Dogfight

Dogfight (1991) is a romantic drama you can watch online on iFILM. San Francisco, the fall of 1963. Eddie Birdlace, an 18-year-old Marine, has one last night in the city before he and three buddies ship out for Vietnam.

To kill the evening, the Marines stage a cruel game: everyone throws in fifty bucks, and whoever brings the homeliest date to the party takes the pot. Eddie picks Rose, a shy waitress who dreams of singing folk songs. The plan curdles fast — the more time he spends with her, the more ashamed he is of the whole scheme and the less he wants the night to end. River Phoenix and Lili Taylor play it so tenderly that an ugly premise turns into an aching story about a single evening.

Director Nancy Savoca made a quiet film about cruelty, decency and growing up on the edge of a war, and it has since become a small American indie classic. Stream Dogfight (1991) online on iFILM.