...later made "lovable" by Mel Gibson playing Martin Riggs?
shareNo. Plenty came before:
Scorpio killer in Dirty Harry - 1971
Travis Bickle in Taxi driver - 1976
the bad guys in 3rd Dirty Harry film - The Enforcer also 1976...
likely manny more...
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Rolling Thunder 1977
The Viet Nam was was largely ignored by popular film until the 80s. Too close.Too conflicted emotionally to dramatise realistically, way beyond the war film tropes of films past. The cliche stereotype of troubled vet was based on experiential truth. I had a high draft number in '71 and went to college with vets. They always had the best stories about getting high.
I was in awe of them to some degree and don't recall them having spitting incident stories. I can tell you they told me about cold receptions at the VFW.
Not really Hollywood, but adult film Forced Entry (1973) is about a demented Vietnam vet.
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