An Unlikely Weapon (2008)

Director:

Susan Morgan Cooper

Writer:

Susan Morgan Cooper (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

1/500th of a second to get the shot...a lifetime to forget it

Plot:

In 1968, in 1/500th of a second Eddie Adams photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nygoc Loan, shooting a Vietcong guerrilla point black...

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Pulitzer Prize | Photojournalist | Camera | Three Word Title

Cast

Eddie Adams	...	Himself
Marc Anthony	...	Himself
Peter Arnett	...	Himself
Tom Brokaw	...	Himself
Bill Clinton	...	Himself
Bill Eppridge	...	Himself
Peter Jennings	...	Himself
Kerry Kennedy	...	Herself
David Hume Kennerly	...	Himself
Gordon Parks	...	Himself
Thi Kim Phuc Phan	...	Herself
Morley Safer	...	Himself
Rod Steiger	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Narrator
Tracey Ullman	...	Herself

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Morgan Cooper Productions

This motion picture is worth more than 1,000 words

Very interesting documentary about Eddie Adams, the legendary photographer whose career spanned 13 wars, 6 US presidents, and 50 years of movie stars. His most famous picture is that of a Vietcong being shot during the war by a Saigon police chief.

His friends and co-workers talk about Adams, who died a few years ago, and say how much he influenced them and how much his photos influenced the American people. There are a lot of interviews with Adams before he died that the director found while rummaging through piles of tapes in Adams' photo studio. People like Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw and Kim Phuc (she was the girl running naked on the street during Vietnam with severe burns) are interviewed as well.

The stories of his time in Vietnam are amazing, especially the moment he took that famous photograph. Apparently that photograph is what influenced Michael Cimino to make The Deer Hunter.

I also had no idea that among other things, Adams is the one who took the photo of Clint Eastwood that became the poster for Unforgiven.

This was a great documentary, I really enjoyed it.