THE HURT LOCKER, FINAL CUT, MARKETING CENSORSHIP, DIRECTOR’S VISION AND RELATED ISSUES

Very few directors have final cut. It’s great that Kathryn Bigelow protected her vision by demanding and receiving the coveted I Did It My Way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HURT LOCKER tensely depicts the heroism of a bomb squad and through it reveals our adrenaline fueled addiction to war. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s film must surely joins the ranks of Best Modern Combat Movies of all time. The first to set a standard was ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was a  ground-breaking addition, which should have won Best Picture. And contending at this year’s Oscars is INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino’s extraordinary alternative universe homage to World War Two movies. (See…Cinema can end wars.)

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However for each of the iconic titles there would be a dozen others that never got the attention they deserved. Feisty B movies that were taut, hard hitting, with a big look despite slender resources. Like THE SECRET INVASION, Roger Corman’s low budget GUNS OF NAVARONE/DIRTY DOZEN precursor shot in Yugoslavia. Or George Montgomery’s WARKILL shot in the Philippines, directed by Ferde Grofe Jr. No poster is available which makes me worry that the film may be lost. George Montgomery made several WW2 movies in the PI during the sixties. A lesser one was THE STEEL CLAW. We all have our lists of neglected gems. Of the 5 war themed movies I have made, my personal favorite is  THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA. Doesn’t hold a candle to HURT LOCKER, but I’m fond of it for the adventure of its shoot, the scale of it for $1.6M, and the things it has to say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Namely: wars are fought by brave, well intentioned people on both sides. Politicians always betray soldiers. But the principle theme of the picture - war and reconciliation - was subjected to marketing department censorship. My director’s cut - in the version currently available - was in fact a flashback between two bookends - set 15 years later. We see desperate boat people sighting land at last, one older man in particular. We hear R. Lee Ermey commence the story’s narration: “They won the war, but they sure as hell lost the peace…” We discover Lee, the now retired Sgt. Major Haffner, working at the UN Refugee Processing Centre at the Manila docks. We learn from his voice over as he surveys the latest group to arrive, that he could not handle life back in the US as a civilian. Asia was the only place he felt real. Haffner spots a face in the crowd that he dimly recognizes. His expression clouds as memories flood back. The movie you see carries on from there. Where the film currently ends, I cut back to the Refugee Processing Centre. Haffner walks through the crowd towards the man we now know led the Viet Cong forces against his firebase during the 1968 Tet Offensive, a battle in which Haffner lost his closest friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also know that the two men recognize each other. Will Haffner give in to anger? No, he says “welcome” in Vietnamese, and extends his hand. The final image was of the handshake, one forearm bronzed, the other displaying a marine tattoo. OK. Subtlety is not my strong point. But somehow, in context, the moment worked emotionally. It was cathartic for the audience after the relentless slaughter to feel a glimmer of hope. But the marketing department decided that there was too much emphasis on ” the gooks”, reconciliation and forgiveness were not patriotic, the American audience just wanted to see the heroism and sacrifice of the Americans. They were very happy with the rest of the film but they demanded the bookends be cut. This was a blow. But, as I was in LA doing the extensive looping when the axe fell, I was able to expand Lee Ermey’s voice over with additional material like “I guess we’d do the same if Charlie invaded South Carolina.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These additions to the soundtrack, after the picture was locked, went some way towards supporting the concept of reconciliation. My changes were discovered too late to be removed. Ha! Nice to get the last word. FIREBASE has amassed some fans, particularly among veterans, since its original token 1989 theatrical release - in LA, as the bottom half of a drive in double with RED SCORPION. LA Times critic Michael Wilmington said it should have been the top of the bill. It has never been released on DVD, except as grainy bootlegs from the VHS, without subtitles for the Vietnamese dialogue. Horrible. Perhaps the eventual inheritors of the MGM library will see the profit potential of releasing a DVD with cast interviews and commentary from Lee Ermey and myself. Every marine would buy a copy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, in the interim for fans in the US, a beautifully remastered SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA is available streaming from NETFLIX. FIREBASE is not perfect - HURT LOCKER is perfect - but remains 22 years later an interesting genre cocktail. My inspirations were BEACH RED, THE ALAMO, and ZULU. There’s an earlier blog of reminiscences in the archives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stills for this blog were all taken by Mark Neely, who played Murphy. Still an excellent actor, Mark remains my friend despite my having him bayoneted to death in FIREBASE, and having his severed head grouch at Christine Taylor from a toilet bowl in NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2. The things we do for art…How many Oscars THE HURT LOCKER will receive remains to be seen. But would a marketing department-controlled film have been so insightfull and garnered so many nominations and awards?

 Vietcong on a lunch break