Phil and the movie

Funny that Frank and I write about Phil. I don't think that I ever saw an entire movie in Vietnam. It was not from want of trying but things seemed to always happen. Most of those things were broken projectors and broken films. By the time a movie got to Kontum it had been shown more than Gone With the Wind in Atlanta. There was also the occasional rocket/mortar attack. One night in Pleiku we were watching the documentary about Woodstock when One Round Charlie sent his basic load into the perimeter. The club officials stopped the movie and said everyone had to go to the bunkers. This was not met with general approval since the movie included nudity and we did not get to see naked American women often.

There is no doubt what Phil's favorite movie was. It was the Big Bounce starring Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor-Young. The movie was written by Elmore Leonard so those of you who are fans of his, as I am, know that there was a liberal amount of irony in the movie. In one scene, after Taylor-Young had shot and killed her husband O'Neal asks her if she liked killing someone. She answers in a little-girl voice, "it was alright". Phil especially like the theme song and worked hard to recreate the music on his guitar. He would sit around in his room and pick out the chords until he got it right. This, of course, did not go over well with Gus who was always trying to sleep. At that time in my life I thought sleep was overrated but Gus was much more mature that Phil or me.