Ian Nathan started the episode telling us that "Vietnam was a great subject for cinema". One of the first films to look at conflicts in the far east was an adaptation of Graham Greene's The Quiet American released in 1958 in the " outposts of colonialism". Michael Redgrave as a journalist meets Audi Murphy's American. We were told the film is far too pro-American and critic John Aizlewood said that this upset Graham Greene. There is some documentary footage about the French leaving Vietnam. Simon Heffer gave us some background to the conflict and that it became "a truly terrible war".
One of the first films to show troops in Vietnam was 1978's Go Tell The Spartans starring Burt Lancaster. Ian Nathan said how the war was filmed by news crews and shown on TV at home. Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now in 1979 was an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It takes us right into the middle of the fighting but also how America got bogged down in the war. John tells us it showed the difference in commitment between the Viet Cong and American troops who were not sure what they were doing there.
The End of the Vietnam War
A film about deceit in American government about the war is told in 2017's The Post. Ben Bradlee is the editor of the Washington Post and the film tells the story of whistle-blowers. It ends with the break in at Watergate. But when Afghanistan rears it's ugly head, War Games in 1983 captured the danger of computer technology. A little like Dr Strangelove. Then in the same year, The Day After showed the heightening crisis between the super powers. Derek Malcolm told us that it was the "most successful television film ever made". A nuclear bomb drops on Kansas and obliterates the whole area. It terrified audiences at the time. The American and Russian governments don't know what to do next. John said that it was "a mini step forward in the cold war".
The Last Days of the Cold War
In 1987's thriller No Way Out, Ian Nathan tells us that Kevin Costner plays "the key suspect who is the guy investigating the murder". He adds "there is a mole in the navy" and that "the spy thriller still works". Then in 2006 came one of my favourite films, The Lives of Others. The Stasi secret police in East Germany, but their days are numbered. Derek Malcolm also loved this Oscar winner and Simon said it was "a truly great film". One of the best German films ever made. I also liked 2007's Charlie Wilson's War about Afghanistan. Tom Hanks was never better and there was a terrific script from Aaron Sorkin. The Hunt for Red October based on the Tom Clancy novel and released in 1990 starred Sean Connery as a Soviet submarine commander who may or may not want to defect.
The Fall of the Soviet Union
The John Le Carre novel The Russia House was adapted as movie in 1990 and is about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ian said "it changes from a spy thriller to a love story" that is a metaphor for the thawing of the cold war. Sean Connery plays Barley from Britain and Michelle Pfeifer is a Russian called Katya. Then in 2003 came the German film Goodbye Lenin about the collapse of the Berlin Wall. All with documentary footage. Derek said that it was "the most cheerful of all the cold war films" and that it was very funny". The programme glossed over The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May these had been in previous programmes. Finally, I had never heard of The Fourth War from 1990. Elderly army commanders Roy Schneider and Jurgen Prochnow both feel redundant and go into battle over a tiny incident. Just absurd.
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