Tribes

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John H @ChiefHaggis Oct 22, 2026 I saw this movie at 13 when it came out as a ABC Movie of the week. I just started as a Royal Canadian Air Cadet and the drill and the training depicted in the movie really resonated for me. Most of my friends and other cadets saw the same movie and we were all taken by it. I wanted to join the marines and have a DI like "Gun Sgt Drake , D.R.A.K.E. Drake, to you I am Sir nothing else". Three years later I found myself at the US Naval Academy participating in Maryland Boy State that was run by the marines and the Sergeants were much like Sgt Drake. Tribes is an excellent movie, it shows the leadership of an induvial, lots of lessons in this movie and I used many of them in my Navy career retiring as a Chief Petty officer. Whenever I was asked the question why about something, I would think of the bucket scene and say to the sailor, "the reason why is to save your life, whether you understand it or not is unimportant. That I order it done is sufficient for you to do it'. it was magic. See more

Jan 21, 2020 Loved it when it came out (I was 15). My dad was a Marine Gunnery Sergeant for 21 years (although not a DI). There's plenty of truth in this film See more

Nov 2, 2019 A cut above most made-for-TV movies, with great and memorable performances from Jan Michael Vincent and Darren McGavin. See more

Oct 12, 2009 This is actually on my favourites list. This was a made for tv movie and definite period piece. I believe it to be a corner stone of all the anti-establishment films. It captures the big themes going on in the tumultuous Vietnam years, the cultural dissent, and the new emerging sense of identity and freedom to follow new values. Sgt. Frank DePayster is an unforgettable character with a strong disdain of hippies, "What kind of flower are you, boy? Are you a sweet pea, boy? Are you a sweet pea?" Adrian, the flower child, or sweet pea...is the epitome of a free spirit, teaching the platoon how to do the lotus position and remarking on the Sergeant's drawings of seagulls. A vital film of the rocky era that all should see, and unfortunately a bit hard to find, the only reason I could watch it is because my father had it, a lot of torrent sites have the vhs converted to dvd so you can probably snag it online. See more

Sep 5, 2009 <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/tribes-12049531"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/12/04/95/12049531_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:280px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/tribes-12049543"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/12/04/95/12049543_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">McGavin and Vincent </a> -- <B><I>Tribes</I></B></div></div> <I>Tribes</I>, (1970). Written by Marvin Schwartz and Tracy Keenan Wynn. Directed by Joseph Sargent. With Jan-Michael Vincent, Darren McGavin, and Earl Holliman. During Vietnam, a radical, high-functioning, nonconformist pacifist named Adrian played by Jan-Michael Vincent (Baby Blue Marine, The Mechanic) is drafted into the Marine Corps and sent to boot camp in San Diego. The boot camp experience is highlighted in a fashion that focuses on the ironies, cruelty and illogic required to turn normal people into combat-ready killers. The conditions are depicted as being miserable enough that less fit recruits are slashing their own wrists in the showers. Adrian however, is fit and focused, but utterly uncooperative. He has the drill sergeant from Hell, played by Darren McGavin, who, as is his job, attempts to break Adrian's spirit. This turns out to be impossible. Not only is Adrian rebellious, but as the Sarge singles him out for 'special treatment,' Adrian begins to rebel by conforming too much -on purpose. He draws on his beatnik sense of Zen to cope with and exceed the increasingly harsh and difficult requirements placed upon him. By exceeding the goals set for him, he deliberately undermines the drill instructors' efforts to achieve uniformity and inspires free-thinking among his fellow recruits. In one such memorable scene, that cadets must develop stamina by tortuously holding heavy buckets of sand with outstretched arms. Adrian projects his mind elsewhere during the ordeal and does not set the buckets down when ordered. This enrages the instructors because it demonstrates his individualism and lessons the intended collective perception of the cruelty of the exercise among the other trainees The film sharply contrasts the psychology and brainwashing of militarism with the paradigms of the peacenik hippie generation. The tension builds steadily as we nervously attempt to envision the severity of the ominously approaching outcome. Tribes is a very dramatic, hard-hitting and well produced film for a made-for-TV movie. Now available in DVD. See more

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Tribes

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