Alamo Bay

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.

This film, like its director, was years ahead of its time. Before Mississippi Burning, Cry Freedom, and Rosewood solidified the cliches of the racism genre, Louis Malle delivered this authentic, effortless look at Vietnamese fisherman working off the gulf coast of Texas. No house burnings and lynchings need apply. Malle and his writer Alice Arlen pay such close attention to detail that the film pants with life in the hot Texas sun. The actors scarcely seem to be acting at all. It takes skill and courage to film an incendiary subject like this won with a level head and a compassion for all involved. Despite its route cinematic ending, this film's catch is bountiful.

This story of attacks on Vietnamese immigrants on the Texas coast was loosely based on real events from 1979-81. Shang Pierce (Ed Harris) is a Vietnam vet who hates all non-white people and gets particularly riled when Southeast Asian immigrants begin arriving in his town, and especially when one of them develops a relationship with his girlfriend, Glory (Amy Madigan). The situation gets tenser and tenser as the movie progresses.

Maybe "Alamo Bay" is not the greatest movie ever, but it certainly shows a part of Texas history (and indeed, US history) that unfortunately seems forgotten. Ed Harris looks like a typical redneck, with a short, wispy beard. It is the sort of movie that you should check out if you get a chance.

An interesting conflict put to screen that depicts many racist echos that still reverberate in modern times.

Being a product of the 80s, it's hard for me to be sure what message this was trying to send back then. Now, it seems like it makes efforts to shine a light on the injustice dealt to Vietnamese refugees looking to make a new life. Whether or not it's done well is up for debate. Personally, there needed to be even stronger characterization for Dinh and other Vietnamese characters for this goal to succeed. Glory is probably the best character in the story in terms of development and being fleshed out. I kept waiting for something deeper to happen to Shang's (Ed Harris) development, but that doesn't come.

I'm not sure this story could have done it, but it's only natural for me to want to see some of these characters begin to come out of their deep seeded racism. In the end, one racist leader is killed, but what is stopping the next one from rising without the obstacle of loving Glory in their way? Because of this-being that there is no systemic change within the white community aside from plunging into further racism-it's hard for me to read the final statement about the perseverance of Vietnamese gulf coast workers without feeling like the path was made more dangerous for that fact to be true.

And maybe that's the point. But I'm not sure. As it stands, I appreciated the slice of life aspects the film brings, the unveiling of Shang's plan to bring in the Klan was intimidating if not shocking, and Glory, who felt like a pretty great character all of the time.

Edit: just learned that Amy Madigan (Glory) is actually married to Ed Harris (Shang) which is such a cool fact to learn after watching this.

WATCHED ON: Tubi

HIGHER OR LOWER: Higher.

The movie is stilted and slow in today's terms but does give a fairly accurate historical representation of the struggle of the Vietnamese shrimpers versus the KKK in the early eighties. Morris Dees and the newly formed Southern Poverty Law Center came to Kemah and Seabrook to make sure the Klan did not become the ruling class in the Texas Bay Area. The actual story can be found at www.tolerance.org or the southern poverty law center site. Louis Malle (yes he was French) was a great director who was married to actress Candice Bergen. He died of cancer in the late nineties. The movie does show a fledgling actor, Ed Harris, who has gone on to make many successful movies. The script was written by the writer of "Silkwood" which was another docudrama. It is worth watching for the history alone. Shows the pain felt by the locals and the immigrants.