" "Yeah, but they know that kind of danger," thick-headed Jack pipes up.Denham complains hat he needs to have a heroine in his picture to provide romance and a love interest:Holy Mackerel.General Mireau waits in his command post, offering a toast of cognac "To France" before the assault.At dawn, Dax strides solemnly through the center of he trenches with bombs blasting on every side, inspecting and reassuring his men as they make room for him to pass through the narrow corridor - the lengthy one-take shot is about 65 seconds long.Plot SynopsisPrologueThe film opened with a Bible quote: "Rejoice O young man in thy youth..." EcclesiastesArrival in Vietnam - September 1967A US Air Force C-130 air cargo plane axied forward on a dusty yellowish airstrip after landing in Da Nang, South Vietnam, in September of 1967.Morgan: Most of ""em do.Johnson: That""s Vichy for you.Morgan: It""s their flag.The apolitical boat-owner lives in the Marquis Hotel run by Gaullist hotelkeeper Gerard ("Frenchie") (Marcel Dalio), the leader of the Free French.[Note: Mirroring and double images are rampant in the film: Danny/Tony, the sane vs.insane Jack, Jack/Grady, the two girls in the corridor, the woman/hag in Room 237, etc.] After flying by a small sliver of an island (with a few trees) in the lake""s center, the shot dissolves from the lake o a God""s-eye, aerial view of a two-lane mountainous road far below, winding through sun-drenched tall pines in the early morning.