''A Soldier's Sweetheart'' is a 1998 television film directed by Thomas Michael Donnelly and starring Kiefer Sutherland,

Skeet Ulrich Skeet Ulrich (; born Bryan Ray Trout on January 20, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in popular 1990s films, including Billy Loomis in '' Scream'' (1996), Chris Hooker in '' The Craft'' (1996) and Vincent Lopiano in '' ...

, and Georgina Cates. It is based on a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by Tim O'Brien, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." The story was part of his award-winning book, ''

The Things They Carried ''The Things They Carried'' (1990) is a collection of linked short stories by American novelist Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War. His third book about the war, it is based upon his ex ...

'' (1990).

Cast

* Kiefer Sutherland as Rat Kiley *

as Mark Fossie * Georgina Cates as Marianne Bell *

Daniel London Daniel London (born 1973) is an American actor, best known for his roles in ''Patch Adams'', ''Rent'' and '' Old Joy''. Life and career Born and raised in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, London began writing and acting in plays in high school. Whil ...

as Eddie Diamond * Louis Vanaria as Bobbie D * Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. as Shoeshine * Christopher Birt as Lt. Mitchell Sanders * Tony Billy as Soldier #2

Release

The film is only available on VHS, and a petition has been set up at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

urging the companies that own the rights to the film to consider reissuing it in

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

format. It was also premiered at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

in 1998. The film received a theatrical release in Belgium in 2010.

Reception

Bob Batz from ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' gave ''A Soldier's Sweetheart'' a very positive review, stating: "The film, based on Tim O'Brien's award-winning short story Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong, is a brutal, often bloody story of the Vietnam War and how it changed many of the men - and women - who were part of it. It is filled with excellent dialogue and has enough plot twists to keep viewers riveted to their easy chairs for the entire two hours." Ken Eisner from

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

also gave the film a good review, concluding: "Just when you think all the basic Vietnam stories have been told, helmer Thomas Michael Donnelly puts a new spin on America's lost cause by viewing it from a female angle. Striving for mythic levels — although there's plenty of scary grit to it — "A Soldier's Sweetheart" taps into an aspect of warfare that transcends gender. Subject, then, is a difficult one, but extremely well-mounted pic could resonate with women if Paramount can find a way to package it for theatrical release". ''A Soldier's Sweetheart'' was nominated for two awards. One Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special" and one Golden Reel Awards for "Best Sound Editing - Television Movies of the Week - Dialogue & ADR".

References

External links

"The things they carried: a work of fiction, Volume 1998, Part 2" - Google Books
*

Cast

Release

Reception

References

External links

See also