Streamers

To the tune of Beautiful Dreamer, this is the song paratroopers are meant to sing when their chute doesn't open, and they face imminent death. The group of young, pensive soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division ready to be shipped to Vietnam listen to it with a very strained concern - Billy (Matthew Modine), Carlyle (Michael Wright), Richie (Mitchell Lichtenstein) and Roger (David Alan Grier). They've already been scared to death by other stories told by Cokes (George Dzundza), who has been there and returned not quite right (also constantly drunk.) Did the paratrooper he saw fly past him with a bum chute sing the song? No, he just had a stunned, confused look on his face. Underneath the fear though, are personal animosities that can't quite unify these boys facing the unenviable task of travelling half way around the world to face possible death, and certain psychological trauma.

Streamers opens with Richie patching up a young man who has slit his wrist - and trying his best to hide this from everyone else (the kid who has tried to take his own life is rather more frank about his state of mind and what he tried to do.) The first thing you notice is that both are obviously gay, but despite Richie's frequent mincing, femininity, way of dressing, and attraction to other guys in the unit the conservative Billy has talked himself into believing Richie is straight and just has some feminine traits about him. The rumble of homophobia exists in a subconcious place, but always seems to be about to erupt from Billy, Roger and Carlyle. Carlyle is the very definition of a loose cannon, and while he claims to be gay when accosing Richie, it seems more likely that he'll kill Richie if he finally confesses to him. The building tension has to erupt at some point, from somewhere. Whose chute will fail to open?

This film really excels in it's performances - all of the actors here never miss a beat and are on absolute top form. I enjoyed that aspect of Streamers very much indeed, and it's a very well written drama from David Rabe. I think as far as filming it goes though, Robert Altman was kind of stuck with a visual field that didn't offer much to him. He seems intent on bringing this to us inside of a play setting - and nothing more. Doing that, we never leave the barracks - and are stuck with row after row of bunkbeds for the entire running time of this film. I know it serves to increase that feeling of being pent-up without any recourse or escape, but there's only so much you can do with that before you've exhausted many of the movie's possibilites, and I would have loved to have seen this adapted as a full-fledged film rather than as a filmed play. The opening and ending credits though, are an atmopheric pleasure to watch - an acrobatic rifle drill in suffocating mist, with the sound of the rifles and boots determining the beat in our mind.

If I had to pinpoint what I felt this was all about I'd say fear. It seems to inform everything in this film which is both said and left unsaid. This wait to go to war is telling on these boys, and the fact that Richie is so openly gay (without ever admitting to it) is sandpaper to a raw wound for Carlyle - either because he's also gay or because he's homophobic (or perhaps both.) There's enough internalized angst amongst this group of fellow soldiers already. It seems like they're always at a breaking point - and occasionally frivilous relief is just that - relieving - but we're more often tightening the bolt on everyone in the barracks. A visit from a drunk Cokes and an also very drunk Sgt. Rooney (Guy Boyd), who craves action (at least while he's hammered), only serves to increase the pounding pressure. The two sergeants are at that stage of drunkenness that's frightening for the fact that a person is liable to do anything when so inebriated. There's no outlet. Left unsaid, but also an added pressure point is the fact that Carlyle and Roger are African Americans - something that seems to define them in everybody's mind.

Cinematographer Pierre Mignot would be with Altman throughout his 'filmed play' phase, from previous feature Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean to his segment in Aria. I found his work here very claustrophobic - we never get very far from the pent up young men here. There is enough technique to keep a film lover interested. The art direction saw Stephen Altman taking another step forward, becoming sole art director on Streamers. Robert Reed Altman was still an assistant Camera operator and part of the Electrical Department. So Robert Altman's two sons continued to work for him - but I don't see it as nepotism when they're doing these kind of jobs. It'd be different if they had lead roles, or were writing/performing terrible tunes - lord knows that happens a lot in the movie industry (think Jaden Smith or Frank Stallone.)

All-up, Streamers is undeniably powerful and has a psychological component that's really meaningful without being pretentious. I don't think I would have got anything less from it if I'd seen it on stage - but since I'd probably never have that opportunity I'm glad it exists on film. As a film though, I'm not sure if it does enough visually to really justify making it so true to a stage performance. Even if there were a few establishing shots, I'd have felt that wouldn't have detracted from the whole strict 'play' theme - (and as mentioned above, the credits sequence was great and fused with the concept no problem.) The film as a whole was met with mostly rave reviews, but it's release would have been festival and art house-based. The entire ensemble was voted Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival - and I have to agree and reiterate that the performances in this film are quite brilliant. Vietnam would be a hot topic film-wise in the '80s, but none of those films would be as oblique in their meaning, or as location-bound, as Streamers.