Huellas

Transporting the corpse of a fallen comrade by train, a Vietnam War sergeant is haunted by battlefield memories with his anguish exasperated by none of the other passengers being interested in the war and looking down upon him for serving. Made only two years after end of the Vietnam War, 'Tracks' is one of the earliest films to deal with the disillusionment of soldiers fighting an unpopular war. Dennis Hopper is effective and the lead role and the way his ride gradually turns from friendly and joyous (with a love interest no less) to nightmarish (blurring the lines between fantasy and reality) nicely captures this disillusionment. Clocking in at around 90 minutes, the film sometimes feels on the long side since 90% of it is set on the train with mostly dialogue-heavy scenes, but there is lots to like in the natural-sounding conversations that occur between the passengers on topics as diverse as eating chicken skin to chess tactics. The double meaning of the title is especially awesome, with it left open as to whether it refers to train tracks or the World War II music tracks that Hopper keeps playing on his portable cassette player in a futile attempt to convince himself that his war is as honorable as World War II. Some have been critical of the film's ending and the post-train scenes are certainly nowhere near as intense as the train ones, but this is a compelling tale overall of coming home.

I watched this film based on the jacket synopsis, the same one that is surprising repeated here on IMdb, about a train journey and flashbacks. There are no actual flashbacks in this film, although maybe some of the characters on the train are flashbacks in and of themselves.

That is the basic trouble with this film, it is impossible to work out what is real and what is not, Dennis Hopper's character is so tightly wound he is ultimately completely closed to the viewer. There is no intimacy here, no insight into the characters (any of them) or the point of the film as a whole.

And the ending makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and comes out of nowhere.

That said I was fascinated by the film and did watch till the end, hoping to finally make sense of it all. I then watched it a second time, as I am aware it is easy to misunderstand a complex film in one screening. But Alas even after my third viewing i was left as lost and unconnected to the film as I had been previously.

I think this film offers us a promise, one we are surprised not to have fulfilled. But ultimately it lets us down.

Viet-Nam! Yep, this is one weird, strange, bizarre, and haunting train ride. A train ride back from Nam......A train ride back home.....a train ride to doom! An outstanding performance by Dennis Hopper; his best. Playing a U.S. Army Sargent escorting a dead friend's coffin back home for burial, Hopper goes through a journey of self-reflection. With a haunting sound-track of popular World War II songs as a backdrop, it's a train ride to doom. It's a symbolic ride of happiness, humor, friendship, lust, love, hate, despair, guilt, betrayal, and death; America's journey through the Viet-Nam War years. It's not an easy movie to watch and to younger viewers it most likely will make little or no sense, but it's a truly outstanding motion picture. The ending is one of the most shocking and surprising in film history. Tracks is fantastic.

Much has been written about Dennis Hopper's off screen "adventures" during his exile from mainstream Hollywood in the 1970s, but the wild stories of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll overshadow the fact that when he WAS allowed in front of a camera he almost always gave brave, and emotionally open performances. The little seen 'Tracks' is a case in point.

Hopper plays a soldier from Vietnam on a mission to escort the coffin of a fellow soldier back to the United States. He does this by traveling by train, hence the title. While on the journey he interacts with the other passengers, who include a mysterious hipster (Dean Stockwell), and a beautiful young college student (Taryn Power). He is smitten by the young girl, and wrestling with his shyness and uncertainty, attempts to develop a relationship with her. He is torn between his desire, his duty, the memories of the war, and of his childhood, and finds himself walking the line between sanity and madness. He must battle his demons and fight against hallucinations that plague him.

'Tracks' features many fine, naturalistic performances from the supporting cast. The dialogue as a whole feels improvised, and Hopper particularly excels at this. Stockwell also impresses, and the few scenes between the two are fresh and memorable. 'Tracks' is a strong example of intelligent, uncliched 1970s film making, and should appeal to fans of Wenders 'The American Friend' (another strong Hopper role from this period), 'The King Of Marvin Gardens', 'Fingers', 'Scarecrow', 'The Last Detail', and other unfairly neglected character studies from this exciting era. This movie has been overlooked for too long! It's time to rescue it from obscurity.

Dennis Hopper is an actor that I am almost ashamed to admit I like but he is. This is a fine film and one of his best performances. You can tell he is stoned throughout much of the film but he still delivers playing a tormented man. This was one of the first Hollywood films to deal with Vietnam and one of the best. Hopper sears the screen as the man who cannot let go of the hell of war. I liked the WWII songs they play in the film like "Were Gonna Have To Slap a Dirty Little Jap" and "Theyll be a hot time in the town of Berlin". Henry Jaglom is a real genius of a director and I think this is his best film. It has never been shown on Tv as far as I know and it is a real loss. Rent and and be amazed.