TV-made drama about a farm family in 1970 Iowa propelled into action against the U.S. military by feelings of anger and injustice when their boy is killed in Vietnam by something the government calls "friendly fire" (a shot fired toward one's own forces while attempting to engage the enemy). Factual account adapted by Fay Kanin from C.D.B. Bryan's book has prestige to spare, and the upswing of turning the victim's passive parents into vocal protesters and rabble-rousers against the Army (or, Goliath). In a trendy bit of casting against type, Carol Burnett as the boy's mother digs deep within for this role; but, unlike Mary Tyler Moore (who set the bar for this sort of transition a year later with "Ordinary People"), Burnett is working with material designed in advance to wallop the audience with emotion. Every character follows a standard pattern, and every event is preconceived into an episodic format. When the mother rages in despair, it's treated like another chapter: she grows frustrated, she plows on. From the family's loss of innocence to their small steps forward in the face of bureaucratic adversity, "Friendly Fire" doesn't bowl us over with emotions because there aren't any surprises. It's been ironed out as one family's battle to get us in the gut. It's good television, no doubt, but it doesn't leave behind that rush of genuine exaltation that great sentimental weepers should deliver.
Review of Friendly Fire
Friendly Fire
(1979 TV Movie)
Vietnam true story with a touch of manufactured grit and spirit...
5 July 2010