The string about "Gettysburg" and Martin Sheen got me thinking about another Martin Sheen movie, "The Execution of Private Slovik". Last
saw it 30 years ago when I was on AD in the company of some others, we had a
good discussion afterwards, I (a 1LT at the time) and an NCO where the only ones who had read the book. Which I recommend BTW, Huie wrote well and did not have an axe to grind, rather he wanted to know why Slovik was the
only US serviceman executed for desertion in WWII. The only one formally that is-I recall reading somewhere that there were a couple of executions for desertion in the Third Army, and of course we were told we could NOT plug someone trying to "bug out." But as one E-7 said to me, "You can always let a stray bullet get him."
Despite being made in 1974 the movie is not a coded anti-Vietnam. anti-war polemic. The book starts with Huie( a Navy veteran) visiting the "Dishonored Dead" section of the Oisne Aisne American Cemetery and wondering about the
individuals buried there with just a numbered stone instead of the regulation grave marker. Huie notes that if the intent was to make an example out of Slovik then why was his execution carried out in secrecy. The movie omits that part. instead we see Slovik's troubled youth, his criminal record that protects him from the Draft, his meeting a young woman-crippled by polio, she walks with a very pronounced limp. They marry and start their life together. But it is wartime, and Selective Service becomes a lot less selective, and he is reclassified 1-A. I recall the scene where his wife
runs away in tears after her appeal to the draft board is rejected. The scene in Basic where the Drill Sergeant tells the assembled recruits. "You guys are the bottom of the barrel. But the heat's on, Uncle Same needs warm bodies, and now the bottom of that barrel is starting to look mighty good. But you're gonna become good soldiers because I'm gonna kick ass." Much of the movie has a voice of narration over of Sheen reading from Slovik's almost daily letters to his wife. Slovik was what in WWII was known as a "Sad Sack"-in my day a "dud". One reviewer on IMDB.con said Slovik gambled and lost, a good description. Has the usual little soldier bits, one GI of the firing squad answers
another who asks if you can tell if your rifle is loaded with a blank by saying "It's easy-it'll have no kick." and another
says Slovik ran out on his buddies and deserves no sympathy. Again, been so long I don't remember any anachronisms, I recall explaining to my fellow soldiers little details of the uniforms, several remarked on the absence of subdued insignias on the fatigues. "It's 1944, guys." Anyhow, it's worth a look.
good discussion afterwards, I (a 1LT at the time) and an NCO where the only ones who had read the book. Which I recommend BTW, Huie wrote well and did not have an axe to grind, rather he wanted to know why Slovik was the
only US serviceman executed for desertion in WWII. The only one formally that is-I recall reading somewhere that there were a couple of executions for desertion in the Third Army, and of course we were told we could NOT plug someone trying to "bug out." But as one E-7 said to me, "You can always let a stray bullet get him."
Despite being made in 1974 the movie is not a coded anti-Vietnam. anti-war polemic. The book starts with Huie( a Navy veteran) visiting the "Dishonored Dead" section of the Oisne Aisne American Cemetery and wondering about the
individuals buried there with just a numbered stone instead of the regulation grave marker. Huie notes that if the intent was to make an example out of Slovik then why was his execution carried out in secrecy. The movie omits that part. instead we see Slovik's troubled youth, his criminal record that protects him from the Draft, his meeting a young woman-crippled by polio, she walks with a very pronounced limp. They marry and start their life together. But it is wartime, and Selective Service becomes a lot less selective, and he is reclassified 1-A. I recall the scene where his wife
runs away in tears after her appeal to the draft board is rejected. The scene in Basic where the Drill Sergeant tells the assembled recruits. "You guys are the bottom of the barrel. But the heat's on, Uncle Same needs warm bodies, and now the bottom of that barrel is starting to look mighty good. But you're gonna become good soldiers because I'm gonna kick ass." Much of the movie has a voice of narration over of Sheen reading from Slovik's almost daily letters to his wife. Slovik was what in WWII was known as a "Sad Sack"-in my day a "dud". One reviewer on IMDB.con said Slovik gambled and lost, a good description. Has the usual little soldier bits, one GI of the firing squad answers
another who asks if you can tell if your rifle is loaded with a blank by saying "It's easy-it'll have no kick." and another
says Slovik ran out on his buddies and deserves no sympathy. Again, been so long I don't remember any anachronisms, I recall explaining to my fellow soldiers little details of the uniforms, several remarked on the absence of subdued insignias on the fatigues. "It's 1944, guys." Anyhow, it's worth a look.
