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Popular Culture Review
The iconography of the film is complete with a final shot of a statue erected to
the Wolverines for their patriotic service during the Third World War.
The political ideology of Milius also celebrates the values of manhood
which apparently can only be realized through combat. Thus, Jed and Matt are
football players, warriors, and hunters, who celebrate the killing of a deer by
drinking the blood of their prey. Liberals are politicians who make their living
through words and compromise—they are not men of action. Thus, Daryl’s
(Darren Dalton) father who is the mayor becomes a collaborator with the
communists, even forcing his son to swallow a tracking device which almost
allows the Soviets and Cubans to capture the Wolverines. Fearing another
betrayal, the Wolverines have no choice but to execute Daryl, who, after all,
served as the school’s student body president. Like Ronald Reagan running
against the Washington establishment, Milius displays little use for politicians.
But the values for which the Wolverines are fighting are unclear. After the
execution of Daryl, Matt asks how they are any different than the Soviets and
Cubans. The best that the rather inarticulate Jed can come up with is the banal
reply, “Because we live here.” Rather than celebrating patriotism they appear to
be more motivated by the command of Mr. Eckert (Harry Dean Stanton) that his
sons avenge him. When Daryl suggests that the boys take a vote about
continuing their resistance, Jed physically overpowers the smaller boy, making it
clear t