So, we're all correct. And yeah, considering when the book was written and who directed the movie, I now think it was referencing both.

I thought that was kind of a truism - that a land war in Asia never goes well, not for U.S., France, Russia, etc. So yes, Vietnam, but more like the history of Western intervention in Asia since 1700 or something.

This was my thinking.

Side note: Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade is one of my favorite books ever. Among many things, he gave me the phrase 'that was a movie moment' to describe inconceivable (see what I did there?) coincidences.

Is that the one with the rant about how people in movies never look in their wallet before pulling out money to pay taxis? And all of his examples of how that would go down in real life are about Mel Gibson? "This is a dollar, you Australian asshole!"

who directed the movie

What's Rob Reiner's Vietnam connection?

Both Rob & his mom Estelle were active in protests against that war, IIRC.

I still like my Risk theory the best.

I thought it was a reference to the game Risk. Actually it doesn't matter tho, because anachronistic references are part and parcel of TPB.

Late in responding, but I have seen Lemora. Had the DVD for awhile too, in our quest to own every vampire film ever made. Jilli would like the Gibson Girl vampires; otherwise not much worthy there.

On a related note, I am this close to buying Jinx's tshirt that says "and then Buffy staked Edward. The End."

Goldman's book

Nope, this one is about how The Great Waldo Pepper nearly killed Robert Redford's career, stuff about all his screenplays prior to print (1983), ranty stuff about TPTB (stars, execs, producers, etc) a great exercise in screenwriting and a whole lot of snark.

Yeah, Reiner is a raging lefty and was a protester during Viet Nam.

Is that the one with the rant about how people in movies never look in their wallet before pulling out money to pay taxis? And all of his examples of how that would go down in real life are about Mel Gibson? "This is a dollar, you Australian asshole!"

That's in the second volume, Which Lie Did I Tell, which I just read a few weeks ago. To be fair, it's less a rant and more like, "When you're watching a movie, do you really want to watch characters get stuck in traffic/tie their shoes/count change?"

I'd always assumed the "land war in Asia" line was a direct reference to that quote from Montgomery.

ION, Todd Alcott examines Batman & Robin and, to everyone's surprise, finds a few tiny problems.

[Mr. Freeze is] a brilliant doctor, and he's already figured out a cure for certain stages of this deadly disease, but that is not enough to attract funding for his research. He's developed the technology to build a freeze-gun, but the patents for that device are not enough to attract funding for his research. He's staged dozens of robberies in order to steal hundreds of diamonds, but the value of the diamonds themselves are not enough to fund his research. He's figured out how to turn a telescope into a giant freeze-gun that could potentially destroy the world, but again, it's a dead end -- no funding could possibly come from gigantic-freeze-gun technology. No, to build the giant freeze-gun and hold the world hostage -- this is the only way to get the funding he needs to continue his research to save his beloved wife.