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I don't have a copy at hand to check my memory, but I think Michael Herr
has a vivid passage on John Wayne's inspiring fatal heroics in Viet Nam
(see *Dispatches*).  Peter Davis uses WWII combat films to explain
the ideology of racism and nationalism that (he argues) convinced some
Americans to bear arms against an Asian Communist menace.  Jim Belton's
companion text, *American Cinema/American Culture*, has a brief, but
provocative chapter on "The War Film"; in a quick discussion of the
structuring of masculinity in these films, he includes analyis (and
a still) of the drill instructor in *Full Metal Jacket.* This is stuff
to this side of your comment--but leads to my question.  Has anyone
commented on Belton's text?  Is it a contender for introductory American
film classes?  Grady Ballenger, Northwestern State (Louisiana)