No one here gets out alive
August 8, 2007 2:37 AM   Subscribe

Underfire; images from the Vietnam war. Some photographers never made it out: Dana Stone, Henri Huet, Sean Flynn. Tim Page is still alive and his photos tell the story of 'Fire in the Jungle". Several of these almost forgotten legends hung out at Franki's House at one time or another. Page, Stone and Flyn were all friends of Michael Herr who wrote about them and the war in Dispatches which was widely acclaimed and acknowledged by Hunter S. Thompson as puts the rest of us in the shade.
posted by adamvasco (14 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Incredible pictures - thanks for posting.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:50 AM on August 8, 2007


I warned a friend who was about to read Dispatches: "You'll want to read no more than a few pages at a shot, and when you do, take breaks to go look at flowers and children, pet the cats, or hug the missus."
posted by pax digita at 3:00 AM on August 8, 2007


Dispatches is an excellent read, though it was a bit of a suck to realise that Mayhew was a composite/ficticious character.

Page's Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden has to be one of the best Viet Nam books i've read.
posted by the cuban at 4:40 AM on August 8, 2007


A book thoroughly recommended is One Crowded Hour about combat photographer Neil Davis, who was critical of Herr, who he claimed was more of a pop star than correspondent.

Herr is the archetype of the loud mouth, don't play by the rules yank war correspondent of Hollywood lore.

Davis filmed the NVA tank smashing through the gates of the US embassy in Saigon, as well as the infamous footage of the young Vietnamese girl running along the road with her flesh burnt by napalm, one of the iconic images of the war.

Davis had the dubious distinction of filming his own death while keeping his camera rolling while filming an coup in Thailand.

One Crowded hour is a far better read than Dispatches. The author Tim Bowden is an excellent broadcaster and journalist.
posted by mattoxic at 4:46 AM on August 8, 2007


I just FPP'd Vietnam era anti-war songs... I hadn't even seen this post.
posted by Poolio at 5:04 AM on August 8, 2007


that's some spooky shit
posted by mattoxic at 5:26 AM on August 8, 2007


that's some spooky shit

You talkin' to me, mattoxic?
posted by Poolio at 7:33 AM on August 8, 2007




I attended a talk Tim Page gave in London a while back at, I think, the Photographer's Gallery, and he took questions from the audience afterwards. I remember thinking at the time that he was probably one of the most fucked-up individuals I'd ever come across, but knowing what's he'd witnessed, that's hardly surprising. Photographs of Vietnam are disturbing enough, so the reality must have been so much worse.
posted by essexjan at 7:50 AM on August 8, 2007


So Sad. Sends a chill through me. Thanks lm.
posted by adamvasco at 7:51 AM on August 8, 2007


Thanks for the post. I'm looking at the pictures while listening to the music in the next FPP (what a coincidence).
posted by amyms at 9:51 AM on August 8, 2007


Great post.
posted by Drexen at 10:30 AM on August 8, 2007




Seeing pictures of some of those boys makes me want to fucking cry. How could we do this to our youngsters again so soon? Goddamn this administration sucks so bad.
posted by vito90 at 2:42 PM on August 8, 2007


« Older CGI 9/11 Erotica   |   Make Music, Not War Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments