And now, well, Vietnam is one of the most wonderful places to go in the world. Freedom of speech, opinion, assembly, and religion are highly restricted in modern Vietnam. The truth of that history provides a powerful argument against gun control fantasies. âI was thinking, looking at the kids in Parkland, Florida who have ⦠Ending the Vietnam war was not a simple thing, either: You had to make sure that all our people were safe; we had to make sure that they were as safe as you could be. One of them involves his service in the Vietnam War where he fought heroically in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. St. Vincent was written and directly by Theodore Melfi, who based Murray’s character on his wife’s father, a Vietnam veteran “who had a gaggle of kids he never really knew, ” and who “abandoned my wife when she was nine-years-old, ” Melfi told an interviewer. Bill Murray as a Saintly Vietnam War Veteran. He is a slovenly introvert who has a regular date with a pregnant prostitute (Naomi Watts with a Russian accent), drinks to excess, and blows money regularly at the race track. In 1974, he moved to New York City and was recruited by John Belushi as a featured player on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Surveillance is pervasive. In an editorial for NBC News, titled â The Parkland kids remind me of the students who helped end the Vietnam ⦠This is not a comedy, although Murray provides a few grins here and there—as does Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids ) playing a kindly, clever, young-ish Catholic school teacher. To understand the significance of this we need to go back to the start. But that’s a far cry from the walking-time-bomb cardboard cut-out Hollywood used to offer us in countless movies and TV shows. They managed to kill ten percent of the national population by the time they were done with their wars and purges. Published March 23, 2018 at 7:41am. John Travolta, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase All Passed On 'Forrest Gump' and Missed Out on Tom Hanks' $40 Million Pay Forrest Gump will go down as one of the most beloved movies of all time. And we all survived: they survived, we survived. Actor Bill Murrayâs clumsy attempt to glorify the Parkland gun control activists by comparing them to Vietnam protesters was shockingly ignorant and insensitive for an elderly man who was actually alive during the Vietnam War aftermath and the Cambodian genocide. | Credits | Resources, Bill Murray as a Saintly Vietnam War Veteran, Veterans Incarcerated and in the Justice System, Student Looking for Vietnam Vets for War Film Paper, Love & Honor: A Vietnam War Story That Bombs, Vietnam War post-traumatic stress disorder. The good guys with guns left, so the bad guys with guns rolled in and started murdering people on an industrial scale. They were positively brimming with youthful idealism! Several times Melfi makes the point that saints are, after all, human and Vincent is as human as they get, a walking contradiction of strengths and weaknesses. Comedian Bill Murray warmly hailed the Parkland, Florida, teens who have launched a powerful anti-gun movement, comparing them in an NBC News op-ed to Vietnam War protesters who changed the course of history. Alyssa Fikse Twitter Features Writer. The Selective Service System underwent a dramatic overhaul in 1969. Bill Murray Rewrites Vietnam War History to Praise Parkland Studentsâ Gun Control March Comedian Bill Murrayâs clumsy attempt to glorify the Parkland gun control activists by comparing them to Vietnam protesters was shockingly ignorant and insensitive for an elderly man who was actually alive during the Vietnam War ⦠Directed by Ivan Reitman. Dissidents are harassed by the police, detained, and assaulted. |Privacy Policy South Vietnam was swiftly overrun by the savage North Vietnamese after the American withdrawal in 1975. Despite the serious nature of his plea, Murray wasn't afraid to get a little cheeky. Instead, America’s departure unleashed one of the most horrifying tides of murderous cruelty ever witnessed by the human race. Things start to go rapidly downhill for Vincent when he has to come up with money he doesn’t have to pay off his gambling debts. William Albert Murray (born 6 October 1946) is an English actor, best known for playing Don Beech in The Bill from 1995 to 2004, Johnny Allen in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2005 to 2006, and Captain John Price in the video games Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Modern ⦠But I saw people of the Vietnam era in that book, and thatâs one of the reasons it touched me. | Veteran Collectibles Pound for pound, Vietnamese Communism was one of the most bloodthirsty ideologies the world has ever known. The thing that is so dangerous about the Left’s cynical manipulation of youthful idealism is that complex truth is replaced with simplistic fairy tales, symbolic gestures, and emotional appeals. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. ... Murray took a strong anti-gun stance, comparing the Parkland students to Vietnam protesters. The Vietnamese Communists had a lively spinoff franchise in Cambodia known as the Khmer Rouge, managed by a fellow called Pol Pot, a Hall of Fame monster in the annals of genocide. The carnage was staggering. St. Vincent is a serious-minded film with a few laughs and has an ending that will not surprise you. Bill Murray thinks the students of Parkland, Florida, have the ability to enact powerful change. And worth seeing. They were at sea for six months in some cases, facing everything from pirates and storms to malnutrition and disease. Here is a little irony for Bill Murray to savor: the Khmer Rouge leaders were highly educated student activists who were absolutely convinced they knew what was best for society. The overall death toll from the four-year Cambodian genocide has been estimated at 2 million against a total national population of just 7 million. When Vietnam Veteran Bill Murray put on his medals and headed to the Mudgee Anzac Day Dawn Service it was for the first time ever â and something that wouldâve been unthinkable in the five decades since his discharge. In true Bill Murray fashion, the op-ed is casual, conversational, even a little fragmented. Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun. Which brings us to Murray’s latest, St. Vincent , in which the sixty-four-year-old stars as Vincent MacKenna, a cranky, antisocial, hard-drinking Vietnam veteran beset by physical, financial, and emotional problems.