That Year in Saigon
Original Screenplay
by
Diana J. Dell & Carol Dingle
DianaJDell@aol.com
WGA Registration Number: 1097178
Received Honorable Mention in FilmMakers.com/The Radmin Company Screenwriting Competition. Semi-finalist in the WinFemme Monthlies. Log Line: This original romantic comedy follows the ups and downs of three courageous and caring American women witnessing, with eyes, ears, and hearts wide open, the most extraordinary event of their generation -- the Vietnam War in all its lunacy, adventure, sorrow, and heroics.
Synopsis: The year is 1971 and the place is Saigon. But this isn't your typical Vietnam War script. Rather than immersing us in scenes filled with jungle warfare, blood, and gore, "That Year in Saigon" delves into the lives of three courageous and caring twenty-something American women who work for the USO. Radio personality Debbie Dawson and her friends, black and proud Constance Johnson and Spanish spitfire Katarina "Kat" Martinez, are having the time of their lives while entertaining the troops and keeping the bored GI's out of trouble. They're surrounded by and enjoy the camaraderie of a group of colorful and sometimes loony friends, from a classy Eurasian call girl to a French nun. And their love lives are both fulfilled and complicated by the men of their dreams: Army doctor Brett Miller, "Soul Train" disc jockey Josh Jackson, and general's aide Ricardo Chavez. But as the war winds down and US troops continue to leave at a steady pace, Debbie, Constance, and Kat find themselves confronting secrets and loss amid their laughter.
Based on true events, "That Year in Saigon" reveals a Vietnam rarely seen on film: It's a world of entertainers and orphans, humanitarians and war profiteers, Buddhist monks and strippers, military brass and rear echelon soldiers (REMF's) that acknowledges the poignancy and absurdity of the war without losing a sense of humor. A fresh, romantic comedy-drama filled with memorable characters, snappy dialogue, and biting political commentary, "That Year in Saigon" appeals to baby boomers and younger viewers alike as they follow the ups and downs of three ordinary women witnessing, with eyes, ears, and hearts wide open, the most extraordinary event of their generation -- the Vietnam War in all its lunacy, adventure, sorrow, and heroics.
VietnamWar.net
Books by Diana Dell
Books by Carol Dingle
Vietnam War Snapshots
Bonjour Vietnam
Memories Are Like Clouds
A Saigon Party:
And Other Vietnam War Short Stories
MemorableQuotations.com
Memorable Quotations: Military Leaders
Memorable Quotations: War Correspondents
General Creighton Abrams
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
Bao Dai
McGeorge Bundy
Ellsworth Bunker
Declaration of Independence
of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam
Ho Chi Minh's Speech,
Ba Dinh Square, September 2, 1945
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Peace Proposal
Pham Van Dong
DRVN
Military-Industrial Complex Speech,
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Presidential Press Conference, April 7, 1954
Eisenhower's Letter of Support
to Ngo Dinh Diem
President Ford's Speech
on the Fall of Vietnam, 24 April 1975
French Indochina
J. William Fulbright Testifies
on China and Vietnam, 1966
Vo Nguyen Giap
A History of the 58th Infantry Platoon (Scout Dog)
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
Inaugural Address,
President John F. Kennedy,
Washington, D.C., January 20, 1961
President Lyndon B. Johnson's Address
at Johns Hopkins University:
"Peace Without Conquest" April 7, 1965
President Johnson on U.S. Aims in Vietnam
Nguyen Cao Ky
Edward Lansdale
Letter from President Nixon
to President Nguyen Van Thieu
of the Republic of Vietnam
January 5, 1973
Richard Milhous Nixon's
First Inaugural Address,
January 20, 1969
President Nixon's
"Silent Majority" Speech
Excerpts from the Paris Accords
Peace Proposal
of the Provisional Revolutionary Government
of the Republic of South Viet Nam
South Vietnam
Oliver Stone
Nguyen Van Thieu
Vietnamization
A Shot and a Wound
by David A. Willson
Another Vietnam War Story or Two
by David A. Willson
The Assault
by J.E. Colussi
That Year In Saigon:
A Screenplay
Barbie and Ken
Experience the War
A Pedicab Driver
Peddles Through History
A CIA Hired Wife
Bares Her Soul
The Vietnamese Rock Star
Interview on AFVN
Yolanda's Favorite Beggar
Saigon Rumors
General Westmoreland's Houseboy
(and VC Spy) Talks
The Library Card
A Saigon Warrior's Journal