heritage, sense of belonging, strength of family bonds? The belief in the war? The call-up, young men going to war ? the emotional and unemotional farewells e.g. no tears? The sense of duty and patriotism, no questions asked? Grief? The father driving his son to war? The gradual change, endurance, the relentlessness of the suffering, the obsession to cover the truth? Were the family representative of Middle America? The repercussions of the war on Middle American family life?

6. The central performance of Carol Burnett and her presence in the film? The ordinary Middle American wife? Love for her son. bringing up her family, home values, Christian values etc.? The preparation for Michael's going, the farewell? The letters, no tears? Immediately writing things down, the phone calls, the visits, the advertisements? Her son's death becoming a cause? For herself, for the family, for mothers in similar situations? Going to Washington and protesting? The rest of the family and their reaction, John, the wedding? Officialdom? The importance of the writer investigating the truth? His coming to live with the family, taping the interviews etc.? The visit, the tears? The lack of results and the changing emotional reaction of the family to the writer? The final reconciliation and the hand reaching out? The intensity of Carol Burnett's performance, strength, obsession? importance of this kind of image at the end of the 70s for the American home audience?

7. Jean, work, the farm, death, softness, family, grief? Acting on the mother? Joining, supporting, arguing?

8. The picture of the author: in himself, the background of the publishing world. tapes? His living, learning, growing in sympathy? Part of the family? The importance of the interviews? Piecing together the material? The possibility of coming to the truth?

9. The importance of keeping the flashback about the incident in Vietnam

10. The presentation of the military officials? Death, bodies, wounds? Shipping back of bodies? Burials? Spokesmen and their questions? The letter to President Nixon and the envelope being returned? The witnesses? The truth?

11. Individuals and letters? The variety of families visited? The black man and the visit? The aftermath of the experience for the other men?

12. The visit to Kentucky, ability and inability to communicate? The awkwardness of the situation?

13. The daughters, the bonds, the protest? The repercussions for the family? The wedding?

14. John and the effect of the experience, being at home, tired, angry? Going away? What happened to him? Need it have happened? A casualty of the war?

15. The change, waking up, friends, avoiding issues, changing? Unresolved anger? The ending?

16. The experience jolting the audience as it did the family? The dramatic impact of this kind of telemovie involving audiences over a period of hours? The emotional effect? The understanding for re-assessing the American experience because of Vietnam?