Savage Soldier (1971)
"Jud" (original title)

A Vietnam vet returns to Los Angeles at Christmas time, finds out it's not how he thought it was going to be.

Director:

Gunther Collins

Writer:

Gunther Collins

Stars:

Joseph Kaufmann, Robert Deman, Alix Wyeth

Cast

Credited cast:
Joseph Kaufmann	...	Jud Carney
Robert Deman	...	Bill Arness
Alix Wyeth	...	Shirley Simon
Norman Burton	...	Uncle Hornkel
Claudia Jennings	...	Sunny
Maurice Sherbanee	...	Salvadore Javelli
Vic Dunlop	...	Vincent Barber
Bonnie Bittner	...	Kathy
Jolivett Cato	...	Ben
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John 'Bud' Cardos
Bill Collins
Janice Dryer
Valerie Fitzgerald
Leigh Hemingway
Paul Heslin

Storyline

A Vietnam vet returns to Los Angeles at Christmas time, finds out it's not how he thought it was going to be.

---

Plot Keywords:

vietnam | flashback | vietnam veteran | readjustment | california | 

---

Taglines:

Killing was just the beginning...

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

35 th. Hour

Company Credits

Production Co:

Duque Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"One Too Many Mornings"
Written by Bob Dylan
Sung by John Hartford

User Reviews

Downcast bummer with a knavish handling of its basal issues.

Mentally/emotionally damaged 'Nam soldier returns to the states to find that his fiancée is no longer his fiancée. He takes residence in a Los Angeles rooming house full of various maladroits and flashes back periodically to the horrors of war, has coffee in a diner, makes love on a beach, gets into a fight, and drives around the greater L.A. area in his convertible to avoid the needy(and implied homosexual)fawning of one of his housemates.

Unquestionably a film of its time, it's one of those indies from the early 70s which presents zero entertainment value in the name of art, relying solely upon character analysis, reverie, and a string of innocuous non-happenings for substance.

The film's infrastructural issues of post-Vietnam isolation are serious and very sensitive, but are approached in an offhand manner which makes them feel rather provisional, if not exploitive. "JUD" is eighty minutes of ceaseless blue funk which feigns concern for its own causation, and lacks sincerity in its crusade. It is, however, always nice to get an eyeful of the late Claudia Jennings, who was among the loveliest screen visions of her time. Her presence is to this picture as the rose is to the cesspool.

3/10