Best Vietnam War movie

[farangbah]

... and let us not forget its sidekick, Hearts of Darkness.  That completely broadened the entire scope of it for me.

"Crazy" Dennis Hopper . . .  

[JaiDee]

(Bobcat @ Mar. 18 2010,22:26) Apocalyse Now years ahead of any of the others and still looks good.

Right ..... and not only my number one 'Nam movie or war movie in general, but favorite overall.

We all have our favorite movies and that one is mine; I could easily watch it again right now.

[kliome]

I wasn't in the Vietnam War, and apart from a hairy moment in Casanovas once I've never experience war, so it's difficult to judge the realism

If you're not focussed on the fighting and are including Born On The 4th, you should include 'Coming home', a far better film IMO, which would be my choice.

Also, I've always enjoy Levinson's Gooooood Morning Vietnam!

For 'sur'realism  and sheer ballsy film making, Full metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now win - no debate.

[acoolbreeze]

Mmm, Apocalypse Now is probably my all time fave.
Apocalypse Now.
Platoon.
Deer Hunter.
All great movies.

[Lefty]

Apocalypse Now is probably my all time favorite movie of any genre. For sheer VN War realism though, I voted for Hamburger Hill with Platoon a close second. Tie breaker for me is HH was based on a true story.

BTW...Anyone who likes to watch movies from this genre, and have not seen Hamburger Hill, I would highly recommend it.

[whore]

For any of you guys who like the war film genre there is a new mini series starting on SKY movies on the 6th of april I think, called "The Pacific". Its by Tom Hanks and Spielberg who brought us "Band of Brothers" which is probably one of the greatest TV series ever. This series is by HBO and with a price tag of $250m it should be a cracker of a series.

[Ivor Biggun]

My one's note on the list either. Although I enjoyed most of the films lisited above 'Heaven and Earth' does it for me ( although I never liked the other two in Stone's trilogy), also 'A Bright Shining Lie' about one of the few people who understood what was going on there- John Paul Vann.

[Ivor Biggun]

(whore @ Mar. 19 2010,23:15) For any of you guys who like the war film genre there is a new mini series starting on SKY movies on the 6th of april I think, called "The Pacific". Its by Tom Hanks and Spielberg who brought us "Band of Brothers" which is probably one of the greatest TV series ever. This series is by HBO and with a price tag of $250m it should be a cracker of a series.

I watched the first episode of The Pacific the other night, downloaaded it as a torrent on Vuze. Get the 600 and something mb version, the others (1.something Gb) are dodgy. looking forward to episode 2

[Guest]

Platoon is the best really, but Apocalypse Now is so enjoyable i had to vote for it. I'm glad the pacific is comming out as I haven't seen any series about Vietnam.

[whore]

Sorry Rayton I was going abit off topic posting about the Pacific as its about WW2 in the Pacific

[kliome]

(rayton @ Mar. 19 2010,18:54) I'm glad the pacific is comming out as I haven't seen any series about Vietnam.

Try to find Tour Of Duty, awesome late 80's TV series following a US platoon in 'Nam'. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092468/

And although set during the Korean War, MASH is really about Vietnam, and probably the greatest TV series of all time

[Instant Kama]

Jacobs Ladder because Charlie dont surf

[Lefty]

I'm really surprised that We Were Soldiers has gotten no votes. That was also a very well done and realistic movie. I read the story and the movie was an accurate, although condensed version of what actually happened. I need to amend my rankings. 1. Hamburger Hill 2. We Were Soldiers 3. Platoon.

Once I began to study about the Battle of Ia Drang, I found some interesting side stories. After the battle, the 2nd/7th Cav marched to LZ Albany. The surprise battle that took place there was even worse than what took place at LZ X-Ray. None of it was included in the movie, or else it could have been 5 hrs long.
Also, the most interesting person from what I've read, who was at the Battle of Ia Drang (LZ X-Ray) was Rick Rescorla. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla
His story makes for some interesting reading, but even though Hal Moore personally called him the best platoon leader he ever saw, Rescorla was not part of the movie. Although he did collect a souvenir bugle there from a dead NVA soldier, and we do see a clip of a soldier doing that in the movie.

IMO, Hollywood should make a movie specifically about him. He is definitely worthy of such.

Some may say that We Were Soldiers seemed too gung ho and pro war, but the Ia Drang Battle took place in 1965. It was the first major battle between the US Military and the NVA. Hamburger Hill took place in 1969. Platoon, as I recall, was set in 1968 or 69. The attitudes of the participants and the civilian public had changed a lot in the time between.

[Ivor Biggun]

(kliome @ Mar. 20 2010,02:45)

(rayton @ Mar. 19 2010,18:54) I'm glad the pacific is comming out as I haven't seen any series about Vietnam.

Try to find Tour Of Duty, awesome late 80's TV series following a US platoon in 'Nam'. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092468/

And although set during the Korean War, MASH is really about Vietnam, and probably the greatest TV series of all time  

I got the box set. the problem is that due to copyright issues the original music, which really made the series for me, has been deleted. First series is the best, the others tend to have drifted away from grunts to relationships and got really cringeworthy at times. It seemed to get back on track for the last series though.

For Lefty - I enjoyed We Were Soldiers- Sam Elliot was great. What spoiled it for me though was it looked like it was filmed in a field in California!

[Eazy_Sleazy]

1. The Boys in Company C

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077270/

R Lee Ermey's first DI performance.



2. Full Metal Jacket....classic. R Lee's improv was the shit!!!!

"You had best start shitting me tiffany cuff links or I will definitely fuck you up."