· By Eric Tsuyoshi Yee
NOV 2
F.T.A. (1972)
"The FTA Show took shape as the inevitable consequence of this unrest at home and abroad. Led by Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland with backing from activist folk musicians such as Len Chandler, the anti-USO variety extravaganza channeled the moment’s bitterness and frustration into rollickingly subversive protest-tainment. (The title tune clarifies the four-letter profanity directed at the army.) A little-screened 1972 documentary under the truncated title of FTA followed their tour of active bases from Hawaii to the Philippines to Japan, each performance packed to the rafters with disillusioned GIs eager to hear an alternative to the rah-rah party line of their “jailers”, as Fonda joked. The film spent barely a week in theaters before quietly vanishing from the schedule; director Francine Parker claimed that the distributor, American International Pictures, backed down upon receiving a call directly from the White House. "