Free The Army tour

Genre

documentary film

How it feels

This documentary follows a 1971 anti-Vietnam War road show created by activists and entertainers as a counter to pro-war USO tours. Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and other performers travel to military bases to stage satirical skits and songs for American soldiers.

rebelliousanti-establishmentpoliticalrawprotestenergeticsatiricalhistorical

What happens

The FTA Show (or FTA Tour or Free The Army tour), a play on the common troop expression "Fuck The Army" (which in turn was a play on the army slogan "Fun, Travel and Adventure"), was a 1971 anti-Vietnam War road show for GIs designed as a response to Bob Hope's patriotic and pro-war USO (United Service Organizations) tour. The idea was first conceived by Howard Levy, an ex-US Army doctor who had just been released from 26 months in Fort Leavenworth military prison for refusing orders to train Green Beret medics on their way to the Vietnam War. Levy convinced actress Jane Fonda to participate and she in turn recruited a number of actors, entertainers, musicians and others, including the actors Donald Sutherland, Peter Boyle, Garry Goodrow and Michael Alaimo, comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory and soul and R&B singer Swamp Dogg (Jerry Williams Jr). Alan Myerson, of San Francisco improv comedy group The Committee, agreed to direct, while cartoonist and author Jules Feiffer and playwrights Barbara Garson and Herb Gardner wrote songs and skits for the show. Fred Gardner, the originator of the antiwar GI Coffeehouse movement, became the Tour's "stage manager and liaison to the coffeehouse staffs." At various times other actors, writers, musicians, comedians and entertainers were involved (see infobox). The United States Servicemen's Fund (USSF), with Dr. Levy as one of its principal organizers, became the official sponsor of the tour. The anti-Vietnam War USSF promoted free speech within the US military, funded and supported independent GI newspapers and coffeehouses, and worked to defend the legal rights of GIs. Sponsorship was later taken over by a group called the Entertainment Industry for Peace & Justice (EIPJ). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• F.T.A. (1972)
• Introduction to the Enemy (1974)
• The Vietnam War (2017)
• Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
• Hearts and Minds (1974)
• A Decade Under the Influence (2003)
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts (2018)
• The Camden 28 (2007)