Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder

When I first saw this film I about fell out of my chair. Of all the films on Viet Nam, this one is the closest to my own experience during the war...I was trained as a medic, I was stationed near Tan Son Nhut, my unit was the same as the shoulder patch in the movie (USARV), and I worked closely with the orphanages in the Saigon area. The film was very accurate in costuming, the military lingo of the time, the depiction of the out-of-control black market, the lack of government support for the orphanages, the delayed booby trap of the hand grenade in the gas tank, and so on. I now have two copies of this film and there were about nine copies available on amazon.com the last time I checked. Only an independent co-production could have made such an accurate and controversial depiction of the rear area support environment of wartime Viet Nam. I know very few people, including Vietnam vets, who have seen this movie. The Philippines is an ideal place to shoot a Viet Nam film just as was Apocaplyse Now.

This movie is perhaps the most touching movie that I have ever seen. The first time I saw it was while serving in the military. Everyone was literally glued to the TV as they watched. I don't think there was a dry eye in the barracks at the end (but nobody would admit it!)

The power of the movie came from several strong plots that ran simultaneously... It was a love story, a war story, a story of suffering and a story of triumph. You can see, and feel the change as a loner, who cared only for himself, learns to care about, and love others... even to the point of risking his life for the orphans and nuns that he once viewed as irritants. I strongly recommend this movie.

When Seeing This Film At The Tender Age Of 10 I Knew What Death And Dieing Were About. I Just Didn't Understand The Premise Of War And Why Children Needed To Die During The Course Of It. Saw It Almost 8 Years Later And Understood. It's Possibly The Greatest Movie Ever Made And I Personally Believe It Was Robert Englund's Best Role. YES Even Better Than The Nightmare Man Himself. When I Met Mr. Englund I Was The Only Person To Ever Mention This Movie. His Face LIT UP! He Said To Me, "Wow! You're The First Person To Mention THAT Movie! I Thought It Was Forgotten! Mr Englund, I Said, That Movie Is Possibly One Of The Best Tearjerkers Ever. NO WAY It's Being Forgotten! He Signed My Magazine And Was Willing To Talk To Me For A Little While Longer Than Everybody Else. But Like I Said...GREATEST 80s MOVIE!

At a Saigon Air Base in 1967, an unorthodox young medic (Dennis Christopher), who sells morphine and military supplies on the black market, is reprimanded and eventually demoted to the mortuary; a no-nonsense female doctor (Susan Saint James) takes a liking to him and sweetly blackmails him into delivering rations to a gaggle of Vietnamese children living with the nuns in a bombed-out orphanage. US-Japan co-production from The Sam Goldwyn Company was a tough sell in 1982, except possibly to leftover fans of "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness". The kids are certainly cute learning math and splashing together in the wash bins, but when a jealous child accuses the medic of having more than a brotherly interest in a mute 12-year-old girl, the narrative suddenly takes an unpleasant turn (there's nothing improper going on, but the implication hangs like a black cloud). Paul G. Hensler's screenplay, "suggested by a true story" (which likely means most of it is fictionalized), has some humor, but mostly a lot of phony melodrama--it's TV on the big screen. James Whitmore Jr. Comes on too strong as Christopher's superior (he doesn't seem to have any priorities except persecuting this kid), and Christopher is too brash and movie-cagey for us to gain much respect for him. Saint James gives the film's best performance; she looks great and is completely convincing as a doctor, although her Katherine seems an unlikely romantic partner for Christopher's cut-up. The film isn't well-produced or well-directed (by Peter Werner, who has not one iota of visual style); but, for the knick-knack-paddy-whack crowd, it may have some appeal. *1/2 from ****

I saw this theatrically and was very taken with the realism. I served in Vietnam and this hit me much harder than Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter. It has much more heart., Anyone who calls this formulaic and doesn't say the same of Apocalypse Now isn't paying attention. West Side Story is formulaic, but when well performed that doesn't matter. The acting in this film was spot on across the board. Dennis Christopher's scenes with the kids were extremely heart felt. If you can this I can't recommend it highly enough.