60 CASUALTIES OF WAR
firefight, Eriksson awakens in a field hospital and relays his story to a friend, Rowan
( Jack Gwaltney). Rowan encourages Erikkson to relay his story to their superiors,
Lt. Reilly and the com pany commander, Capt. Hill (Dale Dye). However, rather
than take corrective action, both Reilly and Hill choose to sweep the situation under
the carpet and reassign Erikkson to a position digging tunnels. The other four
squad members are split up and reassigned to other units as well. Later that eve ning
after Clark tries to “frag” (assassinate) him, Eriksson, armed with a shovel, con-
fronts Meserve and his men, who back off. After Eriksson meets with Capt. Kirk
(Sam Robards), a chaplain, and tells him the story of Than’s grim fate, an investiga-
tion is launched and the four men involved in Than’s rape and murder are court-
martialed. Clark is sentenced to life in prison, Hatcher receives 15 years hard
labor, Meserve receives 10 years hard labor, and Dìaz receives 8 years. At the end of
the film, Eriksson awakens from his Vietnam flashback still on the train he was rid-
ing at the outset of the film. Seated nearby is a Viet nam ese American student who
resembles Than. She leaves behind a scarf as she disembarks at Dolores Park, and
Eriksson runs after her to return it. She thanks him politely and turns away and
adds that he’s had a bad dream as he gazes thoughtfully over a peaceful scene.Reception
In 1,487 theaters by mid- August 1989, Casualties of War grossed $5.2 million at
the box office the first week of its release but quickly faded. If audiences were
expecting a rousing war picture, they got anti- war gothic horror instead. Ultimately
the movie was not profitable; it earned only $18.7 million but cost $22.5 million
to make and prob ably another $5 to $10 million to market: a net loss of at least
$9 million, perhaps more. Reviews were largely positive but Casualties ignited pro-
tests by some Vietnam veterans’ groups, who judged it an exploitative work that
perpetuated popu lar ste reo types of Vietnam soldiers as rapists and murderers
(Kastor, 1989, C1). Adding some credibility to their claims, screenwriter David Rabe
disassociated himself from the movie, citing “creative differences” with De Palma,
prob ably having to do with fabricated action scenes not in the original source
material and a concocted “happy ending.”Reel History Versus Real History
Except for the victim’s name, which is correctly reported, Daniel Lang used fic-
tional names throughout his account of the Incident on Hill 192. The movie ver-
sion uses Lang’s pseudonyms with a few slight variations (e.g., Sven Eriksson, the
Robert Storeby character, becomes Max Eriksson). It also gets the kernel of the story
right: the five- day recon patrol, the abandoned hooch, the rape and murder of a
Viet nam ese peasant girl, the one righ teous dissenter and witness, the initial reluc-
tance to prosecute, the subsequent court- martial (actually there were four), and the
sentencing. But Casualties of War also resorts to considerable embellishment and
omission in its rendition of the events. In real ity Storeby was not rescued from a
hole by his squad leader (whose real name was Sgt. David E. Gervase). The squad’s
radioman was not killed. In actuality Gervase and his men did not make a spur-
of- the- moment decision in the midst of a firefight to kill their victim; they planned