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It was Napoleon, after all, that started all this medal business. He used the French word “hochet” in a famously ambiguous retort that is traditionally translated as: “It is by such baubles that men are led.” [Note: “hochet” is most commonly used to mean a baby’s rattle… as in, something to distract a small child.]

The Medal of Honor is America’s highest “hochet.” Approximately 3500 men (and they have almost all been men) have received this award. That said, they were promiscuously handed out to every soldier in Lincoln’s funeral honor guard as well as every officer who got off the ship when the US invaded Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914. Thereafter, standards were tightened, well, considerably. (For a background on our nation’s highest military award, I highly recommend a PBS documentary, “Medal of Honor,” directed by Roger Sherman, which I reviewed in early 2019.)

“The Last Full Measure,” directed by Tom Robinson, recently released in 2020, concerned the efforts to finally award the Medal of Honor, posthumously, to William H. Pitsenbarger, three decades after his death, in the Battle of Xa Cam My, April 11-12, 1966. It is also about war and remembrance, as well as the treatment of Vietnam War veterans by governmental officials and segments of the American populace.

As the movie commenced, I quickly reached the very erroneous conclusion that this would be another utterly phony Vietnam War movie. An American infantry unit is being attacked, taking heavy casualties, and a “dust-off” (medical evacuation helicopter) comes in to extract the wounded. But the person playing Pitsenbarger is wearing the stripes of someone in the Air Force. (Just another movie they can’t even get the uniform right, I thought – wrong!) Turns out Pitsenbarger was in the Air Force, and there were Air Force units that did medical evacuations. I was totally unaware of this – one more aspect of that war I would learn about, half a century later.

Thereafter, I appreciated how realistic most aspects of the movie were. Charlie Company, 2/16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division was indeed (partially) overrun, necessitating the “Broken Arrow” call for help. And in a critical 30 seconds, Lt. Billy Takoda, played so well by Samuel Jackson, would make an error on the coordinates, calling artillery fire down on his own men… an error that would haunt him for life. Yet another example of death by “friendly fire.” The character playing Pitsenbarger realized the first casualty extracted by cable (there was no LZ) was the company’s medic. He decided to go down on the cable and help treat the wounded, in lieu of the medic. William Hurt, who also gave an excellent performance played Air Force Sargeant Tully, who would try to get Pitsenbarger to come back up to the helicopter, and likewise was haunted by his failure. John Savage, from a movie I love to hate, “The Deer Hunter,” also plays a role in this one.

Sebastian Stan provides an excellent performance of “FNG” Scott Huffman, a hustling young career bureaucrat, making his move for his next higher level position as a civilian working at the Pentagon, and finds this whole MOH business, about something that happened so long ago, and these persistent Vietnam Veterans as an enormous pain in the posterior, derailing his career objectives. The script writer included some nice “touches” that underscored the bigotry against Vietnam Veterans and the utter indifference to the military by the civilian sector. For example, when Huffman learns that one of the veterans of the battle is living in Vietnam, he calls him “Kurtz,” as in that awful movie, “Apocalypse Now.” And Huffman is utterly clueless as to what the patch with the Big Red One stands for… and yes, he works at the Pentagon.

Much of the movie is how Huffman “turns,” and how that gaily piece of colored “hochet” might be a fitting tribute to mom and dad. Even I felt good that Huffman also managed to “turn” just one Senator, who finally provided the long overdue recognition. 5-stars

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• 20192019
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• 1h 56m

Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. "Pits" Pitsenbarger is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield.Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. "Pits" Pitsenbarger is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield.Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. "Pits" Pitsenbarger is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield.

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A Very Difficult Subject Tackled Masterfully

The Last Full Measure

This movie tackled some very difficult subjects with a clever script and brilliant acting. It is very much an American story and certainly not for everyone.

The narrative vehicle was a naive and ambitious administrator, played by Sebastian Stan, as he learned so we gradually understood, the meaning of posthumous honours, human valour, closure, selflessness and the enduring pain of those who survive.

I can't say I enjoyed the movie by I certainly experienced it in a visceral way. Whoever developed this dry script into this movie deserves a Hollywood medal as it was a tour-de-force without descending into mush or sentimentality.

• martimusross
• Aug 30, 2020

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