Was O'Neil a coward at the end?
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kidd-simon — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 10:58 PM)
Not a nice guy at all, he was a bully but to call him a coward is maybe wide of the mark. King says at one point something like there is no such thing as a coward here which I think is true and is one of the key lines in the film.
It smells like a Spin Doctors concert in here. -
stevekaczynski — 9 years ago(December 08, 2016 12:18 AM)
It reminds me of a possibly apocryphal story about Marlon Brando before he started his acting career. He was enrolled as a cadet in a military school and he was asked, "if you find your commander lying dead on the field of battle, what do you do?" Brando replied, "Run like hell." He was promptly expelled.
"Chicken soup - with a beep straw." -
Neil_Williamson — 9 years ago(January 16, 2017 06:42 PM)
Just watched it again and to be honest there is little else he could do in the situation- there are about a dozen VC swarming down to his bunker and he is the only one alive there so if he had tried to fight he definitely would have been killed. It was a smart move to hide under the dead body at that point, but perhaps unrealistic that they wouldn't have checked he was dead - you can see his helmet when they look down into the hole.
Junior, however is definitely a coward, hides in the bunker for the whole fight, but clever enough to stab himself in the leg when he comes out from his bunker so he can get to go home injured. -
kidd-simon — 9 years ago(January 16, 2017 08:21 PM)
Good post but its not Junior who stabs himself at the end its Francis, Junior gets stabbed to death by the Viet Cong during the battle after trying to run away I think.
I've already posted on this but I think its easy to label people cowards without taking everything into consideration. The guy stabbing himself at the end could be looked on that way but after what he has just witnessed the previous night could you blame him or anyone else for wanting to escape that madness?
It smells like a Spin Doctors concert in here. -
kidd-simon — 9 years ago(January 16, 2017 08:13 PM)
I used to think he was a coward but now not so sure. If you were put in that position with all that chaos would you not consider saving yourself? Its very easy to judge from afar.
It smells like a Spin Doctors concert in here. -
ruffian82 — 9 years ago(January 21, 2017 02:03 PM)
I just remember the look in his eyes when he's told he will take over the next platoon.
Definition of despair, and desolation.
Isn't he passed over for R&R a time or two? (May be another movie- didn't watch the whole this time)
Any eventsomeone he loves is in HAWAII -
HAWAII = paradise
VIETNAM = hell
I'm not judging him. -
stevekaczynski — 9 years ago(January 27, 2017 04:40 AM)
I don't think O'Neil is fit to command other people, any more than the lieutenant was, and if another NVA attack comes in his first, last and only priority is going to be personal survival, troops under his command are going to look around for their sergeant and wonder where he has disappeared to within about 5 seconds of an attack.
"Chicken soup - with a beep straw." -
Woodyanders — 3 weeks ago(March 07, 2026 06:48 PM)
I thought O'Neill did the correct logical and pragmatic thing hiding underneath the corpse of a slain soldier. He would have been killed otherwise by the Vietcong if he hadn't done that.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.