L'amour n'est pas un jeu

If you were to pick out one River Phoenix film from his cannon of films, to show to someone unfamiliar to his movies, this would be it. It is quite simply a wonderful performance. Although this received an almost non existant cinema release, the magic of this movie will continue for future generations through word of mouth, as I have found, when people discover it, they just want to go out and tell people to watch it! The ending is perfect and says so much more than a thousand words ever could.

Dogfight captures the feelings of the mid to late 1960's in San Francisco. It accurately shows the characteristics of young U.S. Marines destined for Vietnam. They are insensitive and cruel to the young women they invite to the 'Dogfight' because of their youth and the situation they find themselves in as G.I.'s. Being in the Air Force during this period I could relate to their crudeness as a posture taken by some young men as a defense against their environment. Being insensitive was a way to deal with their situation over which they had little control. The movie also accurately portrayed how young G.I.'s bond with other young guys who in civilian life they might not have bothered to befriend.

The love story involves a girl invited to the 'Dogfight' (a contest to see who could bring the ugliest girl) and the young Marine who brings her. She breaks through his shell of indifference and they become friends and lovers.

Lilly Taylor and River Phoenix are terrific. Their characters ring true and my wife and I cared very much about what happened to them.

Phoenix's return to S.F. after his tour in Vietnam was just as I experienced it. Although I was not returning from overseas when I returned the Bay Area in 1969, I discovered that the San Francisco of 1965 was totally gone and replaced with a foreign land.

'Dogfight' is accurately nostalgic for those of my generation and perhaps older. Younger viewers get to enjoy a truly good love story. They also get a glimpse of life as a young G.I. during that uniquely explosive period of change and social upheaval in America during the middle to late 1960's.

I've seen it a million times, and it will always be one of my favorites. But what always struck me about this film is the silence - it opens very quietly, with no music and only muffled voices of the passengers on a bus. Our first views of the main character Eddie are of him sitting alone on a bus and at a truck stop. It is a perfect way to introduce a character that changes so much from beginning to end. In fact, the film starts at the end, and we are allowed to see the past when Eddie reminisces all that happened to him before he left for Okinawa. The movie has a quiet subtle way about it all the way through. There are tender, heartbreaking moments, but also moments that will have you laugh hysterically. Among the many issues the film addresses are honesty, friendship, forgiveness, war, and love. Someone said this is not a very romantic film, and I agree. It is not romantic in the way that most romances are. It is a decidely un-Hollywood approach to love, which is what makes it so memorable. The first kisses are not beautiful and elegant. They are awkward and uncertain in the most realistic way. They are not backed by melodramatic music, but rather the music that those characters would have really heard in their own ears. The poetry of it is that it ends the same way it began - in the quietest way possible, showing that for the two characters words are not needed.

I went to see this film because I am a River Phoenix fan, but when Ms.

Taylor appeared on the screen my breath was taken away. Never before

have I witnessed a more likable charater as well as an incredibly

sincere performance by such a young actress. I also was curious as to how anyone could tell a story about the Vietnam

war in a new way. Bob Comfort, the screenwriter is a genius as is Nancy

Savoca, the director. The closing scene is brilliant in its use of silence and facial

expressions. The war footage is minimal but poignant. This is a perfect

film and one of the best films eve

On the day my friends and I learned of River Phoenix's unfortunate death, we planned to have a movie marathon that weekend. Apparently other people on campus had the same idea. By the time we got to the video store, all of the better known movies (Stand by Me, Mosquito Coast, My Own Private Idaho) had already gone. Someone happened upon Dogfight, of which none of us had ever heard. We decided to give it a shot.

What a fabulous movie! The "first kiss" scene will probably never have an equal: most movies show a first kiss as a passionate, perfect moment rather than an awkward and tense one.