Review of The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989) by Zach F — 14 Sep 2009

Though it's only about twenty years old, this gem is somewhat of an Easter egg for aficionados. But when I found it, I was downright exhilarated. Starring R. Lee Ermey (that's right, the foul-mouthed DI of Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket"), this calloused narrative is, minus a few dramatic imperfections, supremely unromantic, totally unpretentious and furiously wrought.

As opposed to most Vietnam films that push an agenda of one kind or another, one-hit-wonder Brian Trenchard-Smith coats the film with a waxy late-80s gleam that might only be compared fairly to an episode of China Beach, only bloodier of course.

And if you mate that aesthetic with "Hamburger Hill's" penchant for exploding bodies then you sort of get the picture. The formula is one most buffs would and should recognize on sight: January '68--the Tet Offensive--a lone outpost in the middle of the jungle--a band of American soldiers fending off wave-after-wave of enemy fighters.

Same old, same old Cowboys and Indians, circle-the-wagons type stuff right? Yet once you listen to Ermey's grizzled, if not somewhat corny at times, narration and absorb the mordant soldier's humor that runs throughout, you start to realize you're dealing with a whole different creature.

As Ermey's LRRP team whips up the troops of Firebase Gloria into fighting shape for the coming slaughter, the director's treatment of both sides of the war add up to uneasy but harshly pragmatic truths about the nature of combat in ways that don't try to surprise you with a political sucker-punch.

Whether you're left or right there will be moments that don't sit quite well with either camp and it is that on-the-ground, no bullshit immediacy that lends this relatively unknown flick the brute strength of a howitzer.

The action sequences are vicious and the hand-to-hand fights are lensed with perfect timing, but it's the two-fisted talk and the presence of these blue-collar warriors on either side of the wire that really makes up for the back-story cliches and some amateur acting.

Perhaps the best line of the movie? "This is Vietnam, you understand?! Even the girls got balls here!".