It’s been a long time since I posted one of these. To vastly oversimply, life got in the way. Doesn’t mean I stopped watching and loving movies. Nor did I stop celebrating obscure and common National Days with movies and learning important life lessons from them. I just stopped writing about them but I’m back for as long as I’m inspired. To that end, I am changing things up a bit. There’s a new title for the blog. I’m changing up the format- adding recommendations for similarly themed movies and sometimes the movies won’t be related to a specific day just something I watched that I want to share. That’s still the number one priority- share fun movies.
National Day
September 29th is VFW Day. The Veterans of Foreign Wars(VFW) is an organization made up of veterans and active service men and women. Not only have VFW members served the nation in the military but via the VFW organization, they serve their communities in voluntary capacities. VFW halls provide members with a sense of community as well as other assistance including health, jobs and financial. Many of the halls struggle financially especially during the pandemic. In honor of VFW Day, I watched 2019’s VFW directed by Joe Begos.
The Movie
VFW tells the story of a group of army veterans spending the night at their local VFW Hall, a regular activity, reliving past glory, Miss 1963 and celebrating the birthday of Fred(Stephen Lang). Oh and watching old exercise videos- think Jane Fonda.They are grizz;ed old guys played by a veritable who’s who of movie legends. There’s Walter(William Sadler), Abe(Fred Williamson), Lou(Martin Kove), Doug(David Patrick Kelly) and Tom(George Wendt). They are later joined by Shaun(Tom Williamson) who has just returned from combat. The VFW has the misfortune of being across the street from an abandoned movie theater that has been taken over by a drug dealing gang and the addicts that they serve. The new drug is called HYPE and users fall into a crazed, zombie-like state.The gang has a deal in place to sell a large quantity of HYPE the following day. They just need to make it through the night incident free. Incident free seems to be something that gang leader Boz(Travis Hammer) Is incapable of and he inexplicably murders an addict. He then leaves the body out to be discovered by Lizard, the dead woman’s sister. Lizard is not pleased to say the least and steals the HYPE narrowly escaping Boz. With the gang and the addicts in pursuit, Lizard flees to the nearest building, the VFW. The vets reluctantly rally behind Lizard and the battle is on.
VFW is a dark gritty throwback. It feels as though it could have come from the 80s. There is also a definite nod to John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13. The fights and violence are inventive and there is plenty to satisfy. The cast is fantastic- a collection of actors who you’ll recognize from somewhere. Their careers have spanned eras and genres. It is great to see all these actors I grew up on kick ass. The movie flows through it’s 92 minute run time. Pair this with Assault on Precinct 13 for a wild night of sieges.
Other Movies With Antlers Used As Weapons
Get Out
Friday the 13th (2009)
Silent Night Deadly Night
Life Lessons
1. If your friends want you to close down early, do it. Whether it’s because it’s slow or they want to take you to a strip club to see Miss 1963’s daughter dance, they have your best interests in mind and you might have a much needed good time.
2. Don’t mess with older people. This probably goes without saying but besides respecting your elders, they’re wily and can still mess you up if they needed to.
3. Take care of veterans. Again this should go without saying. They have fought for the country and in many instances experienced terrible things. There should be no question about funding anything they need. Whether it be medical, psychological, housing, education or as simple as VFW halls, there should be no issue in paying for it.
