Tribes

I saw this movie when it came out 35 years ago (has it really been that long?). Most memorable scene was the one in which free spirit hippie Jan-Michael Vincent was forced to hold up two full buckets of water (one in each hand) shoulder high as punishment by taskmaster Darrin McGavin. Vincent turned the tables by meditating on a carefree afternoon spent frolicking on a sun-dappled hillside with a comely young miss. His blissed-out state enabled him to maintain the buckets aloft indefinitely. This naturally drove the by-the-book McGavin to distraction. Enjoyed the culture clash theme. Exemplary writing, directing, and especially acting (McGavin superb as the grizzled DI, and Vincent at his charismatic best).

As an ex-Marine, I was keenly interested in seeing this movie of the week rerun when it aired, I think at 2 am, but what the heck I was on night shift anyway.

First off, I liked it, I really liked it and not because it "took sides" because frankly I don't think it did. A VERY young Jan-Michael Vincent played the part of a spacy draftee quite well and Darren McGavin was his usual excellent self. Parts of the film were filmed at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) in San Diego, with real recruits going through drill training on the grinder. Even though it was filmed at the height of the Vietnam war, politics was left out of the film, but they did manage to show the conflict between the hippie and the more conventional recruits.

The best performance though was from Earl Holliman in my opinion. He played the hard-ass DI to the hilt and provided the strongest contrast to the hippie's live-and-let-live anarchy, even stronger than McGavin's character.

The movie didn't offer answers, nor did it preach about who was right and who wasn't (maybe that was the point anyway, nobody is really 100% "right" in any conflict).

I was a mere 12 years old when I first viewed this film back in 1970 and I loved it. It now reminds me of a future "Full Metal Jacket" without the profanity and violence that that film carried some 17 years later. All the performers, Vincent, McGavin and Holliman were simply all superb. Being a retired military man now, I can highly appreciate military films and "Tribes" will always be amongst those that stand out. This was one truly superb film and I highly recommend it. Although Vincent went on to become a big star in major motion pictures and the TV series "Airwolf", it was shameful that his career was cut short due to his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Nevertheless, this film will always be a memorable one for me indeed. It would be interesting to have this film come out on DVD with comments from all three leading actors and the director.

I am usually not a fan of war films or war-themed films, but this one was reely (I meant the spelling) good. It was a fine character study of opposites, with Darren McGavin and Jan-Michael Vincent in stand-out performances. One day I have to try the meditation tricks that Vincent's character uses to mentally take himself away from the unpleasantries he had to deal with at the boot camp.

On the note of the cast, can someone tell me where is Bud Cort in this film? He's listed as a 'draftee nerd,' but I don't see him. I am wondering if he has been mistaken for Danny Goldman, who was in a lot of Bud's early films ("M*A*S*H" and "The Strawberry Statement" come to mind), and if you didn't look well enough, could have been mistaken for him. (I made that mistake regarding one dramatic scene that takes place in the men's room at the barracks. I had to watch it twice to correct myself that it wasn't Bud Cort).

I am an Air Force officer. I appreciated this movie's adherence to depicting basic training in a fairly accurate light. Placed in the context of early 1970's America, "Tribes" strikes a realistic balance between "hippie culture" and military regimentation. I partly expected the movie to take a sappy turn, whereby the entire platoon converted to flower-power and refused to fight. Thankfully, the ending is far more original, although saddening.

Jan-Michael Vincent acted superbly. Besides the classic 1980s Airwolf TV series, I was never really impressed by his acting ability, until now. Darren McGavin of "The Christmas Story" fame was excellent also, and the two interacted well on screen.

This movie is a fun Saturday afternoon commentary on the tension between the desensitization of military training and the desire to preserve individual values. I voted a 9 out of 10.

Richard Bejtlich