This week I found a movie review of classic 80s film Missing In Action starring the one and only Chuck Norris. The article I will be looking at is found here.
The review is from The New York Times published in 1984. The same year as the film was released. The film deals with Chuck Norris being sent back to Vietnam to rescue prisoners of war. Chuck Norris' character himself was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for a number of years before being freed or escaping, and then returning to free his fellow comrades. This suggests that films like this (i.e. Rambo etc) are concentrated on the infiltration of Vietnam and the decimating of their forces. The fact that he is rescuing American POWs is in a way, righting the wrongs America did in Vietnam and rewriting the loss that happened there. As the tagline of the movie says "The war's not over until the last man is home." This suggests that attitudes of Americans during the 80s is that the war in Vietnam was over unjustly and too soon. That America never had its chance to shine and dominate the enemy. These 80s Vietnam movies' portray a strong powerful America in Vietnam when in reality it was quite the opposite.
The reviewer also writes "In addition to liking Mr. Norris, the Rivoli audience also showed enthusiasm for the film's attitude toward Vietnamese soldiers and officials, who are depicted as no less unequivocally shifty, villainous and deceitful as their stereotyped Japanese counterparts were in B-movies about World War II." This suggests that the Vietnamese are just classic movie villains and there is no representation of them as real people.
Missing In Action is one of those movies that is there to boost the American morale, and show American strength, for example, one man against an army, single handedly saving various prisoners of war. This in reality would end disastrous but alas, it is Chuck Norris and he did encircle infinity.
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