Westward Desperado Set the Standard of War Comedies
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by Troler
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When the two words war and comedy are uttered, in the context of cinema, the icon of Stanley Kubrick rises above all. There's a reason for it to be the case. Both Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and Full Metal Jacket portray warfare in a humorous matter. S. Kubrick was a comedy director during the Cold War, of course war was touched upon. Even Michael Bay, in some extent, is a military comedian. I would argue the reason is due the fact he wants to make chase scenes and the military is a great excuse for that. One of such cases is Pearl Harbor. To what extent it is a comedy, I'll leave up in the air. Even Steven Spielberg made a comedy about war – c:0 ↩ Reply
1941. It is no surprise two of three mentioned directors (including M. Bay) worked on a comedy film set during World War 2. 'Tis the most recognizable war. Unlike what the name suggests, the world spanning conflicts of the war was much or less localized to to Europe and Asia. With two of the realms not crossing into each other until the tail-end of warring. The East battles would not be that well known in the West if not for the Pearl Harbor incident, featured in the aforementioned Michael Bay film. There existed a whole range of heroic and humorous battles in the mainland China. The movie Westward Desperado is just about one of them. ↩ Reply
![[embedded image]](/pictures/user_upload/Troler/RKA9S9V6UPHPS2BF.jpg "Kihachi Okamoto looks as if he were a Yakuza member")
Kihachi Okamoto was a pilot in the Japanese Imperial army during the later stages of WW2. Seeing the horror and meaninglessness of war, his natural reaction was to frown and smile. Crying and laughter, fire and water, yin and yang. The man shifted from serious dramas to silly comedies. Westward Desperado is one of the comedic extremes. It is a spiritual sequel to the more well known 1959 Desperado Outpost. It is a sequel as much as Michael Bay's Bad Boys II is a sequel to Bad Boys. The tie is the same cast and topic. Besides that there is not much of a parallel. Watching the sequel first is not going to diminish the experience at all. I haven't seen Bad Boys, yet was able to follow along its sequel just same. Same applies to this movie. ↩ Reply
Very much like the director, it flies through comedic episodes. There exists an overarching story, yet it is not that pronounced. Here episodic refers to ability to take scenes without context and be able to understand them without any confusion. The itself is a capture the flag comedy set in WW2. The scenario practically writes itself. ↩ Reply
I am jumping the gun, the title still remains an enigma. What does Westward Desperado even mean? The desperado part is quite clear, it's just an antiquated term for a bold outlaw from southern portions of the Wild West. Which makes sense. The movie is a blend of military, comedy and Western films. The director Kihachi Okamoto is known for being obsessed with Westerns. From these Westerns and directors experience as a pilot comes a blend of moral righteousness and tragedy of warfare. According to Aki240 Westward part comes from episode 14 of Ultra Seven titled The Ultra Guard Goes West. That episode was released in 1968. It would be a totally sound claim if not for the fact Westward Desperado was released in 1960. Unless K. Okamoto had a time machine, I don't believe he would've been able to reference that particular episode. While IntakeCinema notes that the word Desperado in Japanese is Dokuritsu Gurentai, which means independent brigade. One interpretation I've read, which now I can't find, lets assume I heard it in a dream, said the westward part is a play with meaning. As the independent brigade searches for the flag, it splits up. The split members go east, following the sun. As the sun rises, they go the other direction, thus walking in circles. In tongue-and-cheek fashion, it can be said, the sun rises from West and goes to East. ↩ Reply
![[embedded image]](/pictures/user_upload/Troler/1Z7OY51RZISW449M.png "Not giving any context, make of it what it looks like")
The comedic overtones are likely due to the first movie being misunderstood. Desperado Outpost spoke about the same problems, Westward Desperado does. Abdul Alhazred argues that the audience interpreted the movie as an anti-Chinese propaganda film. There was no possibility to make the movie extremely obscene and violent to a point of becoming comedic, say for instance The House That Jack Built. As @BlenderDumbass mentions, that movie is not a comedy. Comedies don't traumatize people, well they shouldn't. It is a comedy in the sense people laughed to avoid having to take in the graphic footage. Comedies are scenarios where actions don't have long-lasting consequences, think of Bugs Bunny and Charles Chaplin. By raising the stakes of consequences, it loses more and more of the comedic innocence. A man falling from a banana peel turns into a life-long trauma and amnesia. As the consequences keep increasing in scale, they end up being too absurd to be real. A man slips from a banana peel and drops down on a switch activating a nuclear bomb launch. ↩ Reply
The cast are as absurd as to be expected. The acting, typical of Japanese cinema, isn't exactly subtle. That comes out more of cultural differences. In a comedy like this, subtle twitches of the hand or eyes are not exactly needed. They exist when Western elements come to play, such as soldiers staking to grab a gun. Subtlety is especially lacking in the Chinese general (Tatsuyoshi Ehara). The character is so over-top silly and absurd, it is hard to not consider it being the radical shift K. Okamoto took in order to subdue the criticism for his former film being too nationalistic. How can a general be taken seriously, when he talks about swinging hammers in the past and thinking about running marathons to the enemy? These Mickey's Clubhouse members are not reserved to the enemy brigade. The commander of the 463 regiment is a parody of the men who value shiny medals over lives of humans. Getting the flag is just a pompous way to show how low some would stoop to get what they need. Few serious characters ground the otherwise silly and off the wash. Were the movie absurd all the time, the humor would be less pronounced. Like a delicately produced gourmet meal, the acting, together with the story adds up to an entertaining cinema. c:1 ↩ Reply
Naturally, it is not purely comedic. Slivers of tragedy sneak through. As it comes apparent later on, the director views war as tragedy. The comedic overtone works as an amplifier of the vanity of war. There is an interesting tie in with Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Both of the films cover a singing march, while contrasting the context. In S. Kubrick's case it's soldier walking through a city they razed and scorched to the ground while singing Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there \ You're as welcome as can be \ M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. In the movie, the young men are turned into cold and heartless killing machines. Let pronounced but still visible is the case in Westward Desperado. The men, tired after retrieving a burned flag, go onto another mission whole singing: 1, 2, 3, 4 \ 1, 2, 3, 4 \ 1, 2, 1, 2, yay, yay, yay, yay \ Where to next? \ West. East. South. North. \ Any damn which way The singing being energetic, explosive and melody-wise lighthearted. Both of the movies end with the scene of the characters walking away while singing. In both cases they summarize the entire meaning of the movie – war is meaningless. ↩ Reply
Fin. ↩ Reply
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Blender Dumbass
c:0 When the two words war and comedy are uttered, in the context of cinema, the icon of Stanley Kubrick rises above all.
⤴ ViewIt is funny how I immediately think of Steven Spielberg, and his 1941, lo.
Blender Dumbass
c:1 In a comedy like this, subtle twitches of the hand or eyes are not exactly needed.
⤴ ViewThe most subtle comedy I have seen is perhaps Nolan's Interstellar. There was one moment where a robot turns a little light indicator on ( a small dot that is barely visible ) which completely shifts the tone of the scene if you can notice it. It is as if Nolan wanted to make a comedy that is only a comedy when you watch it in IMAX.
... replies ( 1 )
Troler
c:3@blenderdumbass I watched Interstellar on a bus TV with cheap earphones. No, I didn't notice.
Blender Dumbass
c:2Your language seems to be improving. But in some cases it is still rather hard to understand what exactly you mean. I need to come back and read it again to get it. In this case it feels like reading code. Maybe think about it.
Troler
c:3... c:1
Blender Dumbass c:1 In a comedy like this, subtle twitches of the hand or eyes are not exactly needed.
⤴ ViewThe most subtle comedy I have seen is perhaps Nolan's Interstellar. There was one moment where a robot turns a little light indicator on ( a small dot that is barely visible ) which completely shifts the tone of the scene if you can notice it. It is as if Nolan wanted to make a comedy that is only a comedy when you watch it in IMAX.
@blenderdumbass I watched Interstellar on a bus TV with cheap earphones. No, I didn't notice.
Troler
c:4... c:2
Blender Dumbass c:2Your language seems to be improving. But in some cases it is still rather hard to understand what exactly you mean. I need to come back and read it again to get it. In this case it feels like reading code. Maybe think about it.
@blenderdumbass The magic of reviewing code!.. eh... proofreading.
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