Vietnam Veteran - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The Vietnam veteran has been depicted in fiction and film of variable quality. A major theme is the difficulties of soldiers readjusting from combat to civilian life. This theme had occasionally been explored in the context of World War Two in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Men (1950). However, films featuring Vietnam veterans constitute a much larger genre.

The first appearance of a Vietnam veteran in film seems to be The Born Losers (1967) featuring Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack. Bleaker in tone are such films as Hi, Mom! (1970) in which vet Robert De Niro films pornographic home movies before deciding to become an urban guerrilla, The Strangers in 7A where a team of former paratroopers blow up a bank and threaten to blow up a residential apartment building, The Hard Ride (1971) and Welcome Home Soldier Boys (1972) in which returning vets are met with incomprehension and violence.

In many films, like Gordon's War (1973) and Rolling Thunder (1977), the veteran uses his combat skills developed in Vietnam to wage war on evil-doers in America. This is also the theme of Taxi Driver (1976) in which Robert De Niro plays Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle who wages a one man war against society whilst he makes plans to assassinate a presidential candidate. Apparently this film inspired John W. Hinckley to make a similar attempt against President Ronald Reagan. In a similar vein is First Blood (1982) which features John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone in an iconic role), as a Vietnam vet who comes into conflict with a small town police department.

Such films as Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol (1972) and The Ninth Configuration (1979) were innovative in depicting veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, before this syndrome became widely known. In Born on the Fourth of July (1989) Tom Cruise portrays disenchanted Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic who, wounded in action and wheel-chair bound, leads rallies against the war. A more recent example is Bruce Dern's portrayal of a down-and-out veteran in the film Monster (2003).

In television, service in Vietnam was part of the backstory of many characters in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in police or detective roles. For some, their military history was rarely referred to, such as MacGyver, Rick Simon of Simon & Simon, or Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice. To a degree, writing in a Vietnam background can be attributed simply to logical chronology, but also served to give these characters more depth, and explain their skills.

Thomas Magnum of Magnum, P.I., Stringfellow Hawke of Airwolf, and the characters of The A-Team were characters whose experiences in Vietnam were more frequently worked into plotlines. They were part of an early 1980s tendency to rehabilitate the image of the Vietnam vet in the public eye. While they carry emotional scars from their war experiences, they are proud of their service, and are shown fighting on the side of right and justice.

The documentary In the Shadow of the Blade (released 2004) reunited Vietnam veterans and families of war dead with a restored UH-1 "Huey" helicopter in a cross-country journey to tell the stories of Americans affected by the war.

An example in print is Marvel Comics' the Punisher, also known as Frank Castle. Castle learned all of his combat techniques from his time as a Marine as well as from his three tours of combat during Vietnam. It is also where he acquired his urge to punish the guilty, which goes on to be a defining trait in Castles' character.

One of the Survivors In the first Left 4 dead game is a Vietnam Veteran who often compares living in a zombie apocalypse to Vietnam.