GCJake
Notice the stereotypes this movie presents: Vietnamese as courteous, hardworking, church going honorable people. Vietnamese war vets: racist, womanizing drunks. This is one of many films that utterly demonizes Vietnam vets. Madigans character so admires the Vietnamese leader that she declares: "You have to be the last cowboy in Texas".If you watch most Vietnam war flicks vets are usually (take your pick or all of the below) criminals, drug users or dealers, perverts, rapists, psychologically unbalance, racists. Yet statistics show that VV's are no more prone to this than the rest of the general population. Do not watch this crap.
tryan1972
I've always loved the movies and low budget's are my favorite. As the thirty-three yr old niece of the Shrimper, whose murder, this film is looooosely based on I found watching it brought back extremely painful and frightful memories. Were this movie not based on my Uncle's cruel and thoughtless murder, I would most likely not give it a second thought. Being that he was "written" and "portrayed" as a violent, dim witted, red neck and bitter Vietnam soldier turned shrimper is a slap in the face to his entire family that had to deal with the untimely murder of a Son, Father, Brother, Uncle and friend, and the outrageous miscarriage of justice that followed in it's wake. Indeed there is a True story out there. Unfortunately, in our rush to sympathize with the poor newcomers to our shores, it has never been "Truly" told. My Uncle was indeed a Vet, but did not serve in Vietnam, he also was a Charter Fishing Captain, he was in a long marriage to a loving and supporting wife, he was father of three children and yes a crabber. After approaching the law on several occasions for help after harassment by Vietnamese Refugees, and not getting any help, he was shot in the chest and again in the back as he fled his armed murderers. He was UnArmed. In a Mock Murder Trial, the Van Nguyen brothers, the murderers, were acquitted on self-defense. Even though they openly admitted leaving the scene of the eventual crime to go home and get their rifles to Kill my uncle. How convenient for President Carter. Maille, Arlsen as well as Marie Shriver (liberal democrat who contributed to the making of this film) should all be shamed and ashamed. An American was murdered in his own town by Wards of the Federal Gov't! I do not recommend this film for viewing or for DVD. Enough blood money has been made off my Uncle's innocence.
Matt Rogers (spmakeupfxdude)
I really enjoy this movie. I am normally a Horror buff, but there is a great ambiance of the Texas Gulf created. Not to mention wonderful character development. The story is about a young Vietnamese man (Ho Nguyen) who comes to Texas after the war for work. He ends up hitching a ride and begins work shrimping on the Gulf Coast of Texas. He is taken in by the Shrimp business owner's daughter (Amy Madigan). Everything is going well until the pressures of the immigrants over fishing drives Shang (Ed Harris) to lead the Ku Klux Klan to drive out the Vietnamese. The drama continues in a very REAL display. You will be able to find a VHS copy on Amazon or Ebay. This movie SHOULD be released on DVD.
Jinx-to-Ennien
I lived in the Rockport-Fulton area, where parts of the movie was filmed, most of my life. I remember when the Vietnamese people began moving into the area, and the problems they had with some of the local citizens. This movie was pretty accurate about the feelings of some of the shrimpers, I am sorry to say. Ed Harris did a wonderful job of portraying the racist shrimper. He reminds me of a few people I knew in the area. Amy Madigan was also great portraying his former girlfriend. She had some tough decisions to make. This is a good movie with interesting characters and great acting. I think that the relationship between some of the Texas shrimpers and the Vietnamese shrimpers is portrayed pretty realistically.