"Tour of Duty" Dislocations (1987)

Director:

Aaron Lipstadt

Writers:

L. Travis Clark (creator) &
Steve Duncan (creator) ...
(more)

TV Series:

"Tour of Duty" (1987)

Original Air Date:

8 October 1987 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

Bravo Company are tasked with moving the inhabitants of a village to a safer location. When all does not go according to plan they get some unexpected help. |

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam War | Vietnam | Military | Guerrilla Warfare | 1960s

Cast

Terence Knox	...	Sgt. Clayton 'Zeke' Anderson
Stephen Caffrey	...	Lt. Myron Goldman
Joshua D. Maurer	...	Pvt. Roger Horn (as Joshua Maurer)
Steve Akahoshi	...	SP4 Randy 'Doc' Matsuda
Tony Becker	...	Cpl. Daniel 'Danny' Percell
Eric Bruskotter	...	Pvt. Scott Baker
Stan Foster	...	SP4 Marvin Johnson
Ramón Franco	...	Pvt. Alberto Ruiz (as Ramon Franco)
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.	...	Pvt. Marcus Taylor (as Miguel A. Nunez Jr.)
Kevin Conroy	...	Capt. Rusty Wallace
William Sadler	...	Major Rigby
Tia Carrere	...	Lang
April Tran	...	Dep
Ngoc Thi Le	...	Mama San
Oanh Thi Nguyen	...	Mrs. Dep
Hiep Luu	...	Viet Cong
Emmett Dennis III	...	G.I. (as Emmett Dennis)

Directed by
Aaron Lipstadt

Writing credits
L. Travis Clark		(creator) &
Steve Duncan		(creator)
Steven Smith		(written by) (as Steven Phillip Smith)

Produced by
Steve Bello	....	co-producer
Zev Braun	....	executive producer
Rick Husky	....	supervising producer
Vahan Moosekian	....	coordinating producer
Bill L. Norton	....	co-executive producer
Ronald L. Schwary	....	producer

Original Music by
Joseph Conlan

Cinematography by
Stephen L. Posey		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Michael Ripps

Casting by
Barbara Claman

Art Direction by
Mayling Cheng

Set Decoration by
Harry Kanahele

Makeup Department
Susan Carol Schwary	....	hair stylist (as Susan Carol)
James R. Scribner	....	makeup artist (as Jim Scribner)

Production Management
James A. Westman	....	unit production manager
Lorin Bennett Salob	....	executive in charge of production (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter C. Graupner	....	second assistant director (as Peter Graupner)
Gary Law	....	first assistant director
Ronald L. Schwary	....	second unit director (as Ron Schwary)

Art Department
Richard A. Mazzochi	....	property master (as Richard Mazzochi)

Sound Department
Susan Moore-Chong	....	production sound mixer (as Susan Chong)

Special Effects by
Larry Roberts	....	special effects

Stunts
Ted Grossman	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael E. Little	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Casting Department
Marge Spencer	....	casting: Hawaii

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Fred Long	....	wardrobe
Dorothy Amos	....	costume supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Art Fein	....	music consultant

Other crew
L. Travis Clark	....	executive consultant
Steve Duncan	....	executive consultant
Peter McKernan	....	aerial coordinator (as Peter J. McKernan)
Steven Smith	....	executive story editor (as Steven Phillip Smith)
Joseph A. Liuzzi	....	location manager (uncredited)
Bruce Nahin	....	film commissioner (uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Bielak		4 episodes
L. Travis Clark		creator
Steve Duncan		creator
David Ehrman

Produced by
Robert Bielak	....	co-producer (1988-1989)
Brian Herskowitz	....	associate producer (1988-1990)

Cinematography by
Alan Caso
Bob Moore

Film Editing by
Herbert H. Dow

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joel Chernoff	....	second unit director (1987-1989)

Art Department
Mychael Bates	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Gregg Barbanell	....	foley artist
Michael Payne	....	sound supervisor

Stunts
Ed Anders	....	stunts
Darryl Chan	....	stunts
Phil Chong	....	stunts
James Jude Courtney	....	stunts
Albert Furuto	....	stunts
Andy Gill	....	stunt double: Terence Knox
Al Goto	....	stunts (1987-1989)
Curtis Lupo	....	stunts
Khristian Lupo	....	stunts
Joe Murphy	....	utility stunts
Ronan Sakai	....	stunts
Jon Sakata	....	stunts
Monty L. Simons	....	stunts
Gary Toy	....	stunts
Gary J. Wayton	....	stunt performer

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert K. Feldmann	....	dolly grip
Frederick Iannone	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Lee Redmond	....	camera operator

Transportation Department
Leroy Reed	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Bundy Chanock	....	set medic
Bob Corff	....	voice teacher
Alan J. Lam	....	production accountant
Nicki McCain	....	assistant accountant
Bill McCamey	....	first aid nurse
Paul Sinor	....	technical advisor: military
Bill Walker	....	production controller

Distributors

• Fabulous Films (2011) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Castle Oaks Productions  sound post-production (uncredited)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Trivia:

Stephen Caffrey and Tia Carrere actually dated during the filming of this episode.

Goldman is faced with a tough decision concerning the lives of his men, and the lives of the people they are meant to be protecting. Also, another bad day out for Ruiz

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After tackling the tunnels in the last episode, Goldman's platoon are assigned the task of moving villagers from a village suspected to be a target by the NVA to a more secure village in a friendly area a couple of miles away. The Army won't waste their choppers on transporting the indigenous people, so Captain Wallace orders Lt. Goldman that he has to go to the village, round the people up and take them out, and then destroy the village so that it can't be used by the NVA for intimidation purposes and to launch attacks from. When they reach the village, the platoon is ambushed, but they receive some unexpected help from a local farmer who picks up his M1 Garand and takes out some of the NVA soldiers. Johnson nearly shoots him, thinking him to be VC. Afterwards, the farmer proves difficult to move, but Wallace tells him that he is going, even if he has to "get some of the guys there to tie you to a pole". It's a long and dangerous road ahead in transporting the villagers, as many of them are old. Goldman begins to fall for one of the women, and when they get attacked in the jungle, Goldman faces a tough decision - does he obey orders and abandon the people, or does he risks his men's lives to protect the people they are meant to be fighting for?

It's another bad day out for Pvt. Ruiz. After a traumatic experience in the last episode where he killed an American soldier in a terrible case of friendly fire, he also had to watch helplessly as the man he went down into the tunnels with was butchered with a sharpened pole. In "Dislocations", Ruiz takes a liking to an old lady who he talks to and helps along the way by carrying her luggage. She saves his life later on, and is killed as a result, leaving Ruiz devastated.

"Dislocations" is a somewhat disappointing follow-up to "Notes from the Underground". The part where the old Vietnamese woman saves Ruiz's life by over-powering the NVA soldier going to stab him was pretty ridiculous. Yes, they are strong people the Vietnamese, especially the women, from all the hard labour they'd be used to all their lives. But I found it hard to take that an old lady who is pretty much dying from exhaustion by the end of this was able to over-power a young, strong NVA soldier. Goldman's attraction - and subsequent heartbreak - to the young Vietnamese woman was just a scary look at what the series would eventually turn into by season 2, when it would almost go down hill as more female characters were introduced just to have some romance in the series - which was not needed. Overall, it's a pretty good episode, but a long mile off one of the better ones.