Your favourite Vietnam War film?

Have that docu lying around on tape somewhere. Class docu, just as the movie itself.

 

Interesting thread, Whenever I walk into a Vietnamese DVD store and ask for these films I always get funny looks.

BAT 21 which is not on the list is probably the best one I have seen, in terms of capturing a true story and making it into something that represents what actually happened.

But as a film, FMJ caught a side of the Viet/yank war that has never been captured before. The build up to soldiers going to that conflict. The whole film has fantastic dialogue and the script is excellent. Considering they made the film in London, it is probably the most true looking to what Vietnam actually was like back then, according to footage I have seen.

Platoon shows the side the soliders on both sides of the war had to face... Viets - Faced psychotic drugged up confused young men with deadly weapons and no real direction. Yanks - Extremely tough dedicated young men in their home country!

There is also a VIETNAM IN HD miniseries that shows all real footage of major battles fought in the war. It is visually stunning and take from it what you will. But it is a good watch.

 

Completely agree. It gets my vote.

 

Platoon had a great music score.

 

FMJ would have been my choice if it had kept up the tempo of the first 60 mins. It didn't. So it isn't!

Apocalypse Now is too 'arthouse' for me. I just can't take it seriously.

Platoon has it's weaknesses, but it was the first 'mainstream' Vietnam film to show the US army's ugly side during the conflict (and let's face it... the reality of war is that every army has an ugly side!). So it wins my vote!

Deer Hunter comes a very close second.

Had 'The Killing Fields' and 'Casualty of War' been in the vote, then I may have gone with one of them!

 

Born on the 4th July is a favourite of mine an amazing performance from Cruise and all the cast really and has some very moving scenes (whilst also being a true story).
FMJ has it's moments but the 2nd half feels like a cartoon at times to me, Apocolypse Now tries too hard to be 'art' while Deer Hunter is also excellent.

But platoon has always been my favourite from the first time i saw it. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were epic and is in fact based on Oliver Stones own combat tour of Vietnam.... all the characters are based on real life people he met while out there and several of the battle scenes are true events Stone himself took part in, so for me it has that extra authenticity.

 

Don't forget Forrest Gump.

 

I still can't decide. Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon are all brilliant in their own way.

 

Forrest gump

 

Have you watched The Deer Hunter yet mate?

You might change your mind if you see that.

 

Naw I've no watched it yet mate. I plan to though.

 

You really think the deer hunter was that good....

I bought and watched one someone sold me here called the massacre at my lai four

Based on actual events of march 16th 1968. Very good film

About this event.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre"]My Lai Massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

anybody wantin to see the deer hunter, its on stv next monday night.

 

The My Lai Massacre really was a horrific event, and what was equally a travesty was the cover up & the miscarriage of justice that was perpetrated by the US Military, those in Washington & perhaps not quite so surprising, the Nixon White House.

 

Nice one! I've got that added to the programme planner.