Cheap Gardens of Stone (DVD) (James Caan, Anjelica Huston) (Francis Ford Coppola) Price

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Customer Reviews of Gardens of Stone

Fantastic combination - Coppola, Caan & Jones
Francis Ford Coppola is one of my favorite directors ever, and he has done another great job with "Gardens of Stone." I had only the tiniest fraction of an idea what this film was about prior to watching it, so I had no expectations going in. The film opens with a powerful scene; a soldier is being buried in Arlington, and Coppola spends long moments on the widow's anguished face; Mary Stuart Masterson conveys such depths of sorrow that tears welled in my eyes instantly, even though I didn't know who any of the characters were at that point, or understand how the soldier had died.

Sadly, the relationship between Masterson and Sweeny didn't get fleshed out fully through the movie, and I wish it had been - it would have added another layer to Sweeny's character. The relationship that was most interesting in the story is that between James Caan and James Earl Jones; they play old war buddies and best friends, and they do an excellent job of it. Their facial expressions, body language, voice inflections, everything - they are truly outstanding actors.

There are many moments of laughter in the film, followed by powerful and profound moments of sorrow, and Coppola balances them out very well. It's a film primarily about friendship, but also about love, respect, politics, living and dying. I really recommend it to anyone who enjoys military movies, but it's not *just* an Army movie. Truly exceptional.

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The end product of political miscalculations
Gardens of Stone is the end of the line for old generals and young privates of the Vietnam War. Before one embarks on a war or support of one, they should watch this film that gets to the heart of the matter, human cost. This movie is the story of the 3rd Infantry, The Old Guard. We see them on parade at WHite House functions and patrolling in front of the tombs of the unkowns but I think it is forgotten that they have a military mission as well. This mission is illustrated in the film, over and above the ceremonial.

James Caan as a tired NCO meeting an eager young soldier. I got the feeling that Caan was seeing himself in this and was trying to prevent a needless tragedy. The young man meets a girl, they get married. He goes to OCS and Vietnam and returns to the Old Guard in a coffin. I think he was understanding what Caan was trying to tell him when he was killed.

This is a difficult movie to watch as Caan attempts to win a woman with strong anti-war feelings. Caan is not exactly anti-war but I think he is speaking from a world weariness of having been in two wars and knows first hand, what this woman can only intelectualize. It is an interesting plot and one that is quite realistic.

This is a sober movie, with a few light moments, but is in reality a realistic look at what life was like for soldiers burying their fellows at Arlington. A must see for anyone with an interest in the cost of war.

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In eternal glory...
This is a film with a difference -- many people come to it with preconceived notions of how a military-themed film should be, and are somewhat disappointed. This is not an action film, and while it fits the overall genre of being a protest film about Vietnam, it is not unambiguously so. It is an anti-war film, to be sure, but is not an anti-military or even anti-American film. It has an emphasis on duty and honour that transcends minor considerations of the particular patriotism for particular nations -- the themes as old as the Roman centurion's honour for fallen compatriots run through to the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetary.

The plot winds its way around the Old Guard, the honour guard at Arlington National Cemetary, charged with the performance of a hallowed trust, one of the few in a secular nation such as the United States -- that of overseeing the gravesites of the honoured dead who died after service to the nation, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The primary senior characters are Platoon Sergeant Hazard (James Caan) and Sergeant Major Nelson (James Earl Jones), two crusty veterans overseeing operations; both served in Korea and Vietnam with distinction, and are now sitting on the sidelines of the expanding war in Vietnam in a place where the body count is very apparent. Into this mix comes the young and idealistic Specialist Willow (D.B. Sweeney in one of his earliest roles), an Army brat whose father is (of course) a friend of Hazard and Nelson.

Willow has an unrequited love (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) in the daughter of a colonel, who seems to think that the son of a sergeant is beneath his daughter, even as Willow has ambition toward becoming an officer. Willow also has ambition toward the experience of real combat -- he sees duty at the Arlington National Cemetary as being uneventful -- Willow is certainly not a Patton-esque character, but rather portrays that element of the military and citizenry who wishes to be where the action is when action is happening. Hazard (and, to a lesser extent, Nelson), being world weary, tries to temper Willow's enthusiasm, knowing (and stating several times) that Vietnam is not the typical war -- when Willow says that he wants to be on the front lines, the retort from the more experienced soldiers is invariably that there is no front line in Vietnam. Ultimately, Willow does make it to Vietnam, and Hazard does decide to leave the Old Guard for a more active engagement in the war where he can do more good (or so he feels) than simply burying the dead who return.

Hazard also is involved (as a subplot) with a woman who struggles to deal with the contradictory nature of the war, embodied by Hazard (Angelica Huston plays the correspondent who has a largely anti-war feeling, but again this is tempered by not being anti-military). Hazard's intimacy with her grows throughout the film, being tested when he announces his intention to leave the cemetary duty and go to Vietnam service; Willow's father dies early in the film, thrusting Hazard into a fatherly role, so the trio become a makeshift family of sorts.

From my visits to Arlington and conversation and correspondence I've had with those who have worked there, this film is fairly accurate in its portrayal of the procedures of the place. There are some things which never change, and perhaps one of the more constant places of military tradition is here.

The backdrop of Coppola dealing with the death of his own son runs as a sombre tone throughout this tale, that has both high points and tragic points. The ending is somewhat predictable but no less poignant for being so. Coppola's idea that even with all the honour a mighty nation can muster, death is still tragic and war often has few winners (and certainly the Vietnam had no true winners) remains steady here.

There are few DVD extras, but the picture and sound quality is enhanced, with the full-screen and wide-screen options available.