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From: Jasper
Date: 5/20/03
Time: 1:40:05 AM
Remote Name: 68.73.52.16
Miss Marple,
Before I shipped over to Vietnam I heard stories about strange creatures in the jungles – even from guys who were never in the jungles. One story that got told and retold was about two birds that sounded like they were speaking perfect English. One of the bird sounded like it was saying, “re-up” (military slang for “reenlist” while another bird sounded like it was saying “fuck you.” The way the story ALWAYS got told was with the storyteller swearing that he heard a bird saying, “re-up” followed by the other bird replying “fuck you.”
After hearing the same story about a dozen times from a dozen different guys (shame birds, same order of call and response) I chalked it up to good old fashion GI BS.
When I ended up in the jungles of the Central Highlands for 45 days at a stretch. I did encounter some weird critters including a lobster red millipede that was about a foot long and as big around as an average man’s wrist, and a tree shrew with front “paws” that looked like a human baby’s hands – fingernails and everything. No talking birds, though.
Anyhow, I thought I was prepared for just about anything except what happened one day in the field when I was awaked from a sound sleep by somebody saying “Fuck you” in my ear. He said it three or four times in a funny voice and I ignored it thinking that one of the guys was joking around. But when I open my eyes and turned to the sound of the voice, there was this little brown gecko-like thing staring me in the face. It’s little jaws opened and closed and the sound came out of its mouth, “Fuck you…Fuck you.” Yeah, the legendary Fuck You “bird” was a lizard.
It was the damndest thing you could imagine. I thought that lizards didn’t have vocal cords of any kind. I thought that the only sound they could make was a hiss. I was wrong….
About the Caroline character in the movie… Once again we’re on the same wavelength. I noticed the same thing you did. This was not a representation of a real person. It was a literary devise to round out the character of Fuhrman, the loving husband and father. The ideal husband and father with the ideal wife and ideal children living the ideal life on an ideal “farm” (actually a ranch) in Idaho.
As the producer, Fuhrman had the final say in everything you saw in that movie. The producer does all of the hiring and often does some or all of the writhing under a pseudonym. He can even direct the director and cinematographer. That’s why I call it Fuhrman’s movie.
Murder in Greenwich was the screenplay that Dave Erickson was given sole credit for writing. Erickson is listed as the third writer in his only other screenplay effort, a flop about the Kennedys released less than four months (July 21) before Murder in Greenwich (November 15). To make sure that HIS movie got written the way he wanted it, Fuhrman couldn’t have made a better choice. –Jasper