Just in time for Memorial Day, Mill Creek Entertainment has released the new four film Scars of War Vietname 4-Movie Collection on Blu-ray, featuring four films revolving around different aspects of the Vietnam War.

The four films in this collection include Casualties of War (1989), Birdy (1984), Alamo Bay (1985) and Summertree (1971). While the first three had previously been released on Blu-ray, this is the first time that Summertree has been made available on the format.

Here is a look at each of the films in more detail:

Casualties of War (1989)

Casualties of War is based on an actual incident that occurred during the Vietnam War, as reported in The New Yorker magazine in 1969. PFC Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) finds himself in a difficult situation after his squad leader, Sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn), orders his men to kidnap a villager, to bring along to serve as their entertainment—to boost morale and break up their R&R. New recruit Diaz (John Leguizamo) expresses his concerns about being forced to rape an innocent girl to Eriksson, but the other men—Clark (Don Harvey) and Hatcher (John C. Reilly)—appear to be gung-ho with the plan, especially Hatcher, who can hardly contain his eagerness for his turn. Eriksson fears what the others will do to him and Diaz if they don’t go along with the horrific plan, and so he tries to speak up, but Meserve won’t take no for an answer and implies that accidents happen to soldiers in the field of battle. Even when Eriksson tries talking to those higher up, it seems like everyone just wants to ignore the issue. And this is not the only vile, despicable and racist behavior he witnesses from his fellow soldiers.

Casualties of War was easily the highlight of this release, with really strong performances and a horrifying true story, not just the atrocities of the war itself, but of this gruesome act committed by these soldiers, and one man’s pursuit of justice. It was also the only film in this collection presented in 5.1 surround sound, which was used extensively to make the viewer feel like they were in the middle of the battlefield action&mash;from explosions to bullets whizzing by, to helicopters flying overhead. The bass was also kicked up, allowing the viewer to feel the explosions, and bring to life the physical terror of the war, while at the same time experiencing the emotional and psychological terror of the situation. The picture is a bit soft in the modern-time framing scenes with Eriksson on a bus seeing a familiar face, but the rest of the film looks quite good, with a clean picture and generally great colors and level of detail.

Sony had previously released this title as an expensive MOD release, which included about an hour of bonus material—behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews, deleted scenes and a trailer—but unfortunately none of that has been ported over to this release. There was also a previous German Blu-ray that included an extended cut of the film, but this release only includes the theatrical cut.

Birdy (1984)

Birdy tells the story of two friends from Philadelphia, exploring their friendship before the war, and what they are like afterwards—having returned from war experiencing different forms of post-traumatic stress. One has been physically injured and the other mentally. Birdy (Matthew Modine) was the weird kid, who would spend all day reading about birds while the other kids played ball. Neighbor Al Columbato (Nicolas Cage) never really gave him much thought—except when baseballs landed in his yard, and his mother would keep them. One day Al decides to talk to Birdy, and the two end up becoming fast friends, despite being very different. They would spend time raising messenger pigeons, chasing down lost dogs, rebuilding a car, more. Al was good with the ladies, but Birdy’s obsession with birds often distracted him or weirded out potential double-dates. Al didn’t get along with his father and found it difficult to speak up to him, while Birdy’s father was very supportive of his son, and Birdy had no qualms about telling off Mr. Columbato. However Birdy’s parents were a bit worried about their son. Birdy had become obsessed with his pet birds, and the idea that he could become a bird himself, and learn to fly—an obsession that led him to try some dangerous things and get hurt.

In the present, both young men have returned from war. Al’s face has been damaged and burned badly, and Birdy was missing in action for a month, and hasn’t spoken a word ever since he was found. Birdy has been placed in a mental hospital, and his parents have asked Al to try to get him to speak before it’s too late and the doctors have him permanently committed. With the assistance of orderly Renaldi (Bruno Kirby) and nurse Hannah (Karen Young), Al attempts to communicate with with his old frind, but nothing seems to work. Al suspects Birdy may be faking his condition in order to escape from the rest of the world, and he won’t give up on his friend. At the same time, Al is also trying to deal with his own literal battle scars, wondering what he looks like under those bandages.

I don’t understand the high 7.8 IMDb rating for this movie. I found the film to be way too long, and somewhat pointless. First of all, it is being categorized as a Vietnam collection movie, and yet there is probably less than a couples minutes of actual footage of the two’s time in Vietnam or mention of the war. The focus is supposed on be on post-traumatic stress, but Birdy was already creepy and odd even before the war—wearing a bird suit to talk to the birds, kissing his birds on the lips, stripping down and laying naked with them in their cage, practicing flapping his arms and trying to fly, and obsessing about becoming a bird himself. I didn’t really see what was different about him after the war, except that he wasn’t talking. And Al didn’t seem all that distraught or worried about his face. Even though his big thing before the war was wooing the ladies, and having half his face burned was probably going to affect that, we never really see anything related to this, except for one little girl staring at him on a train. During the flashbacks we see that Al’s father was a bit of a jerk and abusive, which probably had some mental effects on him, but we don’t see how any of that changed after the war. While the story of the friendship had some fun moments, and Cage’s performance was actually pretty good, Birdy was just so creepy and mentally unstable from the start, that there was really nowhere for him to go.

The overall picture quality of the film is quite good, with a clean picture, a pleasant amount of film grain, beautiful colors and a nice level of detail. The film’s soundtrack is only presented in stereo, so there’s not an immersive feeling, but the dialogue is clear, and the score by Peter Gabriel sounds nice.

Alamo Bay (1985)

Alamo Bay takes a look at a different aspect of the war—what it was like for the veterans who returned home, and the Vietnamese in the United States. The story is inspired by a series of incidents which took place in the gulf coast of Texas between 1979 and 1981. Shang (Ed Harris) is a despondent Vietnam veteran in danger of losing his livelihood. As more and more Vietnamese immigrants move into his small Texas town and take a piece of his fishing industry, it gets harder and harder for Shang to make a profit, and he has defaulted on the loan for his boat. This has pushed him over the edge, and he is determined to clear the Vietnamese out of his family’s fishing grounds, and that means calling in the KKK for violent support. Shang has a wife and three small children, but he is also having an affair with his old high school girlfriend Glory (Amy Madigan), who recently moved back to town to help her father Wally (Donald Moffat) run his local fish house business after he fell ill. However, it isn’t long before Glory realizes that Shang is a bad person who is just using her to get money. Shang and other locals are also trying to freeze out her business, for buying products from the Vietnamese fishermen, including new arrival Dinh (Ho Nguyen), who seems to have a crush on Glory. Tensions are rising and it’s only a matter of time before things reach a boiling point and a war breaks out.

Alamo Bay is an interesting, though somewhat depressing look at how Vietnamese immigrants were treated after the war. Shang and other locals see them as a threat to their livelihood and treat them like garbage and try to intimidate and threaten them in order to get them to leave. Even a trip to the grocery store shows the bias and stereotypes in people’s minds, referring to them as VC, or accusing them of theft. Amy Madigan gives a really strong performance, showing this woman who at first falls back into old habits, but then must find the strength to do what is right, no matter what the cost. Ed Harris does a nice job of making you really hate his character—while normally you might feel bad for the situation Shang is in, there is no redeeming quality to this man—he’s a philanderer, a bigot, a racist and a murderer.

The film is presented with a mono soundtrack, so everything is focused on the center channel. Dialogue remains clear, and the soundtrack and effects sound good, but you don’t get that fuller, more-immersive sound you would get in a more modern track. The video presentation is quite solid. Only during the opening title sequence, as Dinh is walking down the street with the green grass on the side of the road, did I notice a lack of clarity and detail, but otherwise, it was a clean picture, with pleasant colors, and nice level of detail. Alamo Bay had previously been released as a limited edition Blu-ray by Twilight Time back in 2013, though the only bonus material was an isolated score track and the trailer. Neither of those are included here, but I wouldn’t say that’s a big loss.

Summertree (1971)

20-year-old Jerry (Michael Douglas) has become disinterested in college, and is trying to find some meaning to his life. He signs up to be a Big Brother, and is assigned a precocious, foul-mouthed young boy named Marvis (Kirk Callaway), whose older brother has been sent to Vietnam. He also meets and falls for nurse Vanetta (Brenda Vaccaro), and their relationship takes off. While things now seem to be going great in his life, Jerry is still not inspired by his classes. He is an aspiring musician and decides to transfer to the conservatory nearby, where he can play his guitar. However, the conservatory isn’t interested in a sophomore without any formal music training, and so this leaves him vulnerable to the draft. So now he must decide what he wants to do if he is drafted. His best option to avoid jail would be giving up his citizenship and fleeing to Canada—something his father is adamantly against—but would Vanetta come with him?

Summertree takes a long time to finally get to the reason why it is in this collection of Vietnam films. The focus of the majority of the film is on Jerry finding himself, befriending young Mavis, and falling in love. While there are news reports in the background regarding the status of the war, the topic of the draft isn’t even mentioned until two-thirds of the way into the film. The friendship with Marvis is fun and sweet, and the blossoming relationship between Jerry and Vanetta works, for the most part. However, the draft stuff feels very rushed at the end, especially since it is the main dramatic focus of the movie and the reason for it being included in this collection. Perhaps, at the time the film was originally made, these ideas were fresher in people’s minds and so viewers saw this turn of events coming much earlier on the film. The film presents an interesting predicament for Jerry, and explores the various options available to those who found themselves in this position. However, the film then quickly devolves into cheesy, over-the-top, afterschool special/TV movie of the week levels of melodrama, coming off more comical than serious in its final moments. The film also opens with the oddest music montage of Jerry and his treehouse, set to “Having the Time of Our Lives”, which feels like a sitcom theme song. There is also a very 70’s score that pops up later in the film, which I guess is fine to make this film feel dated as it is about a specific time in history.

This is the first time this film has been released on Blu-ray. The picture quality looks decent, but it definitely shows its age compared to the other three films. There’s a nice level of detail in some of the close-ups, but the picture is often too bright, and there are some white artifacts that pop up here and there. The film includes a stereo soundtrack that provides clear dialogue and a generally pleasant viewing experience, but there is nothing that’s particularly remarkable or really stands out.

The four films included in this compilation are a product of their time and/or of the era they are depicting, and nearly all of them make use of derogatory and/or offensive slurs for both the Vietnamese and homosexuals. This may be a bit jarring for today’s audiences.

The four films are spread across two dual-layer Blu-ray discs, which are placed on ether side of a standard Blu-ray keepcase. There is no slipcover or digital copy included. The discs each have a basic menu with a subtitle on/off option and a play button for each of the two movies on the disc—Casualties of War & Birdy on disc one, and Alamo Bay & Summertree on disc two.

What’s Included:

Films:

• Casualties of War (1989) (1:53:35)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
  • Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH
• Birdy (1984) (2:00:08)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
  • Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH
• Alamo Bay (1985) (1:38:40)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
  • Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH
• Summertree (1971) (1:29:22)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
  • Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

This release contains no bonus material.

Final Thoughts:

The Scars of War Vietname 4-Movie Collection Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment features an odd assortment of Vietnam War themed films. They range from the excellent Casualties of War (1989) to the bizarre Birdy (1984) to the dramatic Alamo Bay (1985) and the overly-dramatic Summertree (1971). In general the video presentation on these films is quite solid thanks to the fact that two BD-50 discs have been used rather than trying to squeeze two movies onto a BD-25 disc like some past releases. The audio is a mixed bag as many of the films only include mono or stereo tracks, while Casualties sounds fantastic. Unfortunately there is no bonus material on any of the discs, which may be disappointing for Casualties fans as the previous release had included some extras. However, the set is value priced, and should be an easy buy if there are a couple films in the set that interest you.