FTA

In 1971,a troop of anti Vietnam war protesters,led by Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland toured with an anti war review that they called 'F.T.A.',which could either mean free the Army (or even f**k the Army,depending). They traveled to military bases within the Pacific Rim,where they were welcomed by a then,rising tide of anti war activists in the Military. Hours of footage was filmed & assembled into the documentary film that was briefly released in 1972 as 'F.T.A.'. The week that the film was released by American International Films,Fonda made a controversial trip to South East Asia, and after one scant week,the film was pulled from distribution & was never heard from,again (rumour has it that the Nixon Administration had a lot to do with the film being yanked). Besides the afore mentioned Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland (who just barely two years earlier acted in the penultimate anti war film,Robert Altman's 'M*A*S*H'),the performances also included the likes of folk singer,Holly Near,and even Peter Boyle (an unknown at the time who would gain fame a couple of years later in Mel Brooks''Young Frankenstein'). Besides the performance footage,we are also treated to interviews with members of the military who had their wits end of the senseless violence & destruction that was the American intervention in South East Asia,which in addition to Vietnam,also included Cambodia (some of the enlisted men would end up in the documentary film, 'Winter Soldiers'). All was not always rosy. We get to see a performance of F.T.A. being disrupted by a couple of pro war,right wing soldiers,voicing their disfavour of the whole production (they were peacefully shown the way out). Women's rights advocate,Francine Parker directs the film (she only directed one other project:an episode of 'Cagney & Lacey'). At times, the film's pacing starts to slack a bit,but doesn't manage to lessen the film's message at all. Well worth checking out if you're an advocate for peace,anti war activist,historical buff,or fancier of the documentary genre. Spoken (mostly)in English,and Okenowian,Tagalog & Japanese with English subtitles. Rated 'R' by the MPAA,this film has some outbursts of strong language & some disturbing images that the troupe got to see while visiting the Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial sites,while on tour in Japan

Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland headline an anti-war tour around military establishments. In the opening, Jane claims that there is a large contingent of military personnel opposed to the war. This is their response to the Bob Hope patriotism and pro-war USO tours. The film was pulled quickly after Jane's Hanoi visit and most copies destroyed. This is a very compelling time capsule. The anti-war movement can be portrayed as lamb to the slaughter. In this case, this group is quite confrontational. I am especially struck by the lyrics from the Okinawa singing group. This is unapologetically anti-Americanism. Some of this goes over the line for me but I didn't live through that time. As a film, it's a little rough technically at times. The filmmaking is not the best but that is not the most important.

This is like those old CSO shows during world War II with Bob hope and the Andrews Sisters.

Trade Europe for Viet Nam and bring in Fonda, Sutherland, and Boyle and there's the diff.

While the social commentary between the acts was clearly against the war, no soldiers were catching heat for it. It was made clear that they deserved pity too. Despite Fonda's semi-traitorous politics, she never really was angry at the common men. It's the brass and the suits that catch it here.

And it's amusing seeing Donald Sutherland combine his 'Hawkeye' character from M*A*S*H and "Oddball" from Kelly's Heroes and throw in a dash of Ed Sullivan. He still sounds like he's got a mouth full of grits.

Rumors say that Peter Boyle's scenes were used against his will. But I'm not sure of the facts.

Hearts & Minds with humor. Worth a look...IF you can find it.

The point of viewing this film is not only to see the theatrical skits performed by young stars like Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, but to see those skits in context, filmed as they were performed on and near military bases around the world, to audiences of American troops, as the U.S. was in the midst of the Viet Nam war. Like most vaudeville, the skits were an excuse for political and social commentary, though some of them were funny and others were quite moving. The music was also excellent. What is most remarkable in the film, though, are the interviews with soldiers on active duty in wartime, and the camera pans of vast crowds of soldiers watching the stage performance avidly. It brings home the support that the peace movement had even with active duty troops in wartime. It's exceptionally difficult to get a copy of this film in the U.S., though there are some copies still in circulation in Europe. If you ever get a chance to see it, don't miss it--it's an important slice of U.S. history, long buried and forgotten. Today we remember (falsely) that peaceniks spat upon veterans. This gives the lie to that urban myth. In fact, the peace movement and veterans were often strongly aligned, as both groups were dedicated to "supporting the troops" by bringing them home.

So after a year of enduring a "long wait" listing on Netflix, I finally got FTA in the mail yesterday and just watched it on DVD. A chronicle of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland's travails through the Pacific Rim with their fellow players for the title tour during 1971, we not only see them performing their skits and songs, we also see the disillusioned soldiers commenting on how they don't really understand or like the orders they're having to take during the then-current events of the Vietnam War. I was especially fascinated by the Philippines segment as both of my parents are from there and had left it long before that time. I liked many of the songs that were performed. The skits, not as much, but there were some amusing ones like Sutherland and a fellow player's play-by-play commentary of war as if they're at a football game! It seemed to drag near the end but still, I'm glad I watched FTA. Update: 10/5/14-There's a nice extra of Ms. Fonda talking about her experiences during the FTA tour. Well worth seeking on the disc.