Review: Gardens of Stone

1968, and the Vietnam War is raging. D.B. Sweeney plays a soldier (and son of a soldier) who wants nothing more than to do his bit fighting over in Vietnam. Instead, he’s in the U.S. as a part of the ‘Old Guard’, in charge of guarding the Arlington National Cemetery, and their main duty is to pay their respects to the fallen soldiers at their funerals, killed while fighting in Vietnam. Sweeney is taken under the wing of Sergeants James Caan and his more upbeat and easygoing pal James Earl Jones. Caan would like to be doing something more constructive, even though he personally disagrees with this particular war. The more gung-ho, but far less experienced Sweeney just can’t wrap his head around such complexities. Meanwhile, Caan strikes up a relationship with liberal Washington Post reporter (Anjelica Huston), who lives just down the hall from him, and Sweeney bumps into his former sweetheart (Mary Stuart Masterson), whose Colonel father disapproves of dating below one’s rank (Masterson’s parents are played by her real-life parents, Peter Masterson and Carlin Glynn). Dick Anthony Williams plays a hard-arse officer, Laurence Fishburne is a squad leader, Lonette McKee is Jones’ wife, Elias Koteas plays a military clerk, Casey Siemaszko is another soldier, and Dean Stockwell plays Caan’s superior officer.

 

A flawed, but somewhat underrated war story from Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather Trilogy”, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”), this one from 1987 boasts a mostly excellent cast, with James Caan and especially James Earl Jones standing out. Jones and his inimitable voice glide right through this film. His voice is quite simply the greatest gravitational force on Earth. He speaks, you hear nothing else. It’s really interesting to see noted Republican actor Caan play a guy who is pro-military, yet against the Vietnam War specifically. He thinks the war can’t be won, and it’s being hamstrung by politics. It’s a very, very interesting role, and Caan shows rather surprising sensitivity, I must say. Hell, even Huston is quite sensitive and lovely here, which isn’t quite what I would’ve expected from her.

 

Leading man D.B. Sweeney never quite worked out as an actor, so it’s a bit of a shame that the central role is given to an unmemorable performer. He’s not bad or anything, just…boring. His best scene is his first shot, with a perfect slack-jawed look on his face. This kid is green, and in for a real learning experience. For me, the only truly dud notes here are struck by a badly miscalculated scenery-chewing effort from the late Dick Anthony Williams (I love R. Lee Ermey, but this film didn’t need an R. Lee Ermey-type, let alone a third-rate imitation), and the woefully insistent, terribly overstated dirge-like music score from Carmine Coppola (“Apocalypse Now”, “New York Stories”). Lawrence Fishburne (still called Larry at this stage) shows Williams how to chew scenery without getting silly, in a smaller role, though James Earl Jones shows ‘em both how it’s really done. Lonette McKee doesn’t get many scenes, but she shows warmth and vitality when given the chance.

 

I think it was a bit of a shame to start the film with the ending. Oh, I get the point being made, but I got it too early. In fact, the only problem with the latter stages of the film is that not only does the audience know a certain someone isn’t coming back alive, the characters in the film act like they’ve read the ending, too. It plays wrong.

 

I’m not really a Coppola fan to be honest, but this different take on war is easily one of his better films (I like the first two “Godfather” films, “The Rainmaker”, and “The Outsiders”, but that’s about it), despite his father’s disastrous music score and a miscalculation or two that prevent it from being even better than it is. Based on a novel by Nicholas Proffitt, the screenplay is by Ronald Bass (“Rain Man”, “Sleeping With the Enemy”).

 

Rating: B-