MovieChat Forums > Hair (1979) Discussion > why did the hippie die in nam?

why did the hippie die in nam?

posted 9 years ago by nomail82
9 replies | jump to latest

are those dirtbags not allowed to tell the truth?
so dead before speaking no lie?

stupid movie, hillarious ending!

[–] longnecktx 9 years ago

Lots of people died in Viet Nam

Deaths in Vietnam War (1965–1974) per Guenter Lewy
Allied military deaths 282,000
NVA/VC military deaths 444,000
Civilian deaths (North and South Vietnam) 587,000
Total deaths 1,313,000

And then there was the draft in the US. Nothing funny about it if you were a male in those days.

[–] dannieboy20906 8 years ago

The interesting thing about those numbers is that a very little arithmetic shows that over 200,000 of the allied military deaths must be soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). That's pretty good for people that were commonly accused of not fighting. Of course, the truth is that many of them fought with loyalty and valor.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] Owlwise 9 years ago

Because he was willing to give his life to save Claude, laying down his own life for his brother. You may have heard of the concept somewhere ...

[–] freejazz38 9 years ago

Why are you so stupid?

[–] dannieboy20906 8 years ago

I thought this was a riddle along the lines of "Why did the chicken cross the road?" My guess was that "He was too stoned to hear and understand the attack warning, so he failed to seek cover."

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] nursemike64 8 years ago

Because he was sent over and was never trained for combat. He was a casualty due to his friendship with Claude and for being unprepare to
fight

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

They would immediately recognize he's not Claude and not send him to the battlefield without any training. He was basically a civilian at that point.

[–] hyperjet (727) 8 months ago

The movie totally screwed the pooch. In the original musical (spoilers), Claude goes to Nam, gets shot and appears at a peace rally at the end reuniting with his friends. Only they don't know he's there and he realizes he is a ghost.

[–] Owlwise (1535) 7 months ago

At that point in the movie, symbol & metaphor take over. It's not trying to be literally true, but emotionally true.