Author Michael Herr has passed.(www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3658815/Michael-Herr-author-Vietnam-era-Dispatches-dies.html…) Herr was the author of “Dispatches”, a book about the Vietnam war that featured Sean Flynn, the war-photographer who subsequently inspired Dennis Hopper’s character in “Apocalypse Now”.
Indeed, Michael Herr was tapped by Francis Coppola to write the famous narration for “Apocalypse Now” once the principal photography had finished.
I don’t know if this article has been featured on this site before, but in my search for more information on Herr’s book and Sean Flynn, I found this terrific piece; “The Sean Flynn I Knew”. (www.pythiapress.com…)
One of the most insightful quotes from Sean Flynn regarding his acting career(and his father) is found within; “You see, the movies were obviously something I didn’t like. I won’t say I wasn’t interested. But I always felt—I don’t mind fighting my father. But I realized I was fighting him on his own turf. It came down to that. I was in a false situation. ”
Here is Sean Flynn’s most famous war photograph, a picture that Sean himself said was misunderstood. The Viet Cong sniper was tortured after he killed a little girl.
— zacal
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