By Erin Free
In this regular column, we drag forgotten made-for-TV movies out of the vault and into the light. This week: the 1970 military drama Tribes starring Darren McGavin, Jan-Michael Vincent and Earl Holliman.
The military boot camp movie has formed a tight little sub-genre over the years, giving rise to grade-A cinematic examples like Full Metal Jacket, An Officer And A Gentleman, Biloxi Blues, Tigerland and Heartbreak Ridge. Beating all these fine films to the punch, however, was the 1970 telemovie Tribes, directed by talented veteran Joseph Sargent, who has a long list of excellent television projects (Sunshine, Amber Waves, The Karen Carpenter Story, Mandela And De Klerk) and feature films (White Lightning, The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three) on his impressive resume. Working from a perceptive and highly thoughtful, but still entertainingly punchy, script by Tracy Keenan Wynn (The Longest Yard, The Drowning Pool) and Marvin Schwartz (who produced films like 100 Rifles and Kid Blue and has his sole screenwriting credit here), Sargent crafts something truly moving and deeply thought provoking here, throwing wildly disparate characters together and letting the sparks fly.
Set in the late 1960s, Tribes begins with a quietly stunning sequence. After being bussed onto a remote military base, a group of young US Marine Corps draftees have their heads summarily shaved as they are inducted into military life and instantly robbed of any sense of physical identity they may have previously enjoyed. Thanks to the commitment of the young actors, there’s no fakery here or plastic bald caps in evidence; these young men very obviously actually had their heads shaved for the film, and it’s not easy to watch. The look of misery, fear and painful acceptance is plain on their faces, though the gloriously long-haired Adrian (Jan-Michael Vincent) – who looks like he’s just swaggered in from Woodstock, and would appear to be the one with the most to lose – remains decidedly calm, even as his flowing locks hit the floor.
A meditating, peace-loving hippy who retains a sense of duty, Adrian immediately catches the attention of his direct superior Gunnery Seargeant Thomas Drake (Darren McGavin), who most definitely does not like what he sees. The only hitch is that Adrian almost instantly establishes himself as a determined recruit capable of winning the trust and respect of his fellow draftees. Despite his peace-loving ways, Adrian has very obvious leadership qualities. The fact that he can successfully get through most of Gunnery Seargeant Thomas Drake’s harsh commands via unconventional means like meditation makes Adrian even more of an unlikely military proposition. But while the young draftee raises Drake’s hackles, the pair also eventually find some common ground. No such easing of hostilities, however, occurs between Adrian and Drake’s bullish, overbearing commanding officer. Master Sergeant Frank De Payster (Earl Holliman) is far more aggressive and far less understanding than Gunnery Seargeant Thomas Drake, and the hardened military vet makes it his mission to undermine Adrian.
The performances in Tribes are all top-notch. In his first major leading role, Jan-Michael Vincent – ahead of his eventual major stardom throughout the 1970s in films like The Mechanic (1972), Buster And Billie (1974), White Line Fever (1975), Big Wednesday (1978) and Hooper (1978) – oozes raw-boned charisma, and wholly convinces as a peace-loving hippie with his lithe physicality. Older screen vets and well-established character actors Darren McGavin (who would hit the big time the following year with the influential hit TV movie The Night Stalker) and Earl Holliman (a busy “jobbing actor” capable of very strong work who does some of his best here) bring great shading and depth to their roles, while also selling themselves effectively as hardnosed US Marines.
Though the telemovie format of the 1970s precluded the use of profanity and overly extreme screen behaviour, Tribes nevertheless powerfully portrays the tough, grinding experience of life for a young draftee US Marine in Vietnam-era boot camp. The constant screaming, bullying and commands from superiors are brutal, as is the monotonous physical activity and the enforcement of the perennial need to conform. This is all presented in a straightforward, almost documentary style, free from hysteria and histrionics, which makes it sting even more.
This lack of melodrama spills happily over into the complex relationships established in the film. Gunnery Seargeant Thomas Drake can roar and rage right along with later big screen counterparts like Gunnery Seargeant Hartman and Seargeant Emil Foley, but he’s also a man who wants to get home so he can put his kids to bed, and who also enjoys sketching and drawing in his down time. Even the more bullish Master Sergeant Frank De Payster has his reasons for wanting the freewheeling Adrian to toe the line, mostly to do with his blinding sense of commitment to the US Marine Corps. Similarly, Adrian is no stereotypical hippie; free of petulance and entitlement, he boasts an endearing sense of earnestness and toughness. The interplay between these three disparate characters is consistently fascinating. Tribes is a telemovie very much painted in shades of grey, and one that always scratches away to get at both sides of the story.
A big ratings success when it first aired on November 10, 1970 as major network ABC’s Movie Of The Week, Tribes was later released theatrically in Britain and Europe (as many successful telemovies were) with the decidedly flashier alternate title of The Soldier Who Declared Peace.
Availability: Though released many years ago on VHS, Tribes never made it to DVD, and is only available online in fairly shoddy form, with blurry images and muddled sound. If you can get past that, however, it’s a rock-solid watch.
If you enjoyed this review, check out our other vintage telemovies The Jericho Mile, Death Car On The Freeway and Mongo’s Back In Town.
