Raw Emotions, Powerful Performances
in Paul Gillette’s "Red River Rats"

By Robert L. McKinney

Two decades after the war in Vietnam, fighter pilots who flew the war’s most dangerous missions meet annually to keep alive their friendships and the memories of comrades in arms who never returned. These are the "Red River Rats" so named because they flew above North Vietnam’s Red River, next to the Chinese border.

Paul Gillette’s powerful and thoroughly absorbing new play, "Red River Rats," at Los Angeles’ Burbage Theatre, tells the stories of eight of them who get together for a private reunion. What starts as an evening of raw jokes and bawdy pranks turns sour when an accused snitch shows up unexpectedly.

Gillette, nominated for a Pulitzer for his 1972 novel Carmella and also author of the thriller Play Misty for Me, developed the play based on extensive interviews with real Red River Rats. A goodly number of who were in the audience on opening night to be held spellbound by Jack Scalia’s gripping and deeply moving performance as war hero "Jungle" Graziani, the unofficial king of the Rats. Film and TV actor Scalia, star of the Fox series Point Man, makes his theatric debut in a performance that shows exceptional power and sensitivity. Few in the audience will remain dry-eyed as Scalia exposes layer beneath layer of an unforgettable character whose surface bravado masks a pained soul.

Playwright Gillette, for his part, could not have served Scalia and his other actors better. Red River Rats is a cross between Mash and The Execution of Private Slovik, with all the ribald humor of the former and all the pathos of the latter. Those who know Gillette as a best selling author and screenwriter will not be surprised that he can turn on the juice theatrically, too. Fact is, "Red River Rats" is as powerful a play as I've seen in decades of theater going. I'll be astonished if it doesn't move from Los Angeles to New York.

All the characters are finely drawn, and each has an abundance of strengths and vulnerabilities. Broadway veteran Julius Harris, one of the founders of the New York Negro Ensemble Company, is compelling as General Ross, the Rats wing commander during the war. Thom McFadden is superb in the multi-faceted role of "Big D", a Texas used-car dealer. Bert Kramer offers a moving performance as deeply troubled "Raise the Flag" Flanagan.

Catherine Case and Judi Diamond, as prostitutes hired to liven the Rats’ evening, are as sensitive as they are sexy and manage to convey wholesome freshness beneath a street-wise veneer. Jack Nance, of Twin Peaks fame, is both entertaining and touching as Shannon, a financially troubled banker from New Jersey. Solid performances are offered also by Tom Wideline, as Walenski, the sleazy party animal; Bryan Kent, as Wilson, who gives a new dimension to the concept of slimy politician; and S.A. Griffin, as Strauss, the unforgiving perfectionist...

...Air Force veteran Robert J. McKinney, a pilot in Vietnam, is author
of the novels, "The Kamchatka Incident" and "Murder in a Small Southern Town."

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