Tag Archives: Michael Herr

It ain’t over till it’s over – Michael Herr

“Sitting on a garden bench – the sun, dappled by trees, streaming onto the lawn – it all seems impossibly far away. It is impossibly far away. The corpse was the worst thing we’d ever seen, utterly blackened by now, … Continue reading

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How Michael Herr Transcended New Journalism – Robert Stone

Leroy won a George Polk Award in 1967 for her photographs of Vietnam. “In 1971, during the rainy season, I was sitting in a room in an old-fashioned French hotel in Saigon, Republic of Vietnam. It was evening and darkness … Continue reading

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What I Saw in Vietnam – H.d.s. Greenway

“They were burning brush, as they always do in the dry season, when my plane came in over the Vietnamese coast at dusk. Descending into Saigon, I could see fires burning below me, and in my naïveté I thought I … Continue reading

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Ghosts of war: My journalist father’s Vietnam odyssey, revisited

Duc Co Special Forces camp, 1965: Wounded soldiers crouch in the dust as a U.S. helicopter takes off from a clearing. This was one of many images taken by photojournalist Tim Page that chronicled the Vietnam conflict. “Chevy Chase, Md., … Continue reading

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The Best of Michael Herr

“The brilliant war correspondent Michael Herr passed away Thursday at the age of seventy-six. Herr wrote the opening narration for Francis Ford Coppola’s surreal Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now, and along with Stanley Kubrick and Gustav Hasford he wrote the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket. But Herr is … Continue reading

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Apocalypse Now (1979)/ Apocalypse Now Redux (2001) – Francis Ford Coppola

“Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film directed, produced, and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola. It was co-written by John Milius with narration written by Michael Herr. It stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert … Continue reading

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Soldiers in la Guerra

Gilberto C. Villarreal, the author’s father, in Vietnam. “The Edgewood Independent School District, located in a predominantly lower-income Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American west side neighborhood of San Antonio, suffered 54 casualties during the Vietnam War, one of the highest rates … Continue reading

Posted in Documentary, Draft board, Lyn. Johnson, Michael Herr, Nixon, R. McNamara, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dispatches – Michael Herr

“Despite every other kind of progress, humanity still lives and dies in conditions of either war or peace, a truth reflected in our literature. There is still a place for a great war book such as Dispatches. Like its precursors, … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Henry Kissinger, Lyn. Johnson, Michael Herr, Nixon, R. McNamara, Tet 1968, Viet Cong, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Give Peace a Chance

College students in Boston march against the Vietnam war, October 16, 1965. “Say what you will about the Vietnam War, it had a great soundtrack. Feature and documentary filmmakers have, of course, long appreciated this—cue ‘The End’ by the Doors … Continue reading

Posted in Bob Dylan, Documentary, Michael Herr, Music, Napalm, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Viet Cong, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Battle of Lang Vei

“The Battle of Lang Vei (Vietnamese: Trận Làng Vây) began on the evening of 6 February and concluded during the early hours of 7 February 1968, in Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam. Towards the end of 1967 the 198th Tank … Continue reading

Posted in ARVN, Cambodia, CIA, Cronkite, Ho Chi Minh Trail, Laos, Lyn. Johnson, Michael Herr, NVA, R. McNamara, Tet 1968, Viet Cong, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

First Kill – Coco Schrijber (2001)

Michael Herr “What is the psychology of war? Do soldiers become murderers when they enjoy killing? Is war beautiful? Are all humans capable of monstrous acts? FIRST KILL examines these and other questions, as it explores what war does to … Continue reading

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Hell Sucks – Michael Herr

“There is a map of Vietnam on the wall of my apartment in Saigon, and some nights, coming back late to the city, I’ll lie out on my bed and look at it, too tired to do anything more than … Continue reading

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