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February 27, 2002Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital. Gibson's last stand?
President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, joined Mel Gibson for a very early sneak peek — read, last fall — of the much-anticipated Hollywood film "We Were Soldiers," which opens Friday.
John Meroney, Washington-based associate editor of the American Enterprise, reveals that Mr. Rove and Mr. Gibson, star of the film, sat together several months ago in the private Washington screening room of Motion Picture Association Chairman Jack Valenti to watch Hollywood's version of the first major engagement of the Vietnam war — when 450 U.S. soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers in Ia Drang Valley.
Joining Mr. Rove and Mr. Gibson for the private screening were retired Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (played by Mr. Gibson), who commanded the 7th Cavalry and wrote the book the movie is based upon, and Joe Galloway, the UPI correspondent assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry.
Also on hand for the Washington screening was the picture's writer and director, Randall Wallace (scriptwriter for the Mel Gibson blockbuster "Braveheart.")
Without giving too much away, Mr. Meroney reveals one scene in the March issue of the magazine in which Mr. Gibson, preparing to depart for Southeast Asia, learns that his regiment number is seven.
"The Seventh?" Mr. Gibson asks. "The same regiment as ... Custer?"
"Ultimately, and this news won't spoil the filmfl" promises Mr. Meroney, "Gibson and his troops fare better than the general and his soldiers did at Little Big Horn. But that's not to say they have an easy go of it."
In fact, the war's initial engagement turned out to be one of the bloodiest.
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