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MY FRIENDS NEED KILLING
A cheap, tawdry and, ultimately, extremely powerful exploitation film from the seventies. Actually, MY FRIENDS NEED KILLING is exploitation in name only, as it’s clear from the start that this strong and disturbing study of a Vietnam veteran’s apocalyptic meltdown has far more on its mind than mere shock.
The Package
With a title like MY FRIENDS NEED KILLING, I wasn’t inclined to expect much
from this 1976 drive-in programmer. Writer-director Paul Leder (father of
Hollywood darling Mimi Leder, director of the mega-budgeters DEEP IMPACT and PAY
IT FORWARD) is known for exploiters like I DISMEMBER MAMA (1974) and A*P*E
(1976). MY FRIENDS NEED KILLING, at least from a financiers’ point of view,
seems to have been conceived in a similar manner to those earlier films: it’s
short (74 minutes) and simple, with a wealth of exploitable elements: psychosis,
mass killing and even a rape scene. Yet the film’s overwhelming nihilism and
penchant for politically minded dialogue (“We can’t let another Vietnam
happen ever again!”) set it apart. Think of it as the dark side of COMING
HOME and, truthfully, I know I’d much rather watch MFNK again than that film!
The Story
Gene is a severely disturbed ‘Nam vet. Although the war is over and he’s
safely settled into a suburban lifestyle, horrific memories haunt him,
specifically that of a massacre perpetrated by his platoon. Gene decides to
visit his army buddies one day and, from the start, it’s clear he has some
macabre surprises planned for his “friends.” He begins by driving down to San
Diego, where he murders fellow veteran Vincent via lethal injection. Gene then
flies to Texas, where he meets up with his old pal Gil. The two spend the day
hunting, but Gene subsequently shoots Gil several times with a revolver and
rapes the latter’s wife before finishing them both off.
On a roll now, Gene jets to San Francisco, where the sensitive Les
resides. Les, it turns out, is just as guilt-ridden about his war crimes as
Gene, but has chosen to act out his inner turmoil via an anti-war theater
group. His acting days are definitely at an end, however; that night, Gene gets
Les to swallow a handful of lethal pills as he drunkenly moans “no more
children’s faces!” Lastly Gene travels to LA to take care of his hardheaded
sergeant Walt. They go skydiving, after which Gene brutally stabs his onetime
superior to death. Back at Walt’s house Georgia, the sergeant’s pregnant wife,
confronts Gene; her condition brings back memories of a pregnant woman they
killed in Nam, and he loses his head, causing Georgia to go into labor
prematurely. In a desperate bid for redemption, Gene delivers the baby, but one
murder still remains: his own, accomplished by hanging himself from a branch of
a nearby tree.
The Direction
The opening sequence adequately demonstrates this film’s overriding faults
and redeeming virtues. A series of war atrocities fill the screen, gradually
tapering off to leave us with the protagonist’s anguished face in extreme
close-up. Yes, the montage is too obvious and sensationalistic for its own
good, but the concluding close up, held far longer than is standard, is
stunning.
Low budget doesn’t begin to describe MFNK; the tacky film stock, seedy
locations and amateurish camerawork all reek of extreme cheapness. Yet the
acting is uniformly superb, and Paul Leder clearly believes in and trusts his
material. Nor is he afraid to play it rough. This film’s true cinematic
companions are STRAW DOGS, TAXI DRIVER and COMBAT SHOCK, films with all the
subtlety of a kick in the stomach...which perfectly describes the impact of MY
FRIENDS NEED KILLING!
Vital Statistics
MY FRIENDS NEED KILLING
Cinema Producers Center
Director/Screenplay/Editor: Paul Leder
Cast: Greg Mullavy, Meredith MacRae, Clayton Wilcox, Carolyn Ames, Laurie Burton