As a film, overall, this isn't going to set any bells and whistles going off, but for River's performance and it's quiet commentary of 1960s America during the Vietnam War it is brilliant. You can see why it was overlooked in the early 90s, but River Phoenix brings an elegance and a gravitas to this "little" film. He is luminous. Lili Taylor was his foil perfectly, her breathy shy performance against his bravado and puffery wears him down and the tenderness between them is touching and beautiful - something that River has demonstrated in other films, most notably My Own Private Idaho. He and Taylor worked perfectly together, her stoicism and naive strength whilst maintaining her charm and kindness. I'm sure the opportunity to work with Phoenix overrode the less than glamorous role she had to play.
The film is a typical coming of age film; emphasis on boyhood expressions of rite of passage - alcohol, sex and bad language, bragging and camaraderie - made all the more poignant because they are shipping off to war the next day. The titular dogfight is a competition between the marines to pull the least attractive girl, but Birdlace (Phoenix) struggles to find someone and when he does find a plain Jane he realises that she is too good and too nice for the seedy wager and tries to get her out of it, and gets to know her in the process.
The film is shown through a long flashback, and it's genius is that it doesn't over-narrate. The ending is perfect, it assumes and prompts but doesn't spell out what happens... Birdlace's arm with it's four tattoos is narration enough, and his return and reception at Rose's café says more than pages of script.
A triumph.
The film is a typical coming of age film; emphasis on boyhood expressions of rite of passage - alcohol, sex and bad language, bragging and camaraderie - made all the more poignant because they are shipping off to war the next day. The titular dogfight is a competition between the marines to pull the least attractive girl, but Birdlace (Phoenix) struggles to find someone and when he does find a plain Jane he realises that she is too good and too nice for the seedy wager and tries to get her out of it, and gets to know her in the process.
The film is shown through a long flashback, and it's genius is that it doesn't over-narrate. The ending is perfect, it assumes and prompts but doesn't spell out what happens... Birdlace's arm with it's four tattoos is narration enough, and his return and reception at Rose's café says more than pages of script.
A triumph.