View Full Version : Best Vietnam movie ever made?
Doc Safari
02-01-13, 16:41
I was too young to have served in Vietnam, but it defined my generation. Never having been in combat I have to rely on the perception of cinema verite for a glimpse into what that war was really like.
I liked Apocalypse now for what it was...
Green Berets with John Wayne: a classic for sure
Hamburger Hill for sheer grit...
We Were Soldiers for what appears to be historical accuracy at least...
The Deer Hunter for the Russian Roulette scene...
Full Metal Jacket for R.Lee Ermey if nothing else...
I'll even throw in lesser-known fare like BAT21 just for being really good movies.
I'll also include the best of the so-called "Missing In Action" movies, where POW's were supposedly still held after the war and needed to be rescued. To my mind "Uncommon Valor" was undoubtedly the best and most plausible of this genre.
But to pick one all-around best Vietnam flick I gotta go with: Platoon.
To me that movie made me feel like I could actually imagine some sense of being in combat. The scene where they are about to be overrun during their ambush and you see the silhouettes of the enemy soldiers in the jungle still chills me to the bone.
What do you think is the best Vietnam movie ever made?
The Siege of Firebase Gloria
I'm going to go off of the beaten path: The Siege Of Firebase Gloria (http://www.amazon.com/The-Siege-Of-Firebase-Gloria/dp/B007HCI42A) (there's some R Lee Ermey goodness for you,) and Burt Lancaster in Go Tell The Spartans (http://www.amazon.com/Go-Tell-Spartans-Burt-Lancaster/dp/B0007TKNDI).
The Siege of Firebase Gloria
OK, maybe not so far off of the beaten path, on that one. :D
The Siege of Firebase Gloria
+1.. Tunnel Rats? Not the best by far but worth a watch.. Some vets were offended by that film from the reviews.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70112364
Doc Safari
02-01-13, 17:08
There was one made for PBS (or was at least shown on PBS), that I can never remember the name of.
We Were Soldiers.
Also recommend Hamburger Hill, especially if you are sick of the Casualties of War variety of nonsense movies about Vietnam.
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 17:57
Gotta say. I liked Platoon.
Cagemonkey
02-01-13, 18:02
I'm gonna go with We WERE SOLDIERS and HAMBURGER HILL for authenticity and realism that didn't have underlying political messages. APOCALYPSE NOW is 3rd for action and adventure.
Gotta say. I liked Platoon.
Figures you'd like the one that sucked.
:D
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 18:20
Figures you'd like the one that sucked.
:D
I knew you'd make a jab at that. :p
If only because it was done by the same dude who did Natural Born Killers.
It's always cool watching We Were Soldiers Once. I know Ft. Benning better than my home town and watching it (much of it was filmed there and I watched it while stationed there) brings back memories.
But We Were Soldiers is definitely is on my top Vietnam movie list. Platoon puts a bad taste in my mouth. To me it puts soldiers in two bad lights. One side (the men under Berenger's command) is just plain evil and the other side (the men siding with Dafoe's command) just likes to use drugs and wants to go home.
I must admit I am a big fan of Good Morning Vietnam. For nothing else than the fact that the main character played by Robin absolutely keeps me in stitches while he is DJing on the radio.
-Jax
Submariner
02-01-13, 19:39
LT Jake Grafton: "Fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make history."
CDR Camparelli: This is a daylight raid, gentlemen. Air Force, Marines, Navy, everything we got. They've had three years to get ready for us. The most formidable air defenses in the history of warfare. Our job, the task of the Intruder, is to kill SAMs. Make no mistake about it, gentlemen, SAMs are where your ordnance goes. Otherwise, those B-52's will be dead meat. We can expect a forest of SAMs and flak you can lay down on. We've got to cut a path through for the Air Force. We'll be going in broad daylight with nothing to hide behind. We'll be easy targets up there, gentlemen, but they're counting on us. Lean into it. Let's go downtown!
I knew you'd make a jab at that. :p
If only because it was done by the same dude who did Natural Born Killers.
No it's because the same douchebag tried to pass off his drug induced fantasy as factual history. Made VN vets look like a bunch of drug addled losers.
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 20:30
No it's because the same douchebag tried to pass off his drug induced fantasy as factual history. Made VN vets look like a bunch of drug addled losers.
That movie was passed of as factual history?
I can't say I like Oliver Stone as a human being, but I've always enjoyed his films.
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 20:31
I must admit I am a big fan of Good Morning Vietnam. For nothing else than the fact that the main character played by Robin absolutely keeps me in stitches while he is DJing on the radio.
-Jax
In real life the guy who Robin Williams plays in that movie (portrayed as an anti-war liberal) is actually super conservative, and if I remember correctly helped campaign for McCain back in '08.
LT Jake Grafton: "Fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make history."
That is a great one, too.
Heavy Metal
02-01-13, 20:56
Apocalypse Now isn't a Vietnam War Movie.
It is a movie that uses Vietnam for the backdrop.
Apocalypse Now isn't a Vietnam War Movie.
It is a movie that uses Vietnam for the backdrop.
Agreed. There are great Vietnam movies and great movies that take place in Vietnam.
I always thought Full Metal Jacket had the most authentic feel... Not that I wold know being I was born the year we evacuated Saigon.
That being said, I remember watching this movie at my buddy's house one summer during High School. His Dad walked in who was a Marine in Vietnam. He stopped in the door way and said "that's the most realistic movie on the war I've ever seen." He said "there was a lot of weird dudes over there just like in the movie and that is exactly how boot camp was back then"
FMJ > Hamburger Hill> We Were Soldiers > Platoon
FWIW, Platoon is the only Stone movie that I can watch.
Oliver Stone spent a lot of time energy and his considerable talent to make the movie Platoon. He made the most realistic Vietnam movie up to that time. But make no mistake about it, his entire goal was to portray the American soldier in Vietnam in a bad light.
The action in the movie takes place over about 30 days, in that time they have murders, rapes, drug use and other assorted war crimes. They get decimated in two major fights in between bouts of patrolling and getting high in base-camp. They have a miniature Mai Lei and the command of an infantry platoon degrades to the point of anarchy. This is everything bad that happened in Vietnam in 2 hours. Well there were hundreds of thousands of other soldiers doing great under unimaginably bad circumstances. The movie is dishonest at best, or an outright crime depending on how you look at it.
I'll take Hamburger Hill as a movie as well made and much more accurate.
I'll take Green Berets as an honest telling of a part of the war that everyone should know about , but are remarkably ignorant of.
FMJ, Hamburger Hill, Platoon Leader and Firebase Gloria are all also good and fairly honest from what I know. But they all lack something in either plot, budget or production.
Oliver Stone is a horrible and dangerous man. I refuse to watch any of his propaganda pieces.
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 23:17
Oliver Stone is a horrible and dangerous man. I refuse to watch any of his propaganda pieces.
Dangerous might be a stretch.
That movie was passed of as factual history?
I can't say I like Oliver Stone as a human being, but I've always enjoyed his films.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platoon_%28film%29
Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets.
Of course I suppose it remains possible that Stone was relegated to a **** up squad and he thought that was what everyone was like.
Dangerous might be a stretch.
I'd agree with you until this year.
The Untold History of the United States is blatant propaganda which includes heavy use of misrepresentation, out of balance distortion of events and significant omissions of relevant information presented as factual, balanced history.
As many who will watch it will be too lazy to fact check for themselves or unwilling to question the information that coincides with their already existing bias it will not only be accepted but promoted as self supporting evidence.
That makes him dangerous.
Now just so we are clear, there are many, many things in the series that ARE factual and accurate, but that actually just makes the whole thing more dangerous as the entirety will be accepted as such.
Apocalypse Now isn't a Vietnam War Movie.
It is a movie that uses Vietnam for the backdrop.
I'd put The Deer Hunter in that category as well. That said both are excellent films and Apocalypse Now is impressive simply for the things you just couldn't ever do ever again.
It was filmed in a time and place that meant if you wanted dead bodies as you entered the village, the government supplied you with actual dead bodies to put on display as props and film. You could probably make a significant documentary just about the making of that film that would blow most people away.
Magic_Salad0892
02-01-13, 23:34
I'd agree with you until this year.
The Untold History of the United States is blatant propaganda which includes heavy use of misrepresentation, out of balance distortion of events and significant omissions of relevant information presented as factual, balanced history.
As many who will watch it will be too lazy to fact check for themselves or unwilling to question the information that coincides with their already existing bias it will not only be accepted but promoted as self supporting evidence.
That makes him dangerous.
Now just so we are clear, there are many, many things in the series that ARE factual and accurate, but that actually just makes the whole thing more dangerous as the entirety will be accepted as such.
I can see your point, but just because people can take it out of context doesn't make him dangerous. It just means people are stupid.
I've never seen Hamburger Hill, is it really that good? (The wikipedia article looks promising.)
There was one made for PBS (or was at least shown on PBS), that I can never remember the name of.
"84 Charlie Mopic"?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096744/
Saw it on PBS in the early 1990s. Thought it was a good effort.
Heavy Metal
02-01-13, 23:42
Oliver Stone is a horrible and dangerous man. I refuse to watch any of his propaganda pieces.
Even Conan?
I've never seen Hamburger Hill, is it really that good? (The wikipedia article looks promising.)
It is a really good movie, I'd even call it 'one to own.'
Even Conan?
I was under the impression that Milius pretty much rewrote the whole thing.
Oh, and another Vietnam movie I've always kinda enjoyed? Operation: Dumbo Drop.
"... eeeeasy Leonard..."
Love that line.
I can see your point, but just because people can take it out of context doesn't make him dangerous. It just means people are stupid.
This wasn't just a minor distortion but major historical revisionism including a great deal of fabrication presented as fact. I can accept some levels of bias and opinion, but this was blatant misrepresentation driven by agenda.
I've never seen Hamburger Hill, is it really that good? (The wikipedia article looks promising.)
I wouldn't want to build it up and oversell it or you'll be disappointed. But it is a well made, credible film.
Magic_Salad0892
02-02-13, 01:39
This wasn't just a minor distortion but major historical revisionism including a great deal of fabrication presented as fact. I can accept some levels of bias and opinion, but this was blatant misrepresentation driven by agenda.
Or dramatization for entertainment. But I can't say for sure that there wasn't an agenda. However, with Stone being a VN vet... you're probably right.
I wouldn't want to build it up and oversell it or you'll be disappointed. But it is a well made, credible film.
I'll see if I can find it on Amazon.
Tropic Thunder.
A movie about making a movie based on a fake book written about Vietnam.
If that counts.
Platoon
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
I'm very good friends with a co-worker who served in Vietnam and saw a lot of combat. He stated several times that Platoon was exactly what he went through in his AO (minus the infighting of course).
VooDoo6Actual
02-02-13, 03:00
While not necessarily the best it is certainly colorful & features an "UNPLUGGED" Gunny (E-6) R. Lee Ermy at what he does best.
"Hafner: [Sgt. Hafner carries two severed American heads]
Anyone know who these belong to? This is Corporal Miller. He's dead. Hell, the whole gun crew's dead. And to add insult to injury, Charlie took the fifty-Fooking caliber machine gun with him. I don't have any respect for Corporal Miller anymore, because he allowed his troops to relax. They let their guard down for five Fooking minutes, and Charlie took advantage of it. Look at 'em, Goddammit! Pay attention. Stay alert! Stay alive! It's as simple as that!
"
It is NOW available on DVD since March, 2012.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Siege-Of-Firebase-Gloria/dp/B007HCI42A
Moose-Knuckle
02-02-13, 03:19
Good that so many know and like The Siege of Fire Base Gloria I saw it as a kid and thought damn, that is the best Vietnam War movie.
Magic_Salad0892
02-02-13, 04:20
http://www.cracked.com/article_19918_6-terrible-decisions-that-gave-us-great-movie-moments.html
There's a piece about Apocolypse Now in this article, that some dudes might like.
I have to go with Apocolypse Now and Platoon.
Best move? Or most realistic? I like Apocalypse Now, I like Platoon (well, I like it 'OK'), I like The Green Berets, they were all good Vietnam war movies, but not very realistic. I really enjoyed Flight of the Intruder...the first in a great series of books.
I thought (well, heard...I wasn't 'there') that BAT 21 was pretty realistic, and I liked FMJ, Hanoi Hilton, Rescue Dawn, Siege of FB Gloria, We Were Soldiers, Boys in Company C.
I wish they would do a movie about Khe Sanh.
Magic_Salad0892
02-02-13, 06:52
I wish they would do a movie about Khe Sanh.
That would be really gnarly.
Firebase Gloria (the gunny actually wrote the whole movie)
Flight of the Intruder (a John Millius movie, nuff said)
I wish they would do a mini-series, Band of Brothers-esque, about MACV SOG.
I wish they would do a mini-series, Band of Brothers-esque, about MACV SOG.
THAT would be awesome...
I'd agree with you until this year.
The Untold History of the United States is blatant propaganda which includes heavy use of misrepresentation, out of balance distortion of events and significant omissions of relevant information presented as factual, balanced history.
As many who will watch it will be too lazy to fact check for themselves or unwilling to question the information that coincides with their already existing bias it will not only be accepted but promoted as self supporting evidence.
That makes him dangerous.
Now just so we are clear, there are many, many things in the series that ARE factual and accurate, but that actually just makes the whole thing more dangerous as the entirety will be accepted as such.
Bingo. Anyone with such extreme and passionate anti American views with the resources and the mechanism to spread such views is dangerous.
He has the right to say what he wants, but if he was to get hit by a bus tomorrow I wouldn't miss him and our society would be better off IMO.
He is an obscene characacher of the spoiled Babyboomer
Doc Safari
02-02-13, 14:06
"84 Charlie Mopic"?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096744/
Saw it on PBS in the early 1990s. Thought it was a good effort.
I think you've got it!
There's a scene where they dive for cover and one of the men takes a punji stick through the arm. I swear that makeup artist should win an award. It flat assed looked real to me.
Doc Safari
02-02-13, 14:09
I'm very good friends with a co-worker who served in Vietnam and saw a lot of combat. He stated several times that Platoon was exactly what he went through in his AO (minus the infighting of course).
I'd have to say I've met a couple of people who have said the same thing.
I wish they would do a mini-series, Band of Brothers-esque, about MACV SOG.
I would prefer the story of an individual A camp, more typical of what went on and more plot diversity possible.
Not that I don't love SOG stories. I would buy the boxed set either way.
RogerinTPA
02-02-13, 15:15
I wish they would do a mini-series, Band of Brothers-esque, about MACV SOG.
Agreed. A well made movie about the Son Tay raid would be the shit.
Agreed. A well made movie about the Son Tay raid would be the shit.
Thinking the EXACT same thing.
Ridley Scott......please hear me!
-Jax
Moose-Knuckle
02-02-13, 16:41
Agreed. A well made movie about the Son Tay raid would be the shit.
Yeah I would love to see Bo Gritz and his men waylay Russian and Chinese regulars!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a144/AKS-74/BoGritz_zps47050751.jpg
Or dramatization for entertainment. But I can't say for sure that there wasn't an agenda. However, with Stone being a VN vet... you're probably right.
I'm not talking about Platoon, I'm talking about his psuedo documentary series The Untold History of the United States. I don't consider Platoon dangerous, just grossly misrepresentative.
Bingo. Anyone with such extreme and passionate anti American views with the resources and the mechanism to spread such views is dangerous.
He has the right to say what he wants, but if he was to get hit by a bus tomorrow I wouldn't miss him and our society would be better off IMO.
He is an obscene characacher of the spoiled Babyboomer
The truly sad part is if he had done an accurate and balanced series it could have been his best work. The United States hardly has a perfect history and parts of his series were well presented.
Thinking the EXACT same thing.
Ridley Scott......please hear me!
-Jax
Finally somebody might know the name Richard Meadows.
Yeah I would love to see Bo Gritz and his men waylay Russian and Chinese regulars!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a144/AKS-74/BoGritz_zps47050751.jpg
Knowing how to use a ribbon bar would be far more impressive than that Soviet style display. Gritz was also responsible for undermining actual attempts by Delta to rescue POWs.
Anybody seen the odd angry shot? Its an australian film about their time in VN. Haven't seen it but its got lots of FAL porn on the cover.
Cagemonkey
02-02-13, 18:03
Anybody seen the odd angry shot? Its an australian film about their time in VN. Haven't seen it but its got lots of FAL porn on the cover.Yes. Had the Aussie from the movie Cocktail and FX. I haven't scene that movie since the 80's. Good flick.
Moose-Knuckle
02-02-13, 18:26
Knowing how to use a ribbon bar would be far more impressive than that Soviet style display. Gritz was also responsible for undermining actual attempts by Delta to rescue POWs.
I kinda think he ran out of room there on the old ribbon bar.
As far as the POW resue attempts in the 80's (I read about this in Eric Haney's book) though it never stated that Gritz had any prior knowledge that 1st SFOD-D had any plan to go and bring them out. I don't see how he would have as he was retired from the Army at that time and OPSEC is something those guys don't take lightly.
From wiki:
During the 1980s Gritz undertook a series of private trips into Southeast Asia, purportedly to locate United States prisoners of war which as part of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue some believed were still being held by Laos and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – e.g., at Nhommarath. Those missions were heavily publicized, controversial and widely decried as haphazard – for instance, as some commentators stated, few successful secret missions involve bringing to the border towns women openly marketing commemorative POW-rescue T-shirts.[6][7]
In the book Inside Delta Force, CSM Eric L. Haney, a former Delta Force operator, claims that the unit was twice told to prepare for a mission involving the rescue of American POWs from Vietnam. However, both times the missions were scrubbed, according to Haney, when Gritz suddenly appeared in the spotlight, drawing too much attention to the issue and making the missions too difficult to accomplish.
Yeah I would love to see Bo Gritz and his men waylay Russian and Chinese regulars!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a144/AKS-74/BoGritz_zps47050751.jpg
Uhm Bull Simons is the man you want. He was the one that lead the Son Tay raid. I've read some cool things that Gritz has done, He was the commander of the Mobile Guerrilla Force which you can read about in the "Blackjack" books. You can read them in but it is shrouded in his flakiness.
http://thesimonscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SimonsPortraitlowres-e1280329385936.jpg
Moose-Knuckle
02-02-13, 20:50
Uhm Bull Simons is the man you want. He was the one that lead the Son Tay raid. I've read some cool things that Gritz has done, He was the commander of the Mobile Guerrilla Force which you can read about in the "Blackjack" books. You can read them in but it is shrouded in his flakiness.
http://thesimonscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SimonsPortraitlowres-e1280329385936.jpg
Yeah I knew Bull Simons lead the raid, Gritz and his guys took out a bunch of Russian and Chinese "advisers" in their barracks after they discovered the POWs had been moved.
I kinda think he ran out of room there on the old ribbon bar.
As far as the POW resue attempts in the 80's (I read about this in Eric Haney's book) though it never stated that Gritz had any prior knowledge that 1st SFOD-D had any plan to go and bring them out. I don't see how he would have as he was retired from the Army at that time and OPSEC is something those guys don't take lightly.
From wiki:
When you have that many medals, you switch to ribbon bars. There is some controversy there too about Gritz recommending himself for some of those awards.
And to be clear, Gritz didn't knowingly undermine the rescue efforts. The politicians who were responsible for remaining POWs in VN used Gritz as a tool and would leak information to him. He'd then try and organize a rescue and in the process undermine the Delta operations that were in the works.
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