In Praise of Pip

Plot

In South Vietnam, medics are examining Pip Phillips, a wounded soldier. The medical officer says Pip's case is hopeless and it is only a matter of time before he will die. In the United States, Pip's father Max, a bookie, suckers a young man into placing $300 on a bad bet. The man comes to him for help, saying that he made the bet on loaned money and will go to jail if he doesn't it back. Max returns the $300, but his boss notices the discrepancy in the books and summons both Max and the debtor to his office. As the young man is strong-armed into returning his bet, Max receives a telegram about Pip's condition. Max vocally rues the time he spent working as a bookie instead of being a father to his son, and returns the money to the debtor. He tells him to run and threatens his boss and his underling with a knife. The underling shoots Max, but Max is still enraged by his son's fate and uses his knife to kill both men.

Wounded, he stumbles outside towards a closed amusement park and is surprised to see Pip at age 10. The two have some fun and redress Max's near-constant absence from his son's life, with Max teaching Pip how to shoot at a shooting gallery. Pip runs off into the house of mirrors, and Max follows. When Max finds him, Pip explains that he is dying and vanishes. Max prays to God and offers to trade his own life in exchange for Pip's. He collapses and dies on the midway.

Some months later, the adult Pip is seen at the park, now walking with the aid of a cane. Max's former landlady is also there with her granddaughter and recalls Max's love for his son. Pip visits the shooting gallery, remembering the wonderful times he had as a child with his father. He proclaims that his father was "[his] best buddy" as he begins to play.