HAMBURGER HILL was a grade-B movie, set during the Vietnam war, about a troop of American soldiers attempting to overtake a hill presently under the control of a well-armed group of Viet-congs.
However, there was one segment which really stuck with me:
Two soldiers were discussing how nice it would be to be on leave, back in "the States", and one of them was lamenting about the possibility of not living long enough to experience what he's heard about the current "scene" back home.
He went on about how "everyone keeps telling me about all the 'free love' and everything. Man, I'd love to get in on some of that."
...To which the other one responds: "Let me tell you something---I've BEEN back home a couple times and I've SEEN some of that 'free love' they're talking about.
"Oh, yeah, there's 'free love' all right. Everyone's making out with everybody. Everybody loves everyone
"...'everyone but YOU' that is."
As hackneyed as this movie is, that's STILL one of my all-time favorite movie lines
...because it rings so true.
It reminds one of how things were also hyped and propagandized even back then.
All those trends and fashions one would read about on TIME or LIFE magazine---yes, they were happening...but it was only certain groups and crowds who were engaging in these activities.
You couldn't be just ANYBODY and expect to be accepted or just find the same scenes in your hometown.
Even these "free-thinking" hippy types could still be ostracizing toward those they deemed to be "out-of-it".
It shows an understanding of the notion of modern-day cultural legend vs. the reality.
However, there was one segment which really stuck with me:
Two soldiers were discussing how nice it would be to be on leave, back in "the States", and one of them was lamenting about the possibility of not living long enough to experience what he's heard about the current "scene" back home.
He went on about how "everyone keeps telling me about all the 'free love' and everything. Man, I'd love to get in on some of that."
...To which the other one responds: "Let me tell you something---I've BEEN back home a couple times and I've SEEN some of that 'free love' they're talking about.
"Oh, yeah, there's 'free love' all right. Everyone's making out with everybody. Everybody loves everyone
"...'everyone but YOU' that is."
As hackneyed as this movie is, that's STILL one of my all-time favorite movie lines
...because it rings so true.
It reminds one of how things were also hyped and propagandized even back then.
All those trends and fashions one would read about on TIME or LIFE magazine---yes, they were happening...but it was only certain groups and crowds who were engaging in these activities.
You couldn't be just ANYBODY and expect to be accepted or just find the same scenes in your hometown.
Even these "free-thinking" hippy types could still be ostracizing toward those they deemed to be "out-of-it".
It shows an understanding of the notion of modern-day cultural legend vs. the reality.
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