Wow! Can you say
disturbing!?! With "My Friends Need Killing", the undeservedly mocked director Paul Leder ("I Dismember Mama", "Ape") delivers one of the cheapest but also one of the all-time grittiest and most confronting post-Vietnam thriller/drama portraits ever! Like its own subject matter, this film is thoroughly unpleasant and depressing to watch, and the poverty-row production values actually contribute a lot to the powerful impact of the story. This is one obscure 70's gem sensitive souls and people with a weak stomach should stay far away from, as it's a genuinely shocking drama revolving on thought-provoking themes such as post-Vietnam traumas, guilt, retaliation and mental instability. Greg Mullavy gives an incredibly strong performance as Gene Kline, a man who lies awake night after night haunted by visions of the inhuman crimes he and his unit buddies committed in Vietnam and unceasingly hears the agonizing screams of their victims. Then, one morning, he writes his army comrades and subsequently visits them all with the vast determination to kill. Some of them, like Gill and Walter, deliberately banned the 'Nam atrocities from their minds and others, like Les, still struggle daily as well, but Gene vividly refreshes all their memories and foresees a suitable punishment. Considering the budgetary restrictions, the massacres obviously aren't too bloody, but the atmosphere of the "My Friends Need Killing" is almost unbearably excruciating and bitter. Even during the ex-soldiers' talkative reunion sequences, you simply feel how Paul Leder is building up towards a disturbing highlight. Mullavy is terrific, with a seemingly natural glance of despair and madness in his eyes, and he receives excellent support from the largely unknown cast. The song during the opening credits is catchy (and typically 70's) and the camera-work is surprisingly inventive for such an underdog film. "My Friends Need Killing" is definitely a cruel, relentless and nihilistic-toned piece of 70's film-making that is guaranteed to pester your thoughts long after seeing it. Music buffs will have noticed the title of this comment was borrowed from Billy Joel's Vietnam hit "Goodnight Saigon". Goodnight Saigon, all right
and also goodnight Texas, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
