Hail Hero! (1969)

Michael Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Teresa Wright, John Larch, Charles Drake ... see more  , Mercer Harris , Deborah Winters , Peter Strauss , Mario Alcalde , Amy Stuart , Renee Tetro , Louise Latham , John Qualen , Carmen Zapata , Virginia Christine , Heather Menzies , Dorothy Newman , Marjorie Eaton , Walter S. Baldwin , Peter Brocco , James Griffith , Burt Mustin , Charles Wagenheim , James Nusser

Hail, Hero! stars Michael Douglas in his screen debut as long-haired college student Carl Dixon. Reversing the usual procedure in late-1960s films, Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army,... read more  even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor. It is our hero's intention to use love, rather than bullets, to combat the Viet Cong. Needless to say, his idealism is no match for the harsher realities of war, but this doesn't stop him from endlessly spouting the sort of agit-prop rhetoric so beloved of filmmakers of the era. In addition to Michael Douglas, co-star Peter Strauss likewise makes his first film appearance in Hail, Hero! Dated in the extreme, the film is saved by the musical score by Gordon Lightfoot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi