Melodrama set in South Vietnam in the 1960s. Krueger (Bramhall), a former infantry lieutenant, is imprisoned at Quai Dong, on the South China Sea, for refusing to fight. After a year at hard labor, he is told to use his Vietnamese language skills to question a Viet Cong suspect. The prisoner is drugged and tortured during the interrogation. Krueger eventually stops the torture by pretending that the prisoner has disclosed the location of a supply dump.
Acting
Mark Bramhall's quietly crumbling conscience.
Direction
Bushnell's suffocating Quai Dong atmosphere.
Writing
The lie that saves a life — or does it?
Director
William H. Bushnell
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during the final years of the actual war, giving its moral exhaustion documentary-level resonance.
Howard Hesseman later became famous as WKRP's Dr. Johnny Fever — quite the career pivot from this grim affair.
US
