2003.78.5

Jane Fonda's answer to Bob Hope's military comedy show was pulled from theatrical release after just one week in American theatres! I guess it's not hard to see why, considering the stony silence the film industry had towards the Vietnam War in the early 70's. In fact, it's amazing this movie even got released, let alone got made during those turbulent times.During 1971 and 1972, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland led a quasi-USO tour that played in towns outside of U.S. military bases along the West Coast and throughout the Pacific. Fonda referred to the tour as "political vaudeville" and the show itself was called "FTA" (the acronym standing for "Free the Army" and "F*ck the Army"). The audiences were primarily the men and women of the U.S. armed services, and during the tour Fonda and her company interviewed the various soldiers, sailors and marines regarding their thoughts on the Indochina slaughterhouse.