'Gunfighter' a quick draw on military mentality

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'Gunfighter' 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through June 6 Manoa Valley Theatre $25-$15 988-6131

It is predictable and offers no surprises.

It includes no characters to root for.

And its prose is rigid and formal, suggesting its characters are reading bumper-sticker slogans instead of speaking from the heart.

"Gunfighter" is an issue play based on a real incident from the 1991 Gulf War where American soldiers were killed by fire from their own forces. Officials in high command scapegoat one of their officers as a way of passing over the problem.

Most of Act 1 is devoted to setting up the context. This is done primarily with a great deal of cocky bravado from the military, brazen assertiveness by the female news reporter imbedded with the troops, and sentimental support from the military family left behind.

The central character of Lt. Col. Jack Hackett, played with rigid dedication and only a glimmer of personal insight by Alan Sutterfield, emerges slowly, like a frog rising from a murky pond. But when the precipitating incident occurs and Hackett pulls the trigger on a rocket that kills three American GIs, it seems incidental to the rest of the swaggering action.

As we break for intermission, we know that Act 2 will be spent revealing what really happened, and that Hackett will be exonerated. That is exactly what Act 2 does. And all the moralizing and flag-waving in the finale don't turn the play into the personal drama that it might have been.

What the play does well, however, is exemplify the military penchant for turning systemic causes into special causes, pinning the rose on an individual, and declaring the problem to be solved.

The systemic causes in "Gunfighter" are inadequate equipment in the helicopter gunships to properly identify targets, garbled communications, and overwhelming top-brass egos that demand a quick kill.

Instead of dealing with real issues, Hackett is identified as the specific cause of the accident. He didn't follow orders and was personally not up to the difficult task.

This context might still work if playwright Medoff and director Joyce Maltby were able to find a chink in the characters' armor of confidence and arrogance large enough to let some humanity leak through.

Sutterfield, as Hackett, seems resigned to be personally sacrificed for the greater good of the Army as an institution. Allen Cole, as his commanding officer, is unwavering in his willingness to "eat his own young" for personal advancement. And Tara Ziegler as the television reporter spends a second or two pondering truth and fairness, but turns into a typically brash talking head as soon as she is within camera range.

A couple of interesting characters emerge out of the large supporting cast.

Wyoming Rossett is a hard-drinking warrant officer who is far too challenging to be tolerated by the military structure. And Daryl Emanuel warms up a small part as a Jeep driver with a college degree.

But the personal drama that might make the play work is overwhelmed by the military context, and the predictable central issue is not enough to sustain the entire work.