84C MoPic (1989)

Director:

Patrick Sheane Duncan

Writer (WGA):

Patrick Sheane Duncan (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Impressive performance by unknown actors in this low-budget Vietnam drama. The story is being told in...

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Vietnam War | Independent Film | Number In Title

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Jonathan Emerson	...	LT
Nicholas Cascone	...	Easy
Jason Tomlins	...	Pretty Boy
Christopher Burgard	...	Hammer
Glenn Morshower	...	Cracker
Richard Brooks	...	OD
Byron Thames	...	MoPic
Russ Thurman	...	Unnamed / Radio voice
Joseph Hieu	...	Unnamed (Truong Nguyen?)
Don Schiff	...	Unnamed
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sonny Carl Davis	...	Radio voice (voice)
Dale Dye	...	Radio voice (voice)
Glenn Plummer	...	Radio voice (voice)
Mike Stokey	...	Radio voice (voice) (as Michael Stokey)

Also Known As:

84 Charlie Mopic (USA) (closing credits title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Vietnamese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | UK:18 | Germany:16 | USA:R

Company:

Charlie Mopic

Trivia:

"84 Charlie MoPic" comes from the Army Military Occupational Specialty code "84C20", which is a Motion Picture Cameraman (MoPic).

Quotes:

MoPic: I was working in a lab, back in the rear - post-production. Sometimes we would get these cans of film in, you know? No cameraman, just the reels of film. And, we hear he got shot, he's dead or something. But the spookiest is thing is waiting for that film to develop, man, because you didn't know what you were gonna see. Sometimes you saw nothing. But other times...

Soundtrack:

Susan on the West Coast Waiting

Realistic depiction of American patrol on Vietnam

Comparing this with my other favorite war movie, MASH, I'd call them both "naturalistic." They show humor and horror side by side, long stretches of tedium and short bursts of terror, without relying on an artificial plot or stereotyped characters. But 84 Charlie MoPic is much more realistic.

I was not in combat or in Vietnam, but I was in the Army at that time. Several of my Army friends had jobs making films exactly as shown in 84 Charlie MoPic. This is as accurate a picture of an American combat soldier's experience in Vietnam as any I can imagine. The first time I saw it, I was totally taken in, thought it was an actual documentary until the very end.

Incidentally, 84C or 84 Charlie is (or was) the code for the "military occupational specialty" of Motion Picture Specialist.