Dogfight is a 1991 film set in San Francisco, California, during the Vietnam War (1963 – 1966), stars River Phoenix and Lili Taylor and was directed by Nancy Savoca.
The film explores the love between an 18 year old Marine, Corporal Eddie Birdlace, on his way to Vietnam, and a young woman, Rose Fenny. Both lovers are portrayed as innocent and inexperienced: Birdlace is angry and inept, and Fenny is idealistic but unsophisticated.
Plot
The first portion of the film is set on November 21, 1963 (the day before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated). Birdlace and three of his Marine buddies have arrived in San Francisco for twenty-four hours, before shipping off to Vietnam, and are planning on attending a "dogfight" that evening. They separate to attempt to find dates, and Birdlace ducks into a coffee shop, where he encounters Rose, a waitress, on her break, practicing her guitar. She is not particularly "ugly", but Rose is rather plain, shy and extremely awkward. Birdlace attempts to charm her, complimenting her on her guitar playing, and inviting her to a party. She is suspicious of his motives, but decides to accept his invitation.
While walking to the bar where the party is to be held, Birdlace begins to have second thoughts about playing such a cruel trick on Rose, and attempts to talk her out of going in. However they encounter one of Birdlace's buddies and his "date" in front of the bar, and so he has no choice but to proceed with Rose into the dogfight. Rose does not win the dogfight; Marcie, the date of Birdlace's friend Berzin (it is later revealed that she is actually a prostitute whom he has hired), is the winner. In the ladies' room, Marcie clues Rose into the true nature of the party. Rose is devastated, tears into Birdlace, and then storms off. Birdlace immediately regrets having treated Rose so cruelly, and chases after her. He convinces her to let him buy her dinner, in an attempt to make it up to her.
After dinner, the two walk to a club where Rose hopes to perform soon, and then to an arcade. Birdlace is surprised to find himself enjoying spending time with Rose, so much so that he forgets that he was to have met up with his three buddies at a tattoo parlor where they were to get matching tattoos to solidify their friendship. Rose tells Birdlace about her dream to become a folk singer, and he reveals to her that he will be shipping off to Okinawa the following day, and from there on to "a little country called Vietnam," he hopes. She offers to write to him, and asks if he will write back. Birdlace walks Rose home, and they share an awkward moment on her doorstep, before she hesitantly invites him in. They attempt to talk but end up engaged in a clumsy, self-conscious sexual encounter.
As he is leaving, Rose gives him her address and asks him to write. Birdlace meets up with his buddies, where they board their bus. Birdlace makes up a story that he did not show up because he spent the night with the beautiful wife of an officer. Berzin later shares with Birdlace that he saw him with Rose; Birdlace counters that he is aware that Berzin's "date", Marcie, was actually a prostitute. They agree to keep one another's secrets, as Birdlace tears up Rose's address and throws it out the window of the bus.
Rose is then shown with her mother, weeping and watching coverage of President Kennedy's assassination on TV. The film then cuts to 1966, where Birdlace and his three friends are shown in Vietnam. They are playing cards and trying to pass time, when they are suddenly mortared. The scene descends to chaos.
Birdlace is then shown getting off of a Greyhound bus in San Francisco. Discharged from the Marines, he is walking with a limp (presumably from his injuries from the explosion), and it is suggested that his three friends were all killed. He is taken by how much things have changed in the three years since he was last there, with hippies and flower children everywhere. He walks to the neighborhood where Rose's coffee shop is, and goes to a bar across the street to have a drink. The bartender tells him that Rose's mother has turned the coffee shop over to Rose. He then makes his way across the street and into the coffee shop. Rose, not having heard from him in three years, is surprised to see him, and can only say "hi". She walks over to him, and they fall into an embrace, as the film ends.
Reception
The film itself was released in only two US cinemas and went straight-to-video in Europe, despite being widely praised by critics.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack featured a number of prominent 1960s artists, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Malvina Reynolds.
External links
