Hey, I aint getting worked up, I'm just passing the time. Everyone dies and in light of that, this discussion is clearly pointless. But then, that's life - what else is there to do?

dougpirana, what are these "bumps" in the story that you keep on bringing up? There are none. Okay, you mention the Dear John letter, but this is only a small part of the film. And there's not even anything especially contrived about it, it works in te context of the rest of the film, provides another angle with which to view the soilders loss of hope and self. And as with everything, it's not what you say it's how you say it. There's nothing inherently false about a bunch of guys sitting around a fire talking, it's the way it's done - in SPR the cardboard quality of the characters and dialogue, the narrative purpose of what they say, the moral message behind the script, that's what makes it ridiculous.

And please stop bringing up Ebert. Ebert and the Academy, both are equally poor arbiters of taste.

[This message has been edited by maha vishnu (edited 05-31-2000).]