Showerin': Get used to this one. The pre-'Nam cadets in Streamers seem to like showering a lot. Especially mid-conversations. Now, you don't see too much, if that's why you're watching this, you perv, but it might have some special meaning that I didn't catch.
Suspectin': Picture it, 1983 is when the film came out, but it was based during the Vietnam War. We have a FLAMING homosexual that even the similar time framed The Boys in the Band would reject and all the other characters do for an ungodly amount of time is to question if he's gay or not. Fine. Perhaps eyes weren't wide open as they are today
but do you need to wear a pink triangle on your sleeve to drive the effeminate flirting – with the same sex – home?
Smokin': Duh. It's a war-themed movie. Duh. It's about Vietnam. That was almost a prerequisite for making a 'Nam picture: actors must smoke. If they don't in their everyday life, they'll need to start the habit for realism.
Swearin': See above.
Sexuality: Though the movie, directed by Robert Altman, screams the director's other movie: M*A*S*H, I was thoroughly impressed he took this former play and brought the seldom spoken topic of homosexuals in the military. Kinda. But, still, people were pretty backwards in the early 1980s and I was happy to see someone taking a stand against homophobia, long before it became the norm.
Suicidin': These things happen. And I'm sure they happen more when someone's being forced into a seemingly unending conflict – er, war.
Stereotypin': Not as bad as the previously mentioned Boys in the Band reference, but still. The movie's not all about crushing homophobic idiocies, it's also about the different sides of racism. In fact, the movie's pretty evenly split between the two "lessons." That all said, both the black men and the (potentially ONE) gay person were so obvious to us, if they were men of the cloth, they would've most certainly be wearing a clerical collar, no matter the religion.
Switchbladin': This fits in with the one above. Of course, every tough black male carries one of these and swishes it proudly. No, I don't believe that, but pre-smart Hollywood would love you to identify the black male as the tough knife-wielding dude.
Stagin': This movie SCREAMS theater. As already mentioned, this was a play-turned-film. It wasn't the first to make the transition, and it most certainly wasn't the last. It was, however, TOO MUCH OF A PLAY. Every actor shouted, even when unnecessary, as if they were on a stage without mics. This went hand-in-hand with the constant overacting. I can tolerate some of that, but gimme a break; it's nearly two hours of it.
Stabbin': I should add another 'S' here for SPOILER (alert.) Don't read on, if you haven't already decided the movie's just not worth it. Nutzo character (heck, at least I wouldn't reveal who) stabs and stabs. Could be for toughness, but more likely just a mental breakdown. UH
they haven't even made it to the "conflict of 'Nam" that would most certainly damage them ten times more so than the murders he commits. On a side note, as I am sure, Director Altman had some credit to his name, but the "CSI" scenes following the murders were not only hilarious but were written and filmed pretty amateurish. I'm sure even as "prehistoric" as 1983 was, they still had better methods of collecting evidence than picking up the weapon with bare hands, or tracking the blood across the room, or moving the body, or the worst: simply stating within seconds: "Yep, they're dead, let's get 'em outta here." Really?
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