The Last Full Measure tells a highly emotional story based on the true events surrounding the posthumous awarding of the Medal of Honor to William H. Pitsenbarger. With a phenomenal cast attached, this is one that flew under the radar that needs to be seen. Out now on digital.
“Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr. (“Pits”) is awarded the nation’s highest military honor, for his actions on the battlefield.”
The Last Full Measure begins as we meet Scott Huffman (Sebastian Stan) a Defense Department employee who seems to care more about his rising career than anything else. When he’s tasked with leading the investigation into a potential Medal of Honor recipient who died in Vietnam thirty-two years prior, he initially sees it as a waste of time, something that will be shuffled around long after the current administration is out of office. He is eventually strongly urged to give this matter some serious consideration and meets with Master Sgt. Tom Tulley (William Hurt), who tells Huffman about Pitsenbarger and implores him to meet with others in the company who survived Operation Abilene to give their accounts of what happened. This investigation takes him all around the country, even to Vietnam to hear what these men have to say about their comrade in arms that fell that day, and uncovers some alarming evidence that political motivations may have prevented Pitsenbarger from receiving the Medal of Honor before and may again.
Based on true events, The Last Full Measure does so much more than simply tell the story of one of only three enlisted airmen to ever be awarded the Medal of Honor, but also is able to remind us of the courage and bravery of the men who fought in Vietnam, or any veteran who has fought for our country. We have seen many films about the war in Vietnam over the years and can still be a controversial subject about America’s role. What this film does best is leave all that out of it and focus on the camaraderie between these people and how the actions of one man defined the lives of so many.
Once the story picks up speed and gets going, it unfolds in more of an investigative way than anything else, as Huffman goes from person to person conducting his interview, each one moving him more and more. At the beginning of the film, Huffman is an asshole, a very unlikeable character whom I did not want as the center of the story connecting everything together. However, his journey of self-discovery allows him to change more than any other character in the film, one that begins to see the respect these men carry and the hardships they have been through. My initial response was that they had made the character too unlikeable at the beginning, but that begins to fade away, very gradually at first, and then before you know it, he is doing all he can to make sure he sees this to the end.
I don’t think I was prepared for such an emotional journey that this film beautifully provides, thanks largely to the amazing star power they procured for this film. William Hurt, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Diane Ladd, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Madigan and Peter Fonda, in his last role before his death. These roles are relatively small, not headliners by any means, and at first, I wondered why they all accepted them. When you see each one of these actors embody the pain and suffering for a fallen comrade and the horrors they witnessed, then I knew the reason. Each one of them approach this pain in different ways, but each of their stories is so immensely powerful that it was often hard to watch and not be affected. Sebastian Stan also does a wonderful job playing off of these powerful performances, and I’m not sure I’ve seen a character I disliked so much at first that won me over by his drastic change. To those who only know him as Bucky, this will give you a glimpse of the talent that this actor has.
The Last Full Measure went way beyond what I had expected, from my initial expectations of a sub-par wartime investigative film to one of the most emotional journeys I have experienced in recent memory. The film itself tells a heartfelt tale of heroism and bravery, but I’m not sure it would have been as affective if it were not for the incredible cast attached.