Pinkerton on War Films

It was quite a historic morning for me as I read James P. Pinkerton’s paean to the simultaneous rebirth of “Americanism” and the death of ‘60s social idealism, all because Steven Spielberg just released a film about World War II (Column Right, July 23). Pinkerton seems intoxicated with the idea that John Wayne’s macho, nationalist swagger is back in fashion, leading a ‘50s-style “retro-garde” that will make us all blissfully unaware that McCarthyism, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, or even Watergate ever took place. What a feel-good world (if only for Americans) it will be, once those dreadful ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s are forgotten!

Trouble is, some of us have memories that do stretch back. Pinkerton believes that now that CNN’s recent nerve gas accusations have been proved false, “only Peter Arnett and a few documentary producers” believe that U.S. soldiers committed war crimes in Vietnam. Pinkerton’s assumption here is that the American people, while being able to remember all those old John Wayne movies, can’t still recall the My Lai massacre, Nixon and Kissinger’s secret bombing of neutral Cambodia (which probably paved the way for Pol Pot’s regime), or even all those napalmed villages filled with women and children. Of course, Pinkerton has a Hollywood euphemism at the ready to dismiss those atrocities--they were “misguided.”

STEVE GEDIMAN

Woodland Hills

* Pinkerton seems to long for a return to the post-World War II films that glorified U.S. war efforts, and war in general. The anti-war film era far better represented my Vietnam veteran’s view of what war is really about. (Forget “Apocalypse Now,” which falls somewhere within a mental no-man’s land.)

Perhaps we at least agree that “Saving Private Ryan” attempts to strike a reasonable balance.

DON BRUNDIGE

San Pedro