THE BOYS FROM COMPANY C (1978) - Movie Review

Director: Sidney J. Furie
Starring: Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, James Canning, Michael Lembeck, Craig Wasson, Scott Hylands, James Whitmore Jr., R. Lee Ermey
Genre: Drama, War
Writer: Sidney J. Furie, Rick Natkin
Runtime: 125 min
Rated: R
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

The Boys in Company C is a 1978 war film directed by Sidney J. Furie about United States Marine Corps recruits preparing for duty, and their subsequent combat in the Vietnam War. It stars Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens, Craig Wasson, and Michael Lembeck.

Review:

The 1978 war drama "The Boys in Company C" was among the first movies to focus on the Vietnam war, arriving before, but largely overshadowed by films like "Apocalypse Now", "Full Metal Jacket" and "Platoon". While it's hard to compete with those films, I must say it's definitely an underrated and intriguing film.

The movie's satirical tone hews closer to "M*A*S*H" and "Catch-22", exploring the insanity of war, the absurdity of war-time bureaucracy, as well as the dehumanization that comes with it all. The plot follows a group of young marine recruits from boot camp to the killing fields of Vietnam, where they must battle not just the enemy, but also the incompetence of their own superior officers, who are more concerned with meeting body count quotas than winning the war, and the corruption of their South Vietnamese allies.

The first things I noticed about this movie is how good it looks and how authentic the acting is. The cinematography is fantastic, and Sidney J. Furie directs some intense battle sequences. The director also does a good job balancing the humor and the gritty war realism. Furie and Rick Natkin's script is witty and sharp beyond the usual "war is hell" tropes, and takes the time to build interesting characters that endear themselves to us.

The cast is amazing, particularly Stan Shaw as a street-wise drug dealer who becomes an unlikely leader to the men of Company C in the absence of competent superior officers, the Golden-Globe nominated Andrew Stevens, and R. Lee Ermey as the boot camp drill instructor. Ermey, who was a U.S. Marine drill instructor in real life, went on to play the iconic drill sergeant in Stanley Kubrik's "Full Metal Jacket".

"The Boys in Company C" is a movie that is at once funny, thrilling and deeply moving. It'a forgotten gem, not unlike Samuel Fuller's "The Big Red One", that deserves its own place among the pantheon of classic war films.

SCORE: 8/10