Plot summary (with spoilers): In a small town in West Pennsylvania, six friends gather with their families to marry off one of their own. Steven is getting married to Angela tonight, and is going to have a lavish Russian wedding that the whole town seems to be involved in. But first Steven and his pals Michael, Nick, Stanley, John, and Axle head off to the bar after work for a final bout of drinking before the big event. They share a warm and easy camaraderie that comes with years of friendship. They start to play pool, down shots, talk excitedly of their impeding military service in Vietnam. Well, that's just for the lucky three of them; Michael, Nick, and Steven. The other three stand on the opposite side, what with their knee injuries and obesity and what not. The song "You're Just Too Good To Be True" comes on the jukebox and everyone sings loudly and joyously, because this moment, this day, is exactly that. Then Steven's future mother-in-law comes in and grabs him by the ear and hits him with a rolling pin and drags him out and the other guys sing louder.
One of the bridesmaids is Linda, she's exquisitely beautiful and also Nick's girlfriend. She lives at home with her drunken father, who belts her across the face when she tries to help him into bed.
She goes to Nick and Michael's apartment, and asks Nick if she can live there while he and Michael are away in Vietnam. Nick says of course, hugs her tight, Michael looks on inscrutably.
The wedding is a raucous wild time with a live band, boisterous Russian dancing (the kind with endless leg squats) and lots and lots of booze. Everyone is in a beautiful, drunken frenzy. You know. You've been there. It's so great, isn't it?
Throughout the reception, Michael and Linda exchange looks of Unrequited Longing while Nick's back is turned. They even dance a bit, but are broken apart by Stanley and his date. Then Stanley's date dances with another dude who grabs her ass. Stanley thinks that's disrespectful so he...punches his girlfriend in the face. Yeah. The other dude splits and the girl stands up, points to her cheek and pouts theatrically and he kisses her boo-boo. A pox on them both. Then the boys see a genuine Vietnam vet at the bar and pepper him with questions, bragging a little, wanting to be accepted into his club, we're shipping out in a few days, what's it like? The vet sneers, stares straight ahead. Fuck it, he says.
Michael's slipped through the Not Actually Fun Anymore alcohol rabbit hole and is fully on the other side. He drunkenly slurs at the vet's perceived disrespect and tries to start a fight with him, while the others hold him back. "Fuck it" Michael repeats drunkenly, mockingly. "Fuck it!" Makes it into a toast. Drinks some more.
Finally, Steven and Angela cut the cake and drink wine from connected goblets, as per tradition, if they drink it all without spilling a drop they'll have good luck in their marriage. No one sees the drop that ruins Angela's white dress.
Steven and Angela drive off in their car, and Michael runs along side them, stripping naked, too drunk to care. Nick chases after him and after awhile, they sit on the ground and Nick makes Michael promise that no matter what, he'll never leave Nick "over there".
The next morning, the guys minus Steven go hunting. Michael expouses his theory that a good hunter kills a deer in "one shot". In the woods that day, he does exactly that, sneaking up on a deer and taking it down. The boys strap it to the hood of their car and drive back home, stopping at the local pub to celebrate. They're the only ones there. Then Axle sits down at the piano and begins to play a beautiful melancholy song. The others listen serenely, caught up in the moment.
And then we're in the middle of Vietnam. Some North Vietnamese are raiding a village, killing women and children. Michael, covered in soot has been playing dead. He suddenly leaps up with a flame thrower and burns one of the Viet Cong alive. Reinforcements arrive, including Steven and Nick. And then just like in a nightmare, we're plunged somewhere else. Michael, Steven, Nick, and some other American and South Vietnamese soldiers are caught, imprisoned in a barbwire cage in about four feet of water. Rats crawl over them impunity. Above the men is a small hut where about half a dozen Viet Cong with guns are forcing their prey to play Russian Roulette. Two South Vietnamese men are "playing" the game, as Michael and the others watch through the slats in their prison ceiling. Steven begins to completely crack up, screaming and making guttural animal noises, and Michael grabs him, holds him, whispers in his ear, does what he can. This works until they hear the shot above them. One prisoner is dead, and the other is put back in the cage. Now, Michael and Steven are playing the game. Steven can't do it. Michael says he must, or they'll kill him. Micheal pulls the trigger. The gun clicks. It's Steven's turn. He holds the gun at his temple, but then at the last second moves it at an angle. It blows a hole in the hut's roof. "You did it, Steven" Michael says proudly. But the Viet Cong aren't impressed and throw him into the penalty box, a completely submerged bamboo cage where dead soldiers are floating. Steven can barely keep his head above the surface and is fading fast. Michael goes back down below while others play. He concocts a plan with Nick; they play the game and insist on three bullets instead of one. Then they'll each play one round and then shoot their captors with the remaining bullets. Nick doesn't know if he can do it, but they have no choice. They play again. Nick fires at his own temple, it clicks. Michael does the same, screaming in fear and rage as he does so. Then he fires at the main Viet Cong and two others. There's a flurry of Michael Bay style editing here where we can't tell what's going on as Michael and Nick overpower and take out all six men, because of course that's impossible. They stagger over to Steven and free him from his cage, then pretty rudely ignore the rest of the prisoners. They grab onto a tree branch and start floating down the river, seeking to eventually float to American's side of the line. An American chopper spots them and hovers nearby. They float into a rickety old wooden bridge and climb onto it. The chopper can get close to them and are able to boost Nick up and get him on board. Michael and Steven grab onto the undercarriage part and dangle helplessly and the chopper takes off. They try desperately to pull themselves up, but aren't strong enough. Finally, Steven lets go and falls back into the river and Michael follows him down. Michael pulls Steven out of the river; both of his legs are broken and smashed to hell. He puts Steven on his back and begins resolutely marching them back to safety. Eventually, they reach an American camp where Micheal puts Steven on a medical truck just as it drives off.
Nick recovers in a VA hospital in Saigon. He believes his friends are dead, and is unable to answer any questions about who he is. He tries to call Linda, but hangs up the phone before he can. Sometime later, he wanders the streets of Saigon and encounters an alleyway where a French guy is tossing dead bodies in a pile. The guy tells Nick they're players in a most unusual game. Nick is disgusted, says he's not interested, is interested. He follows the man back inside a building where people are betting on the outcomes of "professional" Russian Roulette matches, sponsored by Home Depot. Michael's there in the crowd, he sees Nick. Nick grabs the gun and pulls the trigger at one of the players. It clicks. Then he pulls the trigger at his own temple, and it clicks again. He runs away, and several members of the crowd pursue him. Michael does as well, but Nick doesn't see or hear him.
Eventually Michael goes back home to PA. He avoids the surprise party everyone has planned for him and hides out a hotel until the next morning when he goes to see Linda. They discuss the fact that Nick is AWOL. Linda laments that he never even called her. Michael walks her to work, she's desperate for him to take her in his arms, and he's desperate for that too, but they know they can't. The guys reveal that Steven's alive. He's at a VA hospital and down to one working limb, his right arm. Michael calls him, and says "how're you doing" and when Steven with answers with a totally transparent "great", my eyes get a little misty. Steven abruptly hangs up on Michael when the conversation gets too painful.
He greets the other guys but now Michael can't talk to them. They go deer hunting, but when an opportunity presents itself in the form of a beautiful slow-moving buck, Michael can't bring himself to shoot it.
Michael goes to the hospital to take Steven home, but Steven doesn't want to go. He reveals that someone from Saigon has been sending him money every week and Michael knows it must be Nick. He doesn't want to leave him over there.
He flies back to Saigon and finds the Frenchman and pays him thousands of dollars to be in the game as a player. Turns out the American Nick is a famous player, now. Michael insists that they play. Before the game begins, Michael pleads with Nick to leave with him now, but there's no recognition in Nick's eyes, and there are track marks up and down his arm. They play one round. Nick fires the gun. No bullet. It's Michael's turn. Do you really want me to do this, do you? Nick doesn't react. So Michael fires, and even though I'm not looking at the screen at this point, I hear the telltale safe "click" and exhale. Suddenly, recognition dawn's in Nick's eyes. He stares at Michael. Michael smiles. Nick?
One shot?
Yes Nick, one shot.
Nick fires. The shot explodes his skull and he falls forward. Michael screams, grabs his head and weeps.
After Nick's funeral, Michael, Steven, Stanley, Linda, Angela, Axle, and John head back to Linda and Michael's apartment. John begins humming "God Bless America" and the others join in, singing along. Fuck it.
Review: But Lord, this was an ambitious flick. So many great set pieces, beautiful landscapes and cinematography. There's so much to love here. The first act with the wedding was so real and so much fun, it was completely believable and practically a movie in its own right. The chemistry that all six men had together was totally real and enhanced the movie and also made it all the more heartbreaking when Michael returned in the second half and no longer could really interact with the three who didn't go. Everyone is great acting-wise, but DeNiro in particular hits it out of the park. I had heard about the nail-biting Russian Roulette scene, and thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't, really. The intensity of that whole sequence was something I'm not sure I've ever seen equaled in a movie before. I was tearing up watching it, feeling totally helpless and unable to turn away. DiNero and Walken really sold it, and John Savage as Steven did, too. Odd that his career didn't take off like the other two's did.
The jump cut into Vietnam with no explanation was freaking brilliant. The idea I believe was to replicate a living nightmare, and a nightmare has no sense of linear time, and pushes you into the middle of the action without warning.
I feel like I can't say this movie was perfect, though. Like I already said, I knew the Russian Roulette scene was coming, but what I didn't know was that it was going to be the main plotline for the second half of the movie. I thought the idea that Nick was somehow a champion Russian Roulette player, winning often enough to be sending money to Steven for weeks and weeks, possibly months, was too impossible to believe. It think the one scene with the forced Russian Roulette was great and should've stood alone. Showing it over and over again reduces its power. It's also just...well, bizarre. If the movie is trying to be the seminal Vietnam movie, why pick an event that most, maybe even all, Vietnam vets didn't experience and can't identify with? I understand its a metaphor; a pointless and destructive game that represents a pointless and destructive war, but in my view a metaphor only works like that if is used sparingly and doesn't become a major plot point. Nick should've been involved in some other highly illegal and dangerous pursuits, something that was more grounded in reality.
And I'm not sure what to make of the final scene and the final song. They all sing "God Bless America" with total sincerity. But it's gotta be ironic, right? I just can't say for sure. Maybe its supposed to be vague.
But really, I don't wish to mislead anyone. I loved this movie. It was great. My problems with it are minor, and I'm very glad I saw it.
Stars: Four and a half out of five.
Next, two movies about the mean, gritty streets of New York: "Taxi Driver" and then "West Side Story".
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