film

An Unlikely Weapon

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Producer(s)	Susan Morgan Cooper, Cindy Lou Adkins
Director(s)	Susan Morgan Cooper
Release Date	2009
Work In Progress	No
Runtime	85 min
Format(s)	none
Language(s)	English
Youth Media	No

Film Description

In 1968, in 1.500th of a second Eddie Adams photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, shooting a Vietcong guerilla point blank. Some say that photograph ended the Vietnam War. The photo brought Eddie fame and a Pulitzer, but Eddie was haunted by the man he had vilified. He would say, “Two lives were destoryed that day, the victim’s and the general.” Others would say three lives were destroyed.

Eddie Adams, like most artists, was tortured by his need for perfection. Nothing he did ever satisfied him. He carved out many careers shooting covers for Life, Time, and even Penthouse. Yet, somehow, he was always pulled back into documenting wars, 13 all together. He began shooting celebrities because “It doesn’t take anything from you.” Eddie was comfortable with kings and coal miners. During his time with Parade Magazines, he photographed Clint Eastwood, Louis Armstrong, Mother Theresa, and Pope John Paul.

Still haunted by General Loan (the perpetrator in his photo), Eddie visits him 30 years later in a pizza shop in Virginia. Scribbled on the wall of a bathroom stall are the words “We know who you are, you fucker!”

Eddie’s camera was is most powerful weapon, but it failed to protect him from himself.