[Www-newswire] Brothers in Arms: The True John Kerry Swift Boat Story

[Judith Mizrachy]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


 


In this crucial campaign season comes


the true story behind John Kerry in Vietnam

 

Brothers in Arms


The Story of the Crew of Patrol Craft Fast 94

 
 
 
A new film by Paul Alexander, the author of Man of the People: The Life
of John McCain,  and featuring John Kerry and his crewmates David
Alston, Mike Medeiros, Del Sandusky and Gene Thorson, Brothers in Arms
will come to DVD on September 7, 2004 at a suggested retail price of
$19.95.
 
 
PRAISE FOR PAUL ALEXANDER'S BROTHERS IN ARMS
 
 
"
<http://ads.rottentomatoes.com/adclick.php?bannerid=490&zoneid=0&dest=ht
tp%3A%2F%2Fwww.rottentomatoes.com%2Fclick%2Fmovie-10004447%2Freviews_vie
wer.php%3Frid%3D1313497%26fb%3Dno&bustcache=31> Filmed before the Swift
boat veterans brouhaha, Paul Alexander's partisan documentary is
effective filmmaking. " - New York Times
 
"Powerful eyewitness testimony against the charges that Kerry didn't
deserve his Silver Star for courage and his three Purple Hearts.
Compelling stories."
-        New York Daily News
 
"War stories, including some Apocalypse Now-style horrors, are shared,
and Kerry's post-service antiwar stance is discussed (cue groovy
late-'60s footage of the future presidential candidate speaking
passionately about his experiences).plainly persuasive." 
- San Francisco Bay Guardian
 
"This summer's ongoing anti-Kerry smear campaign is effectively
punctured by these eyewitnesses.These veterans are endlessly sympathetic
and believable, both in their pain and their ongoing loyalty." - S.F.
Weekly
 
"(4 Stars!) Fresh look at the Vietnam War." - Christian Science Monitor
 
"A portrait of men in battle and not just a John Kerry promotional
pic.palpable and heart-rending recollections." - Variety
 
"Brothers in Arms offers an opportunity to reconsider all the evils of
war, and is likely to turn viewers into pacifists." - Metro (New York)
 
"A refreshing look at the bravery and honor of those five (swift boat
veterans). poignant, harrowing, and effective in its first person's
account of being young and scared and thrust into heart of war." -
Omarfilm
 
 
In 2003, before John Kerry was the Democratic presidential candidate,
acclaimed author and first-time filmmaker Paul Alexander began filming
Brothers in Arms, which would tell the story of the unique relationship
that was formed between six men who endured the horrors of Vietnam
together.  In the early months of 1969, six men met on a swift boat on
the Mekong Delta during some of the worst fighting of the Vietnam War.
Five of the men were crewmates --Tommy, Mike, Gene, David, Del -- and
they came from across America, from Boston to Northern California, from
South Carolina to Iowa.  Their commander was a young Yale graduate named
John Kerry.  The experiences they shared would change their lives
forever.  The six men have remained close for the last 35 years.
 
Interviews, photographs and archival footage of the war not only
captures the dramatic and true story of what happened to these six brave
men in the Mekong Delta, but also recounts what happened after the war
and delves into the way each dealt with the experience of fighting in,
as David puts it, "a war I discovered we didn't intend to win." 
 
In 2002, when Paul Alexander published Man of the People, he interviewed
some of the men with whom McCain had been imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton
during the Vietnam War.  Alexander discovered that McCain and the other
POWs shared a bond that was as palpable now as it was more than three
decades ago.  At the same time he was working on an article about John
Kerry in Rolling Stone.  While researching the piece, he came across the
story of Kerry and the crew of PCF 94 and realized they shared the same
sort of bond that existed among McCain and his fellow inmates. Kerry has
called it "a special, unbreakable bond," formed by men who lived through
life-and-death situations on a daily basis, each looking out for the
welfare of the other.  They are, as they themselves say, "brothers in
arms."
 
Directed by Paul Alexander; Produced by Iris G. Rossi; Music composed by
Michael Bacon; Director of Photography/Editor: Elisabeth Haviland James
 
DVD Bonus Features: Director's Statement, Biographies, Photos, Trailer
Gallery
 
For more information or to place an order, please visit
www.firstrunfeatures.com <http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/> 
 
 
 
"There was never a crew of guys who loved their country and fought for
each other more than they did.  They are still the best of brothers, and
the best of America."
- Senator John Kerry
 
"Brothers in Arms reveals the courage, the conviction and the pain of
those Americans who fight our wars." - Senator Max Cleland
 
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