(1972) 2.5 Mark Deming No actress of her generation was as willing to stand before the barricades during the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s and early 70s as Jane Fonda, and she paid a price for her activism, dropping out of public favor and being treated like box-office poison until she began embracing aerobic dancing and light comedies in the late 70s. Fonda would later nod to her activist past with projects like The China Syndrome and Coming Home, but they addressed their issues in a far less confrontational manner than Fonda did when she was working with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard. In 1971, Fonda and a group of activist performers created a "political vaudeville" show called F.T.A. which was intended as a countercultural response to Bob Hope's annual shows for the troops in Vietnam; performed at G.I. coffeehouses and venues near military bases, the F.T.A. show (the name coming from a bit of G.I. slang, an acronym for "F--k the Army") was a demonstration of support for the growing anti-war movement among America's enlisted men (a phenomena chronicled in David Zeiger's superb documentary Sir! No Sir!). When Fonda took the F.T.A. show overseas for a tour, playing to thousands of servicemen in Hawaii, Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines, a camera crew tagged along and Francine Parker's film F.T.A offers glimpses of the show as well as the media circus that followed Fonda and her fellow performers, along with interviews with some of the soldiers they met along the way. For decades, F.T.A. was something of a phantom in Fonda's filmography; American International Pictures opened the film on July 14, 1972, and a day later news broke that Fonda had made an ill-advised visit to Hanoi during a trip to Vietnam and spoke on North Vietnamese radio. Suddenly F.T.A. became a political hot potato, and after only a week in theaters AIP pulled it from release. The film became all but impossible to see after that; many have speculated that AIP knuckled under to political pressure to bury the film, and that Fonda (who produced the picture) was responsible for keeping it under wraps as she tried to distance herself from her reputation as "Hanoi Jane" in the 80s and 90s. (In 2001, when the Film Society of Lincoln Center presented a lengthy retrospective of Fonda's work, F.T.A. was conspicuous in its absence.) When clips from F.T.A. popped up in Sir! No Sir!, it marked the first time in years that Fonda was willing to acknowledge the film (and the show) existed, and in early 2009 she appeared at a screening of a restored print of F.T.A. in anticipation of its release on DVD. Seen thirty-six years after its scuttled theatrical release and a hazy second life on crummy-looking bootleg videos, what's most surprising about F.T.A. is that the show itself almost seems beside the point. Fonda is a bundle of crackling enthusiasm on stage and a real team player, but her chops as a sketch comic in F.T.A. probably wouldn't have gotten her a callback for MAD TV, and Michael Alaimo's broad, eye-rolling shtick fares even worse, especially given how painfully obvious some of his material reads all these years later. Donald Sutherland seems far looser and more comfortable before an audience than most of his cast mates; his bit doing football-style play-by-play commentary on a battle in progress is easily the funniest thing in the movie, while his closing reading from Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun is genuinely powerful stuff. And while Rita Martinson and Len Chandler's musical performances are strong, their songs are less impressive, even if they do go over with their intended audiences. It's what happens between shows that really resonates in F.T.A.; Fonda, Sutherland and the rest of the cast are often seen talking with soldiers who came out to see the show, a few of whom also appear on stage, and what they have to say about their experiences is the real meat of this film. From African-Americans complaining about racial inequality in the military and WAF's discussing sexual double standards in the Air Force to ordinary foot soldiers talking about how what they've seen and what they've been ordered to do has altered their views about the war, F.T.A. is at its best when Fonda and Parker let the soldiers fighting the war take center stage. Their words possess a blunt eloquence that the well-intentioned songs and skits lack, and while the stage show has dated, many of the interviews with G.I.'s seem painfully timely as America struggles with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many still accuse Fonda of being a traitor who betrayed America's fighting men and women during Vietnam, but ultimately F.T.A. is a real and heartfelt message of support to the troops who were left to fight a war they could not believe in, and this film makes the point that she and her cohorts had plenty of love for the soldiers who fought the battles, even as they voiced their contempt for their commanders and the war itself. After seeing F.T.A., it's hard to imagine why Fonda would keep it from being shown, as it says far more positive things about her days as an anti-war activist than offering support to her critics.

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F.T.A. (1972)

F.T.A.

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Questionable for Children

genres

Culture & Society

sub-genres

category

Documentary

directed by

Francine Parker

countries

USA

released

1972

run time

96 min.

produced by

American International Pictures, Duque Films

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F.T.A.

F.T.A.

by Mark Deming synopsis

In 1971, Jane Fonda and a group of fellow activist performers and musicians (including actor Donald Sutherland, musician Holly Near, and writer and comedian Paul Mooney) put together a satirical revue to perform at coffeehouses and parks near U.S. Army bases for the entertainment of G.I.'s who had come to oppose the war in Vietnam. Calling the show F.T.A. (meaning either "Free The Army" or "F-ck The Army" depending on what part of the show one witnessed), the show included protest songs, anti-war humor, appearances by G.I.'s and veterans who spoke out the war, and agit-prop theater designed to increase awareness and spread resistance against the military escalation in Vietnam. After a tour of the United States, the troupe headed to the Pacific, where they performed in Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, and Okinawa. F.T.A. is a documentary of the troupe's Pacific Tour, including highlights from the show, appearances by local performers, behind the scenes footage of the logistical and political problems of keeping the show on the road, and conversations with soldiers as they discuss what they saw in battle, their anger with the military bureaucracy, and their opposition to America's presence in Indochina. American-International Pictures released F.T.A. in the United States in 1972, but it appeared in theaters the same week that Jane Fonda made her infamous trip to Hanoi; AIP soon pulled it from circulation and it has been seen very rarely since.

characteristics

- Anti-war

- Revue

- On-the-road

- Satire

- Resistance

- Activism

- Activist

- Protester

- Musician

- Skits

- Actor

- Actress

- Behind-the-scenes

- Songs

- Acting