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December, 1986 at the Biograph Theater in Chicago, I had the first movie-going experience that jarred me to the core. I’d had thrilling moments in a movie house where some adventure had taken me to new worlds or a comedy had left with sides aching from laughter...
1 https://twitter.com/kristypuchko/status/1334573961531764745
1 https://twitter.com/kristypuchko/status/1334573961531764745
but this movie cut deeper - down to the bloody bone.
I grew up in a flag-waving, Pledge-spouting, hat-removing part of our country. At every parade, I stood at attention as honored veterans paraded past. The WWII generation were becoming frail, but still heads were held high
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I grew up in a flag-waving, Pledge-spouting, hat-removing part of our country. At every parade, I stood at attention as honored veterans paraded past. The WWII generation were becoming frail, but still heads were held high
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The Korean vets (of which my daddy was one) were close behind, filled with pride. It was the Vietnam vets who puzzled me; their eyes seemed haunted. Maybe it was because the horrors they suffered were fresher or because society did not treat them with the same sense of...
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...honor earlier generations received. I just knew that, when the old men gathered on the porch of my grandpap’s store, reliving war glories, those couple of young Nam guys were usually close-lipped. I remember one man excusing himself once when he got teary eyed.
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. I noticed him sitting in his truck in the parking lot, crying.
I was only months removed from Kentucky as I sat in The Biograph watching PLATOON. I’m not sure if it was an organized veterans group or coincidence, but there were several Vietnam veterans in the theater.
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I was only months removed from Kentucky as I sat in The Biograph watching PLATOON. I’m not sure if it was an organized veterans group or coincidence, but there were several Vietnam veterans in the theater.
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That film was like a visceral punch to the gut. One viewer yelled out at the screen a couple of times. There were numerous moments when the entire audience gasped as one. A gut punch, indeed.
Afterward, you could hear many audience members bawling — scarred, hardened men...
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Afterward, you could hear many audience members bawling — scarred, hardened men...
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bawling. As I walked out, I saw a man sitting two rows behind with his knees drawn to his chest, slightly rocking, lost in some past terror.
Such is the power of a story well-told; such is the power of shared communal experience; such are The Movies.
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Such is the power of a story well-told; such is the power of shared communal experience; such are The Movies.
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No matter how awesome your home entertainment system is, you don’t get that sitting in your house. I miss it.
8fin
8fin
