Ross and Rachel Or a Dogfight?

Love stories are the best, right?

To hell with guilty pleasure, I am unashamedly a sucker for a good old fashioned love story.

My own personal favourite – and a movie that I’d wager a lot of people have never seen – is entitled Dogfight.

It stars River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. Written by Bob Comfort and directed by Nancy Savoca, it came out to not much success or recognition in 1991.

Set in San Francisco, in the summer of 1963, River plays a young marine by the name of Eddie Birdlace. He and his buddies are planning one last blowout before graduation and their imminent deployment to Vietnam.

As part of their company’s tradition, graduates are compelled to participate in something known as the Dogfight. The basic idea is for each marine to go out and find the ugliest girl possible and bring her to the company dance. The commanding officers judge the girls and award a prize to the marine who has snared the ugliest girl.

I know, I know.

That conceit sounds absolutely horrible and not the most obvious or promising of setups for a heartwarming love story. Eddie sets out on the town but has no luck in finding an ugly girl to bring to the dogfight. With time running out, he happens upon a small café and spots Rose. A shy and frumpy waitress, Eddie watches as she strums on a guitar and tentatively sings the words of a Woodie Guthrie song. He introduces himself and awkwardly pours on the charm. Rose shies away from his clumsy compliments, but a desperate Eddie perseveres and convinces her to be his date for the evening.

Along the way, it is clear Eddie is having second thoughts about setting poor Rose up for this humiliation. He even goes so far as to suggest they blow off the dance and do something else by themselves. At the dogfight, Rose appears oblivious to the stunt being pulled on her and all the other unfortunate girls. Eddie does all he can to minimise her embarrassment, but when Rose learns the truth from one of the other girls, she confronts Eddie in full view of his buddies and slaps his face. She condemns Eddie and his buddies for their cruelty and childishness before storming off, heartbroken, but with her dignity intact and her head held high.

Eddie’s reaction to this dressing down, as portrayed by the wonderful River Phoenix, is a thing of rare beauty. He abandons his buddies and follows Rose home. Channeling Romeo and Juliet, Eddie clambers up to her windowsill and pleads for a second chance.

Rose is, at first, resistant, but Eddie won’t take no for an answer. This leads to them starting over and spending a magical night together. They walk the city, eat at a fancy restaurant, and end up back in her bedroom, where they gently and quietly make love.

The next morning, Eddie returns to his army base and ships off to Vietnam. There is one crucial scene, close to the end of the movie, where Eddie and his buddies are in-country. They are taken off guard by a mortar attack. Two of his buddies die instantly while Eddie is badly injured and screams out in pain.

The final scene in the movie, sees Rose running her mothers café. Eddie limps through the door, having served his country and received an honourable discharge. He and Rose share a look but few words. Recognising the pain and trauma in his eyes, Rose pulls him in close and hugs him warmly. Eddie holds onto her tight, portraying the fact that he has been dreaming of and in dire need of this embrace and affection since they parted all that time ago.

As stories go, Dogfight isn’t exactly groundbreaking. It’s boy meets girl one o one to a large degree. But the reason it resonates so deeply with me is down to the magical ingredient that determines the success or failure of any good love story.

The chemistry – or lack thereof – that exists between the central players. River Phoenix and Lili Taylor were two of the finest acting talents of their generation. Arguably any generation. But acting ability alone, is only the half of it. For a good love story to be impactful and sustaining, there must be – from the audience’s point of view – a sense that these two souls belong together.

If you take this into consideration, it will become much easier to see why their are certain love stories that you believe in, cherish and celebrate, while there are others that cause you to mutter out loud… yeah, right!

Ross and Rachel, anyone?

Yeah, right.

Give me a break!

(The distant sound of keyboard warriors thunders, as my comment section is about to become a nuclear war zone)