'Riding the Tiger' is an unsentimental evocation of the Vietnam War. Its story is told by GIs, Vietnamese villagers, and journalists, whose voices are combined with archival film and contemporary footage of a military aircraft 'graveyard' in the Arizona desert. Unless we remember Vietnam - remember it accurately, and not re-image it as a 'noble cause' the we 'could have won' - we will blind ourselves to what it tells us about the present.