Cirrus@Austlit

'This film concentrates on a group of professional soldiers in the combat zone at the height of the Vietnam War. In an episodic structure, verbal and physical jokes alternate with realistic scenes of combat in a manner comparable to MASH and Catch 22. Irony is the main means of suggesting the futility of war. The film is anti-heroic in tone with the emphasis on survival. On several occasions the embittered Harry refers to the public back home as indifferent or worse. The risks of combat are seen to be without purpose but the men do their job. The behaviour of the male group is within the ANZAC ethos of the anti-authoritarian, pragmatic digger and the ocker tradition of irreverent humour laced with sexist jokes.' Source: Libraries Australia.