USO Down (21 Jan. 1988)

Director:

Ronald L. Schwary

Writers:

L. Travis Clark (creator), Steve Duncan (creator),

Stars:

Terence Knox, Stephen Caffrey, Joshua D. Maurer

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Terence Knox	...	Sgt. Clayton 'Zeke' Anderson
Stephen Caffrey	...	Lt. Myron Goldman
Joshua D. Maurer	...	Pvt. Roger Horn (as Joshua Maurer)
Steve Akahoshi	...	Pvt. 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.)
Cynthia Bain	...	Colby Jordan
Marietta DePrima	...	April
Stuart Fratkin	...	Larry Carlin
Linda Jameson	...	Christy
George Marshall Ruge	...	Crew Chief
Wade Cambern	...	The Band

Storyline

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 1988 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"
Performed by The Animals

User Reviews

"We Gotta Get Out of This Place... If It's The Last Thing We Ever Do"

The men of Bravo Company are treated to some entertainment from a USO show and some well needed respite from the war that they are fighting. Singing the national anthem, as well as The Animal's "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", the band consisting of two men and three female dancers takes off quickly to another part of the country to entertain other troops. However, they crash in the jungle, and Goldman's men are on patrol in the region. Taylor is on point, and when he sees a white woman running up ahead in short tight shorts, he collapses and cries that the sun must be frying his brains. However, Sgt. Anderson and Goldman locate boot-prints, and follow them. They are almost clubbed by the over-anxious lead singer 'Long-John", who is very happy to see the soldiers and he leads them back to the group. One of the female dancers dies, despite the best efforts of Doc Matsuda to save her. The batteries for the radio are almost dead, so they can't radio in for a chopper to take them out of there. They have no choice but to continue on with the patrol and to bring the band along with them to the pick-up point. One of the band members - the Jazz musician - constantly bickers and complains, and he gets on Lt. Goldman's nerves. Long-John however comes from a military background, and can handle an M-16 and strip down the M-60. He impresses Sgt. Anderson initially, as Long-John is only not in the army because he is epileptic. Anderson gives him a weapon when the going gets tough and they are ambushed, and he saves Lt. Goldman's life. However, pretty soon, the violence gets to Long-John's head and he becomes out of control and reckless, giving Anderson the task of trying to control him before he gets himself killed.

The problem I had with "USO Down" was the unnecessary distraction the dancers of the band gave to the men of Goldman's squad, paving the way for some soppy and boring scenes particularly with Pvt. Purcell who seems to get too attached to one of the dancers named April. It was interesting seeing Long-John - a civilian essentially- armed with an M-16 and running around the jungle, proving to us that being a soldier in a war zone a lot of the time is just a state of mind people need to have or develop. Sgt. Anderson's belittling of him at the end about how he hates all this patriotic and gung-ho crap that gets many young men killed was poignant and touching. Overall, it's an OK episode but it does over-do the female touch a little in the aftermath of the previous episode "Pushin' Too Hard".