Column Chronicles: Sequels that sank because they stank, part two

Sequels that sank because they stank, part two

Frank Cotolo
September 15, 2022

Not every good movie, not even every great movie, needs a sequel. The problem with Hollywood (one, at least) is most sequels are not loyal to the integrity of the original; they exist in name only, so they are crap.

Here is part two, the story of a sequel of a hit that was scripted but never saw the lighting of a set.

WE WERE SOLDIERS II: NOW WE'RE HOMELESS

Mel Gibson read the script and refused to return as Lt. Col. Hal Moore.

Following the story of the original, some of the soldiers that survived the first U.S. military confrontation of the Vietnam War return home to find themselves in post-traumatic condition and are honorable discharged.

Joe Galloway, the photographer, discovers he cannot take photos of live people after his hitch in Vietnam. He winds up living on the streets of San Diego with a bullhorn his only possession (because his photography equipment was Army-issued and he had to return it once discharged).

Sgt. Savage is discharged when he returns home and protests the war with a bunch of hippies that freak out in a groovy display of anti-war marching.

Henry Herrick, 2nd Lt returns to his barracks in Alabama to find that his fiance has opened a business called Dial-a-stripper and refuses to marry him if it means she must be a stay home wife. Herrick, crushed, disappears and a month later is discovered living under a interstate highway with his pants stuffed with stolen vegetables and wearing a baseball cap with the printing "Your Ad Here" on it.

Sgt Mjr Basil Plumley seems all right for the first two months but one day while training newly drafted soldiers he begins to act strangely, telling the draftees that the Vietnam War is moving to Egypt and they all have to be trained how to kill mummies. Basil is dishonorably discharged when he uses U.S. Army funds to book passage on a tanker for his troops to sail to Egypt. Basil walks into town a civilian and opens a lemonade stand on Main Street where he also lives. the story gets worse from there, causing the termination of the sequel.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.