Streamers (1983)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

David Rabe (play)
David Rabe (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 April 1984 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Four young recruits about to be sent to Vietnam confront thier prejudicial feelings toward one another when it's learned one of them is homosexual.

Plot Keywords:

Homosexual | Shower Scene | Army Life | Stabbing | Male Nudity

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Matthew Modine	...	Billy
Michael Wright	...	Carlyle
Mitchell Lichtenstein	...	Richie
David Alan Grier	...	Roger
Guy Boyd	...	Rooney
George Dzundza	...	Cokes
Albert Macklin	...	Martin
B.J. Cleveland	...	Pfc. Bush
Bill Allen	...	Lt. Townsend
Paul Lazar	...	MP Lieutenant
Phil Ward	...	MP Sgt. Kilick
Terry McIlvain	...	Orderly
Todd Savell	...	MP Sgt. Savio
Mark Fickert	...	Dr. Banes
Dustye Winniford	...	Staff Sergeant

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | South Africa:16LV | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:M | France:-12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA

Company:

Streamers International

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Streamers" by David Rabe opened at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on April 21, 1976, ran for 478 performances and was nominated for the 1977 Tony Award for the Best Play.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Robert Altman: Art and Soul (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Let's Go Together

Good, hard-hitting drama

Following on the heels of "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", Altman brings another play to the screen. Like the earlier movie, this is an intensely serious drama about issues of sexuality and denial. Like the earlier movie, parts of it are extremely strident and/or "stagy", and like the earlier movie, much of it is redeemed by the excellent performances.

Although set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the film is mostly about what goes on inside the heads of a small group of soldiers who are waiting to get shipped out. Much of the story's development is psychological, and not related to the specific period in history... if anything, the characters occasionally seem "too modern", but it's impossible for me to say whether this is actually the case (perhaps done intentionally by the director and screenwriter) or whether my impression of how they "should" have been behaving in the mid-1960s is colored too much by mass-media images from that time.

In any case, Altman and screenwriter David Rabe do a good job of confounding the audience's expectations and providing us with multi-faceted, complex characters, and there are some moments of chilling beauty, as when two older sergeants tell stories of paratroopers who didn't make it. While the issues involved and the serious tone will probably turn a lot of people off, this is a "worthy" member of the Altman canon, and well worth seeking out by anyone who is interested in his "filmed plays" of the 80s or in seeing him work on a small scale.