It was 1974 and it starred Martin Sheen.
That alone says what to expect of this movie.
And it was a movie. According to the movie, Slovik had reformed, got a good woman, and didn't want to fight.
In real life, Slovik may have been a naive innocent, or he may have just wanted to manipulate the system.
Whoever Slovik was or wasn't is for history to decide, but this was a movie that dealt with dessertion at a time when a country was questioning why it was fighting, and the movie took sides.
With no regard to servicemen who were in Viet Nam either in 1974 (as Willie Nelson would say, let's tell the truth, it was about the Viet Nam war, not WWII), EoES was as propagandistic as Gung Ho was in the forties.
According to this movie, Slovik stated his position, plain and simple. He had a nervous problem. Heck, I have a clinical nervous condition, and trust me, if I had done military duty, it would have been no problem for me to either just let my nerves go and fail at my tasks and get a demotion or put on KP duty or latrine duty with no problem.
If we believe the teleflick, Slovik didn't have that option, no doubt because of his criminal history.
Whatever the viewer wants to believe is up to the viewer. I've learned that movies from this decade or that decade, in dealing with service or military duty, will pretty much take the same stance over and over.
1940s and 1950s, serve your country.
1960s and 1970s, mock your country.
This is the history.
The whole movie seemed predictably Hollywood to me. He refused to serve and only when he was being strapped up to be executed does he show emotion.
Such an emotional outburst could have easily worked to his advantage in his declaration of his nervous condition, but obviously the movie wanted to show him as a human being and only when he is about to die does he become sorrowful.
I'm not a Catholic, but I thought the recital of the hail Mary by Ned Beatty and Sheen at the end, with the Lord's prayer, was funny as it sounded like they were trying to see who could say it faster.
I don't see how this movie could be watched without realizing it was aimed at Tricky Dick Nixon and the Viet Nam war.
I hope it was all worth it for Slovik and anyone who chose to follow his example.
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