James Caan

Anjelica Huston

James Earl Jones

D. B. Sweeney

Dean Stockwell

Mary Stuart Masterson

Dick Anthony Williams

Lonette McKee

Sam Bottoms

Elias Koteas

Laurence Fishburne

Casey Siemaszko

Mark Frazer

Peter Masterson

Carlin Glynn

Erik Holland

Bill Graham

Francis Ford Coppola

Ronald Bass

Nicholas Proffitt

Carmine Coppola

Barry Malkin

Jordan Cronenweth

Stan Weston

Gary Fettis

Buddy Joe Hooker

George Fisher

Jay Emmett

Brad Bovee

Judianna Makovsky

Jeff 'JJ' Dashnaw

Michael I. Levy

Chad Randall

Dean Tavoularis

Alex Tavoularis

Willa Kim

David Burton

Phil H. Fravel

David Valdes

Fred Roos

David V. Lester

Tena Psyche Yatroussis

Janet Hirshenson

Jane Jenkins

Bonnie Timmermann

Teri Fettis-D'Ovidio

Daniel R. Suhart

Bing Sokolsky

Bobby Brown

Jeff Cronenweth

Jürgen Vollmer

John Gilroy

Debra Bard

Richard Beggs

Gloria S. Borders

Ronald Jacobs

Tom Bellfort

Louise Rubacky

Richard Hymns

Tim Holland

Jim Weidman

Robert Shoup

Marian Wilde

Dennie Thorpe

Randy Thom

Thomas Causey

Joseph F. Brennan

Gary H. Holt

Thomas A. Barone

Billy Beaird

Sheldon Ehrlich

Rodney Veto

Douglas T. Madison

John Frazier

Marilyn Matthews

John Napolitano

Monty Westmore

Bernadette Mazur

Brad Wilder

Philip Leto

Anthony Cortino

Eric Young

Wilma Garscadden-Gahret

Dan Lerner

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Gardens of Stone

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**_Coppola’s obscure gem about the war at home during the Vietnam conflict_**

In the late 60s, a cynical Korean vet (James Caan) would rather be training soldiers for Vietnam in Georgia, but instead he’s stuck at Arlington National Cemetery playing what he calls “toy soldier” with his colleagues (James Earl Jones, etc.). When an old buddy’s gung-ho son shows up (D.B. Sweeney), he settles for trying to keep him from becoming another statistic in The ’Nam. Anjelica Huston plays his potential girlfriend and Mary Stuart Masterson the greenhorn’s girl.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on the 1983 novel, "Gardens of Stone" (1987) is a worthy companion piece to all those Vietnam War flicks of the 70s-90s as it chronicles what was happening on the home front. It’s a war drama, but not a war action film, yet not a dull, lifeless drama (more on this in a moment).

Caan and Jones have good chemistry as old Army buds and Sweeney works well as the “new kid” (he looks like a young Ben Affleck when he broke out ten years later). Meanwhile Mary Stuart Masterson was never more beautiful. 

In ways the movie’s reminiscent of Eastwood's "Heartbreak Ridge" (1986) with its spunkiness and a smidgen of comedy (which I wasn’t anticipating), although don’t expect the cartoonish character of Cpl. Stitch Jones (Mario Van Peebles). In other words, the proceedings aren’t all dour. Yet there are heavy, moving parts given the topic. Coppola contrasts the beginning scene and ending scene. They’re the same sequence, but it holds more weight the second time around for reasons you’ll discover.

I was entertained, amused and moved. It’s a necessary piece of the puzzle in understanding the era of the Vietnam War. While it’s not on the level of greatness of Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” (1979) or “Forrest Gump” (1994), it’s still a solid Coppola movie with a little sloppiness here and there. For instance, the war games episode could’ve been done more coherently and entertainingly, as was done in “The Dirty Dozen” (1967). But time means money in cinema and they had a deadline.

I've heard people complain about how this or that wasn't technically accurate or realistic, but filmmakers aren't interested in being 100% true-to-life. If they were, no one would go see their flicks. Let me put it this way, movies are real-life with the boring parts taken out, as well as exaggerations thrown in. Take "Platoon" (1986), for example. Do ya really think everything that took place in that movie happened to _ONE_ platoon in real life? Of course not. Oliver Stone simply took many different highlights of the 'Nam experience and condensed them into one 2-hour tale of a single platoon.      

The notable cast also includes the likes of Dean Stockwell, Sam Bottoms, Larry Fishburne, Dick Anthony Williams and Elias Koteas. Bottoms and Fishburne of course worked previously with Coppola on “Apocalypse Now.” 

Before shooting commenced, Francis’ 23 year-old son, Gian-Carlo Coppola, was tragically killed in a speedboat accident in May, 1986. The reckless driver of the boat was Griffin O'Neal (Ryan’s son), who was slated to play the role given to Elias Koteas.  

The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot at Fort Myer & Arlington National Cemetery and nearby Washington DC.

GRADE: B

English

Gardens of Stone (1987) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

Gardens of Stone

The story of the war at home, and the people who lived through it.

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