FTA

Commercially unavailable since its one-week-only 1972 theatrical release, the documentary FTA highlights a 1971-72 vaudeville-style tour that played outside of U.S. military bases on the West Coast and throughout the Pacific. The show's stars Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland also took time to interview various service members, whose comments are harsh and often rude, ranging from outright condemnation of the American involvement in Vietnam to drawing attention to racism and sexism within the military. One harrowing sequence involves a meeting with a discharged U.S. soldier who lost an arm in Vietnam—a man found wandering aimlessly through Japan, without a home or sense of purpose. The actual stage show “FTA” (which stands for “Free the Army” although it is more popularly known as “Fuck the Army”) is fairly benign, with most of the humor falling into Beetle Bailey-style jokes about pompous officers and smart-aleck enlisted men. During the shows, Fonda remains submerged in the ensemble, but she is front-and-center with the media assigned to cover the tour, making it amply clear that she supports the troops but not the military policies that put them in harm's way (not that these statements will appease any viewers still bitter over “Hanoi Jane”). A fascinating time capsule from a fractious period in American history, FTA is an important rediscovery. DVD extras include an interview with Fonda. Recommended. (P. Hall)