I had the distinct pleasure and privilege this weekend to screen a true anomaly in the cinematic world: an unflinchingly patriotic movie, about the Vietnam War no less.

Coming soon to DVD (and, quite possibly, a theatre near you), filmmaker Jack Marino's Forgotten Heroes bucks the image of the Vietnam vet as the distorted stereotypes of drug addicts, murderers, baby killers and rapists far too often depicted in films by axe-to-grinders like Oliver Stone and Brian DePalma.

Forgotten Heroes could not hit the shelves and/or screen soon enough, either. Despite the abysmal failures of the recent anti-victory movies, Hollywood simply cannot get it through their Bush Derangement Syndrome heads nobody wants to see the US ridiculed and painted as morally equivalent with radical Islam at best (The Kingdom) and the out-and-out bad guy at worst (Redacted, In the Valley of Elah, etc.).

Conversely, Marino's Forgotten Heroes finally gives the Vietnam Vets and, by proxy, even US soldiers fighting today, their just due and respect (somewhere up there, I know my two-tour uncle's smiling). For fear of giving too much away (I'll be honest, last year's summary of Red Dawn aside, my film reviewing skills haven't been properly exercised since Reagan was still in office), I'll simply say this: if you're looking for a movie in the vein of the pro-America films of the 80s like Invasion U.S.A. and Missing in Action -- and with a slight nod to Kelly's Heroes -- Forgotten Heroes would be a worthy addition to your DVD collection. Think it'd be a nice companion piece to the upcoming Rambo installment as well, though Forgotten Heroes doesn't have quite the explosion count Stallone usually packs into his flicks. Of course, Jack's movie didn't exactly have Sly's budgets.

As the movie's release date later this month/early February approaches, please watch this space (and Mr.EPluribus at Freedom Broadcast Network - Channel 15) for an interview with Jack Marino. In the meantime, be sure to check out Forgotten Heroes at MySpace for more information about the movie and Jack, who cannot be thanked enough for persevering and finally getting this movie released.

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM: Almost forgot to mention Producer/Director Jack Marino and Executive Producer John R. Lebert are donating $5.00 from each DVD sale to THE AMERICAN VETERANS DISABLED for LIFE MEMORIAL FUND, giving back as a thank you to vets from all our wars.

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM #2: The info just keeps coming at me from the producers. The official website for Forgotten Heroes is up at www.forgottenheroesthemovie.com, albeit still in slight construction stage. The movie will be available for purchase soon, at which point I'll send out the good word.