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Firefight Review
Image Credit: Sheldon Lettich
Loading...Firefight Review
Frank Dux– Cuda
Brian Thompson– Waterbull
John Scott Clough– Doc
Neal Davis– Peabody
Phillip Rhee– Vietcong #1
Simon Rhee– Vietcong #2
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Sheldon Lettich
Screenplay by Sheldon Lettich
Distributed by Viking Samurai YouTube Channel
Not Rated
Runtime– 16 minutes
Firefight, written and directed by Sheldon Lettich, is a Vietnam war based short film Lettich directed in the mid-1980’s starring Frank Dux and Brian Thompson. Clocking in at around 16 minutes and now available to watch for free on the Viking Samurai YouTube channel for the first time ever, Firefight is an action packed “moment in time” for a band of Marines looking for air support after being attacked by a group of Vietcong. Firefight also contains a healthy dose of anger and cynicism as the story feels oddly pointless. Just what the heck is everyone doing there?
Firefight starts out with a quick look at the Marines out in the field and dealing with boredom. They’re all just sort of hanging around, joking and goofing around to just pass the time (one guy is even reading a book). Everyone’s boredom is then shattered when the group is attacked by an unseen enemy. As everyone ducks for cover, the group notices another group of Marines heading their way. As this new group approaches them, the first group tries to call in a helicopter to pick up the wounded and, in general, help. As the helicopter approaches, there’s another attack and the Marines are trapped. The helicopter won’t land because of the explosions on the ground, and the Marines feel like they could be outnumbered. What the heck are they going to do?
The only thing they can do. Fight.
More explosions. The enemy finally reveals itself (Phillip Rhee is amongst the VC). An all-out brawl ensues, with the assorted Marines going head-to-head with black clad Vietcong. Once the fighting subsides you’d think that everyone’s anger would stop, too, at least for the moment. The movie ends with more anger than when it began.
There are no real characters in Firefight in that no one really goes through an arc. It’s just a bunch of people, young men and what appear to be slightly older men, just trying to get through the day so they can get to the next day. Again, the movie starts out with everyone fighting off boredom, and then the hooey hits the fan and everyone is in the midst of serious danger. It’s jarring and scary. And we see the Marines go from goofing off to fight that boredom to fighting for their lives in a split second. It’s a good representation of what war must really be like. There’s just danger everywhere.
Frank Dux, who plays the Marine Cuda, and Brian Thompson, who plays the Marine Waterbull, are both very good at exuding calm when there’s nothing happening and then jumping into action when everything goes wrong and there are explosions everywhere. Thompson truly excels at being pissed off by the end of the movie.
Despite being a low budget short film, Firefight has an expansive look. The story takes place entirely outside. The production also has use of a real life helicopter (there’s all sorts of stock footage of destroyed and damaged helicopters at the very beginning of the movie but there is a real helicopter flying around at various times). How many short films get to use a real helicopter? Up in the air? Amazing stuff.
The full on brawl between the Marines and the Vietcong is pure cinematic chaos, with all sorts of hand-to-hand fighting taking place. There’s also terrific use of a shovel as a weapon, something you don’t see all that often. And the explosions are real. That’s always a plus in any sort of action cinema.
It’s a shame that Lettich didn’t get to direct a big hooha Vietnam War set movie in his career. I’m grateful that he went on to make several excellent action flicks with Jean-Claude Van Damme (Lionheart, Double Impact, and The Hard Corps), Dolph Lundgren (The Last Patrol), and Mark Dacascos (Only the Strong), but after seeing Firefight, it would have been so damn cool to see Lettich working with an even bigger canvas and an even bigger budget. At least we have Firefight.
See Firefight. It’s playing right now on the Viking Samurai YouTube channel. Go there and check it out.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: Several.
Explosions: Multiple.
Nudity?: None.
Doobage: A graveyard for helicopters, a guy walking, a guy gets shot in the ass, attempted call in for a helicopter, multiple explosions, an ambush, attempted running, talking, more explosions, a full on hand-to-hand brawl, shovel fight, attempted bayonet attack, martial arts hooey, even more explosions, attempted head wound fixing, screaming, talk of “friendly fire,” and a sad ending.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: A graveyard for helicopters, stock footage of helicopters, sad song about Christian soldiers, Frank Dux, guy reading a book, guy doing pushups, guys just fucking around, Brian Thompson, multiple explosions, a slow motion run, Phillip Rhee, Simon Rhee, and “friendly fire.”
Best lines: “Hey, you gonna die on me, boy? If you keep breathing in my face I will,” “Why the fuck are they walking over that ridge in broad daylight?,” “That’s right! Just leave them behind!,” “Come on, motherfucker, you can do it! Come on, motherfucker!,” “Come on, jarhead! You can do it!,” “I don’t know why the fuck I did that,” and “Get down here you chickenshit motherfucker!”
