WAR & ANTI-WAR

In “Platoon,” Oliver Stone has made a noble anti-war effort, but I fear that it is ahead of its time as far as the mainstream American war action seeking audiences.

The first-run West L.A. urban Christmas night audience that I saw the film with laughed at the American atrocities, and whoops of joy cheered the enemy “getting it.” Laughter occurred at the rape scene and at the end great applause followed the good guy “fragging” the bad guy.

I cannot imagine a much different reaction when the picture reaches the conservative suburbs. Rambo is alive and well among the American audiences seeking an entertainment of murder and bloodshed.

For the laughter and applause to “Platoon,” I hang my American head in shame.

DON MANNING

Los Angeles