tavm So after a year of enduring a "long wait" listing on Netflix, I finally got FTA in the mail yesterday and just watched it on DVD. A chronicle of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland's travails through the Pacific Rim with their fellow players for the title tour during 1971, we not only see them performing their skits and songs, we also see the disillusioned soldiers commenting on how they don't really understand or like the orders they're having to take during the then-current events of the Vietnam War. I was especially fascinated by the Philippines segment as both of my parents are from there and had left it long before that time. I liked many of the songs that were performed. The skits, not as much, but there were some amusing ones like Sutherland and a fellow player's play-by-play commentary of war as if they're at a football game! It seemed to drag near the end but still, I'm glad I watched FTA. Update: 10/5/14-There's a nice extra of Ms. Fonda talking about her experiences during the FTA tour. Well worth seeking on the disc.

admelfo When did they stop making period pieces? Judging by this little gem, they were still making them well into the 70's. It's not terrible, but it's not a movie (there is no plot), and it's not really a documentary -- more like an assemblage of footage taken during the tour of "F.T.A." -- a traveling stage show of vaudeville-esque anti-war songs and skits. You get to watch the rag-tag bunch of inspired then-hippies/now celebs (Michael Alaimo, Peter Boyle, Len Chandler, Pamela Donegan, Jane Fonda, Steve Jaffe, Rita Martinson, Paul Mooney, Holly Near, Donald Sutherland) as they travel around the war-torn regions entertaining the troops. Historically of some interest, as you see our then fighting boys and girls pretty much dissing the whole war effort (ie., they were over it at that point), yo get to see your Fearless Cavaliers shamelessly spin their anti-war message, and you get to see a bunch of then young people doing what young people do best -- including overacting, screwing around in-the-name-of-art and wearing their hearts on their sleeves, looking sloppy because they're too cool to care, and generally doing things more for effect than with any genuine intention of effecting change. Just my two cents.

druid333-2 In 1971,a troop of anti Vietnam war protesters,led by Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland toured with an anti war review that they called 'F.T.A.',which could either mean free the Army (or even f**k the Army,depending). They traveled to military bases within the Pacific Rim,where they were welcomed by a then,rising tide of anti war activists in the Military. Hours of footage was filmed & assembled into the documentary film that was briefly released in 1972 as 'F.T.A.'. The week that the film was released by American International Films,Fonda made a controversial trip to South East Asia, and after one scant week,the film was pulled from distribution & was never heard from,again (rumour has it that the Nixon Administration had a lot to do with the film being yanked). Besides the afore mentioned Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland (who just barely two years earlier acted in the penultimate anti war film,Robert Altman's 'M*A*S*H'),the performances also included the likes of folk singer,Holly Near,and even Peter Boyle (an unknown at the time who would gain fame a couple of years later in Mel Brooks''Young Frankenstein'). Besides the performance footage,we are also treated to interviews with members of the military who had their wits end of the senseless violence & destruction that was the American intervention in South East Asia,which in addition to Vietnam,also included Cambodia (some of the enlisted men would end up in the documentary film, 'Winter Soldiers'). All was not always rosy. We get to see a performance of F.T.A. being disrupted by a couple of pro war,right wing soldiers,voicing their disfavour of the whole production (they were peacefully shown the way out). Women's rights advocate,Francine Parker directs the film (she only directed one other project:an episode of 'Cagney & Lacey'). At times, the film's pacing starts to slack a bit,but doesn't manage to lessen the film's message at all. Well worth checking out if you're an advocate for peace,anti war activist,historical buff,or fancier of the documentary genre. Spoken (mostly)in English,and Okenowian,Tagalog & Japanese with English subtitles. Rated 'R' by the MPAA,this film has some outbursts of strong language & some disturbing images that the troupe got to see while visiting the Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial sites,while on tour in Japan

jaiken007 This film doesn't seem to be in the official filmographies for either Jane Fonda or Donald Sutherland. It is easy to cast stones at the youthful excesses of the cast of this awful movie but I am glad that some of the theatre I was responsible for in college was not filmed. The ensemble filmed a series of sketches performed outside of army bases in the Pacific Rim and although I agree with the leftie politics espoused, there is nothing of interest here. I would rather watch Congress perform "Oh, Calcutta" WITH the nude scenes than sit through this mess again.