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RECOLLECTIONS: Hollywood Heroes

By Juan Lara

Holy hand grenades you've done it again!
Your theatrics,
on stage acrobatics
and your photographic cosmetics.
Touch up her, a little makeup there
Special effects.... Roll it... cut... edit it... it's a print, call it a day!
Mix it up in the lab and presto....stupendous Stallone!
One man alone....does it alone
he's badder than nuclear fission
he's Rambo....one on a mission.
Hollywood give us a break... you think you're so creative with your theatrical glitter,
Oh and America!
You also displayed some particular talents during the Vietnam War by choosing the young of Americas litter.
What a combination!
Politicians create and set the stage of war,
staring CHOAS and CONFUSION!
Cinematographers get the go ahead and pilferage their way through the remains of our youth,
Let no bone remain unturned!
Yes, the camera and the chaos,
the glamour and the gloom
of sending Americas youth to their patriotic doom.
YOU GUYS!....with the cameras are some artists,
you just whip out the ol' photographic easel and apply some of your cosmetics to touch up the situation.
That's right, you just hand out the script and a gun full of blanks and of course the nonlethal enemies.
Hollywood....it's time you stop ripping us off!
You took our experience and pain and gave it to John Wayne.
For the Duke, it was simple to respond to the patriotic call.
"Quiet on the set.... Let's roll 'em...action!"
Yes so easy for Hollywood to decorate
while we who fought deteriorate.
The Duke was and probably still is more of a welcomed hero than any of us.
Again you poured all of your thought into a "movie mold" and handed America one Green Beret,
O.D. in color
patriotic and robotic in mind!
America loved your hero
totally glamorized,
while we were abroad being traumatized.
But hey!.... We were the ones at the point of impact...
at ground zero.
Holy Hollywood.... Is there such a thing as reincarnation even in the land of film and fantasy?
What happened to the Duke anyway? ... Did he keep his appointment with "Fantasy Island"?
Do souls really linger in "Soul pools" and wait for the proper vehicle to manifest itself in?
You betcha'.... cause Hollywood has found the incarnation... the perfect body.
The perfect killing machine
the perfect hero.
Hollywood you can fabricate your heroes
but when will you learn that you cannot fabricate our feelings?
You must stop being so presumptuous!
Here you are telling everybody that "we're bad and don't need anybody."
Here you are perpetuating the "I can kick everybody's ass by myself" syndrome!
As if veterans already don't have enough stereotyping to deal with.
Our strength does not lie in violence!
Do you understand?
Obviously not...because you take it back to that point.
A point which you know nothing about.
Hollywood where in the hell are you coming from with your images?
Give us a break... do you think we veterans are mesmerized and goo-goo eyed Rambo?
He's kicking ass and killing people.
So you assume that, that must be our "projection" also.
Hollywood...
don't think, don't act
don't fake it, don't do anything for us
don't do your best... simply let us rest from your onslaught of ignorance... of the fact.
You can buy actors
you can buy guns that shoot blanks,
and you can pay somebody to play dead
but it's all a game, it's all visual,
Special effects....is what the audience gets... people are strange...destructive curiosity.
But again it is veterans who came home with the special....defects!
An eye on Hollywood....is easy
but the American audience couldn't stand to look at us,
But here we are... and visual too!... in yo' face!
You make millions off our image... false image
and decorate your Hollywood heroes with Grammys.
We veterans have to fight with the Director (Uncle Sam) for compensation for services rendered.
We are simply treated as "extras" in a political movie.
Rated P.G... PARENTAL GUIDANCE?...Hah!
Vietnam was and is a sensitive experience, to say the least.
Vietnam is sacred ground to us.
Those who dare tread that ground should be cautious and respectful of those who lived and of those who died there.
No cameras.
No microphones.
Rambo go home....to Hollywood.

Juan Lara
Eugene, OR 9/23/85