best movie concerning vietnam (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

Let's not forget The Killing Fields - not Vietnam, but Cambodia, of course, but a very forceful reminder of what happened as a direct consequence of American policy in Vietnam.

Also, Coming Home - a bit of a Jane Fonda polemic, but it has some good moments.

 

[Voon Jiet]

If you only have time for one film, I recommend Platoon.

 

[Jim_K]

My Top 5 would go

Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
The Deer Hunter
We Were Soldiers

Friends & family members that were Vietnam Vets tend to give the highest marks to We Were Soldiers, Platoon & Deer Hunter respectively.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
The Hanoi Hilton

 

[Erin Chilcoat]

Its not really a movie but,Dear America Letters Home Form Vietnam is very moving. Its a cable made documentary featuring several movie stars reading actual letters home from American soldiers while in Vietnam,intercut w/year by year stats on the war.

 

[BretWeaver]

I dont think you can leave 'the green berets' out, even dispite its flaws, because (to my knowledge) it was the only film made about the conflict DURING the conflict. All other vietnam movies were made afterwards.

 

[george kaplan]

Not even close. It might have been the best known made during the war, but it wasn't even the first, much less the only. I'm not going to give a whole list, but just a few examples:

Iron Man (1966)
Alone, Unarmed & Unafraid (1968)
The American Navy in Vietnam (1967)
Der Amerikanische Soldat (1970)
The Bad Bunch (1973)
Beans, Bullets & Black Oil (1968)
Blackenstein (1973)
Cactus in the Snow (1971)
China Gate (1957) - obviously about the war before American involvement, but that war had been going on a long time before the U.S. got involved.

and tons and tons and tons more!

 

[FrancisP]

My favorite Vietnam movie is The Green Berets. Unfortunatly the film gets dismissed because of John Wayne's politics. It is a accurate(at the time) depiction of Special Forces tactics and capabilities. The film also did very well at the box office. The problem I have with some of the Vietnam films I've started to watch are they want to make the US Military the enemy.

 

[Quentin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Thin Red Line". I know a lot of people despise it, but a lot of people think it is masterful as well.

How do 'Aliens', 'Lethal Weapon', and 'Return of the Jedi' fit here?

 

[chris winters]

i have some opinions of the vietnam war, especially as I began reading up on it further. That is what sparked my interest in the vietnam films. Some of those films mentioned I have of course seen, but there are many good selections on the list. I have seen platoon, a mainstream success, but had no idea it resonated with veterens like it did. I always figured veterens may be a bit defensive about it, or turned off, becuase of its darker, less honorable tone. some on this site, and many on vietnam issue exclusive sites testify to its accuracy. That surprised me a bit. I dont think these more "lefty" movies want to portray the US as the bad guys, per say, just show a movie representing the chaotic, savage side of that particular conflict rather then a sterile uplifting one. Its a hard war to justify politically (or at least a very politcally devisive conflict), especially given the nastiness of much of the foriegn policy durring that period. It doesnt fit into the traditional/nice Hollywood box like say WW2 did. This is all a slippey slope, as this is a movie web site, not a politcal, or historical discussion forum, but talking about veitnam fascinates me to no end lately.

 

[Daniel J.S.]

Lethal Weapon's plot hinges on the Vietnam war: Riggs and Murtaugh are vets and the whole drug smuggling operation was hatched during the war.

The battle between the Ewoks and the stormtroopers in ROTJ is a Vietnam allegory, where the modern "war machine" gets overpowered by a less technologically advanced society that uses their area's foliage to their advantage.

 

[chris winters]

I am assuming Earnest was thinking "out of the box" with those.

Lethal Weapon has riggs as a vietnam vet, special forces soldier with psycological "issues", and traits similar to post tramatic stress dissorder.

Aliens- A NAM like squad entering into enemy territory, fighting an indiginess force, that they could often not see or identify, being picked off one by one, and ultimately just wanting to get he hell out of there.

ROTJ- a foreign influance leading an indiginous population against a seprate army, while having much of that indiginous force actually fight some of the battles.

Hes being creative, and a bit cheeky i think.

 

[Daniel J.S.]

Oh, and the reason that many Vietnam films portray soldiers in a less than flattering light was because of the way many behaved during the war. Basically the insanity of the situation as well as their leaders attitudes towards the war and the Vietnamese in general turned decent men into racist murderers. Recruits were taught to think that all Vietnamese (not just the Viet Cong) were savages, so what they did was justified. This was why many veterans protested the war and testified about atrocities they both witnessed and took part in. This attitude is best exemplified by the scene in Hearts & Minds where we see Vietnamese grieving over dead relatives (presumably killed in combat) followed by General Westmoreland talking about how Americans are different than Orientals because life is cheap to them. So, these films aren't trying to demonize soldiers; rather they were condemning the way the U.S. leaders were conducting the war (which wasn't America's to fight), which was corrupting once good men.

 

[chris winters]

daniel, on a side note. I notice your tag seems to state your a conservative? unless of courseyour being sarcastic, and then it states just the oppisate. Your views on Vietnam seem to fit more into the democratic mindset. May I ask your political affiliation? just curious. Understood if you dont want to divulge the info, this isnt really the place afterall.

 

[ChrisMatson]

Thin Red Line deals with WWII, not Vietnam.
The other movies seem to have nothing to do with Vietnam...wrong thread perhaps?

I have not yet seen Fog of War, but I understand it is a great documentary on the politics behind the war. I really need to buy/rent the movie.

Another good one is Tigerland. It deals more with the mindset of the day and training rather than conflict in Vietnam, but is worth seeing.

My favorites are Platoon and We Were Soldiers. Apocalypse Now is great, but deals less with the average soldier and experiences than the others.

 

[Daniel J.S.]

My sig is a quote from Monty Python, specifically a "Vox Pop" one-liner with John Cleese dressed in a business suit (I've been using it for awhile, so maybe it's time I changed it). So, their intent behind the line was likely to annoy conservatives. I myself am what devout conservatives might call a "godless, pinko-commie liberal."

I should clarify that Vietnam happened before I was born (I have not been in the city for thirty years), so my views on the subject come from what I know of history; I know enough for me to believe it wasn't a justified war.

As for my favorite Vietnam films, I haven't seen them all, but I recommend Platoon, Hearts & Minds and Coming Home (Fonda's and Voight's performances are superb and the theme of treatment of returning vets is still relevant).

 

[chris winters]

yep, i would probably agree with you more then disagree when it comes to that war.

 

[ThomasC]

As Chris already mentioned, it's a WWII film, but the scores for The Thin Red Line and We Were Soldiers are similar, so perhaps that's why you thought TTRL was a Vietnam film. Or perhaps you haven't heard the scores for either film and this is all bullshit.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Drama:
• Full Metal Jacket
• Apocalypse Now (both versions)
• The Deer Hunter

Documentary:
• Stanley Kernow's Vietnam: A Television History (multipart PBS documentary that first aired in 1983; without peer)
• The Fog of War

 

[chris winters]

there is no much tainted information, here say, and bias reporting where the veitnam war is concerned I always wonder when it comes documentories how they rate. Is "a television history" pretty good as far as true facts, statistics etc...? how do others rate?