Fav Movies about the Vietnam War
- Thread starter Petzel
- Start date
Didn't like Born, but other two were very good.
Personally I like Full Metal Jacket, Apocolypse now, and not to be forgotten the Duke in The Green Berets.
Jesus, how could I forget the Deer Hunter? It was one of the best.
I also forgot about a lesser known film called Uncommon Valor which I enjoyed.
Technically MASH was about the Korean War.
The late H. Richard Hornberger, M.D. the author of the book (as Richard Hooker) upon which the movie and television series were based, hated the television series, his comment was that he had written a book chiding army bureaucracy and they had turned it into an anti-military television series.
Platoon - far and away my favourite war movie of all time.
MASH is about the Korean War. IIRC, ToD was a watered-down, "All American boys doing their duty and loving mom and apple pie" rip off of the Vietnam trend which followed on after Platoon.
MASH is about the Korean War. IIRC, ToD was a watered-down, "All American boys doing their duty and loving mom and apple pie" rip off of the Vietnam trend which followed on after Platoon.
I would agree with Hornberger's take on that. Once Alan Alda got his paws on MASH, its focus changed.
You could call it the Danmand-ization of the MASH concept.
There are a couple of Mel Gibson entries. "They were Soldiers" (or was it "Once Were Soldiers"?) Simple-minded traditional Hollywood actioner with an overlay of Mel's religious mania and loonie American super-patriotism, but lots of napalm and guys getting shot and therefore, quite enjoyable. And "Air America" - IIRC, a black comedy about CIA ops running contraband in SE Asia.
The book We were soldiers once and young: Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam by Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore on which it was based is far better.
The Deer Hunter is a good movie, but how much it is really a movie about the war in Vietnam, is rather an open question.
By the way the famous Cavatina* by Stanley Myers was actually composed for this good but not well known British Film
* Over exposed, but quite sad.
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* Full Metal Jacket
* Apocalypse Now
* Platoon
* Hamburger Hill
To be honest, the first hour of The Deer Hunter is boring. I do not mind character development, but that was too much.
Casualties of War was really bad. Michael J. Fox was a bad cast (he was an Alex Keaton with a conscience) and Sean Penn was a bad cast as well (hey dude, who just shot at me...).
Some movies with a Vietnam war era/theme to them I didn't mind were "Heaven & Earth" and |Born on the 4th of July".
First Blood was a good movie, but that "Cry for the Boys in 'Nam" meltdown at the end wrecked an okay flick.
* Apocalypse Now
* Platoon
* Hamburger Hill
To be honest, the first hour of The Deer Hunter is boring. I do not mind character development, but that was too much.
Casualties of War was really bad. Michael J. Fox was a bad cast (he was an Alex Keaton with a conscience) and Sean Penn was a bad cast as well (hey dude, who just shot at me...).
Some movies with a Vietnam war era/theme to them I didn't mind were "Heaven & Earth" and |Born on the 4th of July".
First Blood was a good movie, but that "Cry for the Boys in 'Nam" meltdown at the end wrecked an okay flick.
Mash was about the Korean war in the early 50's, not the Vietnam war. Tour of Duty was good but it didn't last long.
As a kid I liked the Chuck Norris Missing in Action movies but they haven't weathered the test of time very well.
I bought a special edition DVD of We Were Soldiers, and I thought it was Mel Gibson's better performances and an excellent Vietnam movie. I didn't think it was simple-minded at all. The part showing the soldiers rounding up to leave their base camp and families to be flown across the Pacific to begin their tour was thought-provoking, not to mention the very beginning showing the start of the VN war against the French and the various reminders of the tenacity of the enemy.
(I remember seeing a talk show in which Lieutenant General walked out of the premier of that movie when the violence erupted and brought out the sad memories).
