Dogfight (1991)

Dogfight - Directed by: Nancy Savoca Written by: Bob Comfort

In San Francisco on the night of November 21, 1963 – less than 24 hours before John Kennedy is killed – the four “bees”, marines who became friends due to their last names beginning with “B”, are ready to raise hell and attend one last “Dogfight”, a competition in which the marine who brings the “ugliest” girl wins a pool. It also happens to be a night that changes the life of one “B”, Corporal Birdlace (River Phoenix).

Meeting shy, plain-looking Rose (Lily Taylor) a waitress at a local café who longs to be a folk singer, Birdlace convinces her escort him to the Dogfight. When later, she discovers the truth o the party, shy Rose quickly morphs into feisty Rose, letting Birdlace have it, and not just verbally. She hauls back and punches him, leaving a shiner.

Returning to the café, Birdlace offers a sincere apology and asks if she’ll allow him to buy her dinner. Agreeing with a warning that if this is part of the Dogfight, she’ll kill him (I love her feistiness), they are off onto a path neither saw coming. They spend the night talking (he tells her he’s shipping out to Okinawa but hoping at some point go to this “little country called Vietnam” as an advisor), laughing, arguing over his constant need to swear and the power of song vs. the power of guns, and, come morning, realizing how much they truly like each other, how fully they compliment one another.

As far as the ending…I had a writing teacher who said there are infinite “an” endings to a film – this is an ending, that is an ending - and some, maybe many, maybe most are good to great, but there is only one “the” ending. Only one rightful and true end that naturally follows everything that preceded it. This is one of the few movies that has “the” ending.

A shiny, not-to-be-missed gem.