Gardens of Stone

It's the military funeral of Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney) as he recounts his journey. It returns to Jackie's first day at Fort Myer which provides soldiers for Arlington National Cemetery and he's gungho to fight in Vietnam. He's the son of a friend of Sgt. Clell Hazard (James Caan) who tries to talk him out of Vietnam. He helps screw-up Wildman (Casey Siemaszko) from platoon Sgt. Flanagan (Laurence Fishburne). Sergeant Major Goody Nelson (James Earl Jones) and wife Betty Rae set up Hazard with anti-war Washington Post reporter Samantha Davis (Anjelica Huston). Pete Deveber (Elias Koteas) is a clerk and Homer Thomas (Dean Stockwell) is the commander. Jackie marries Rachel Feld (Mary Stuart Masterson), the daughter of a colonel.

Francis Ford Coppola revisits Vietnam with something less epic and more traditional. There are great actors. The thing I remember most is the story of the Vietcons fighting helicopters with arrows. This is certainly not as iconic as Apocalypse Now. It doesn't mean that it's not a worthwhile watch. For a war movie, this surprisingly has little war action. That's probably what throws most people off.

In the late 60s, a cynical Korean vet (James Caan) would rather be training soldiers for Vietnam in Georgia, but instead he's stuck at Arlington National Cemetery playing what he calls "toy soldier" with his colleagues (James Earl Jones, etc.). When an old buddy's gung-ho son shows up (D. B. Sweeney), he settles for trying to keep him from becoming another statistic in The 'Nam. Anjelica Huston plays his potential girlfriend and Mary Stuart Masterson the greenhorn's girl.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on the 1983 novel, "Gardens of Stone" (1987) is a worthy companion piece to all those Vietnam War flicks of the 70s-90s as it chronicles what was happening on the home front. It's a war drama, but not a war action film, yet not a dull, lifeless drama (more on this in a moment).

Caan and Jones have good chemistry as old Army buds and Sweeney works well as the "new kid" (he looks like a young Ben Affleck when he broke out ten years later). Meanwhile Mary Stuart Masterson was never more beautiful.

In ways the movie's reminiscent of Eastwood's "Heartbreak Ridge" (1986) with its spunkiness and a smidgen of comedy (which I wasn't anticipating), although don't expect the cartoonish character of Cpl. Stitch Jones (Mario Van Peebles). In other words, the proceedings aren't all dour. Yet there are heavy, moving parts given the topic. Coppola contrasts the beginning scene and ending scene. They're the same sequence, but it holds more weight the second time around for reasons you'll discover.

I was entertained, amused and moved. It's a necessary piece of the puzzle in understanding the era of the Vietnam War. While it's not on the level of greatness of Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979) or "Forrest Gump" (1994), it's still a solid Coppola movie with a little sloppiness here and there. For instance, the war games episode could've been done more coherently and entertainingly, as was done in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967). But time means money in cinema and they had a deadline.

I've heard people complain about how this or that wasn't technically accurate or realistic, but filmmakers aren't interested in being 100% true-to-life. If they were, no one would go see their flicks. Let me put it this way, movies are real-life with the boring parts taken out, as well as exaggerations thrown in. Take "Platoon" (1986), for example. Do ya really think everything that took place in that movie happened to ONE platoon in real life? Of course not. Oliver Stone simply took many different highlights of the 'Nam experience and condensed them into one 2-hour tale of a single platoon.

The notable cast also includes the likes of Dean Stockwell, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne, Dick Anthony Williams and Elias Koteas. Bottoms and Fishburne of course worked previously with Coppola on "Apocalypse Now."

Before shooting commenced, Francis' 23 year-old son, Gian-Carlo Coppola, was tragically killed in a speedboat accident in May, 1986. The reckless driver of the boat was Griffin O'Neal (Ryan's son), who was slated to play the role given to Elias Koteas.

The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot at Fort Myer & Arlington National Cemetery and nearby Washington DC.

GRADE: B.

My oldest son spent 8 years in the Old Guard Delta Company from 1984-1992. He was fortunate to be ask to play the part of the guidon bearer ( the black Delta Company Flag ) in the movie, and also to help instruct the actors in how to dress, stand, march ect. The movie was a masterpiece that covers just how it was for troops state side while the war was raging in Asia . My son said " Coppola did a superb job of following military protocol to make the film as real as possible " The story line is so right on. Coppola has another winner in my books. I thought the movie was very moving, lacking in nothing .

It was tragic that Coppola's son was killed in a boating accident while out with Ryan Oneal's son during the making of this excellent movie.

As you can tell I'm not a professional writer, but I just had to say something about how good this film is

Being a former drill instructor , I can testify to the fine portrayal of the lead character by Mr. Caan . The entire film is an excellent depiction of the dedicated military man , without the usual condemnation of the military in general , so often found in films made since the Viet Nam conflict . The acting , in general , is superb , making the characters believable and the story touching . It is certainly one of Mr. Caan's finest roles and he is accompanied by a terrific cast who contribute magnificently to the overall effectiveness of the story telling . I have seen this film a number of times and will continue to do so on a periodic basis , because of the subject matter and the acting in it. It is highly recommended !!!

This is a very underrated movie and belongs up there with some of Francis Ford Coppola's best movies. The movie has a great cast that includes James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones, Dean Stockwell and several more people. Caan plays a solider who fought in Korea and Vietnam but is now in charge of Arlington national Cemetery and wants to train young soldiers going into Vietnam but is turned down. Huston is Caan's girlfriend and Jones is his friend who fought with him in Vietnam and now serves with him. Stockwell is the man in charge and D.B. Sweeney is a young soldier who can't wait to get to Vietnam. It's a really great movie that is one of Coppola's best films.