NationStates Jolt Archive

Title says it...

apocalypse now was o.k but i usualy dont like nam movies, bunch of hyper-active americans raping vietnamese girls..not my kind of thing.(platoon).ww2 movies are (in my humble opinion) better..but if you like nam movies..good fo you :)

Good Morning Vietnam
Forrest Gump-Vietnam War era part of the movie.

Edit: We Were Soldiers is a great film, and very accurate in regards to the War and life back home in America at that time. Find it!

That's not hard, there are only three accurate ones: We Were Soldiers and Hamburger Hill depicted the U.S. military accurately. The Green Berets depicted the Vietcong the most accurately.

Good Morning Vietnam
Forrest Gump-Vietnam War era part of the movie.

yeah good morning viet nam was good to

Platoon

apocalypse now was o.k but i usualy dont like nam movies, bunch of hyper-active americans raping vietnamese girls..not my kind of thing.(platoon).ww2 movies are (in my humble opinion) better..but if you like nam movies..good fo you :)


Yes that was (apocalypse now)... I wondered that, but did't remember the title.
excelent movie... Deer hunter is also good...

Apocalypse Now!

Yes that was (apocalypse now)... I wondered that, but did't remember the title.
excelent movie... Deer hunter is also good...

i need to see that thing gibson is in, it looks good but i thought it was about the pacific theater in ww2, mainly because channel 5 made its trailer so crap that you could not tell which war it was about

Good Morning Vietnam
Forrest Gump-Vietnam War era part of the movie.


Good Morning Vietnam is also good... Best work by Williams

Apocalypse Now!
Serenity Now!
Best Vietnam movie was definatly We Were Soldiers.

i need to see that thing gibson is in, it looks good but i thought it was about the pacific theater in ww2, mainly because channel 5 made its trailer so crap that you could not tell which war it was about


It not good...
Gibson does those epical movies (even if the situation doesn't reguire it)

Well, naturally the one that describes the US troops without any propaganda-bullshit is Full metal jacket.
Not a very original post but it's always better than any of those sad propaganda-movies hollywood likes to manufacture.

Apocalypse Now.

Good Morning Vietnam.

Full Metal Jacket.

Well, naturally the one that describes the US troops without any propaganda-bullshit is Full metal jacket.
Not a very original post but it's always better than any of those sad propaganda-movies hollywood likes to manufacture.

Like Platoon? :D

Like Platoon? :D
It's been ages since I last saw Platoon but still I like FMJ more.
I just tend to like english movies more.
And remember! Platoon didn't have even a hint of the twisted humour of FMJ.

I have yet to see Full Metal Jacket.

Title says it...
A Rumor of War, which was a made-for-TV special. It was very accurate and realistic. The second one I would pick is Hamburger Hill, which while a bit exaggerated, was still very realistic.

BTW ... I HATE Apocolapse Now, and Full Metal Jacket and Platoon weren't much better! :mad:

Although it's one of my two favorite movies (the other being Blade Runner) , I really can't put Apocalypse Now down as a Vietnwm war movie. It's an excellent rendition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness into a film, but sucks as a Vietnam movie.

Full Metal Jacket is based on The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, which I understand is based on his experiences in Vietnam. I

Hamburger Hill, Go Tell the Spartans, and We Were Soldiers are also very good, IMO.

Eutrusca, have you seen We Were Soldiers?

I have yet to see Full Metal Jacket.
Do yourself a favour you slimy little communist shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker and see it!! :D

I don't really view Apocalypse Now as a 'Nam movie, as it's based on (arguably) the first modern book, written over 100 years ago. And the war is secondary to the internal conflicts within and between Kurtz and Williard.

I don't recommend seeing the Dux version though. I can see why they cut most of that out first time round. Except the last few extra scenes with Kurtz.

Do yourself a favour you slimy little communist shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker and see it!! :D

I don't really view Apocalypse Now as a 'Nam movie, as it's based on (arguably) the first modern book, written over 100 years ago. And the war is secondary to the internal conflicts within and between Kurtz and Williard.

I don't recommend seeing the Dux version though. I can see why they cut most of that out first time round. Except the last few extra scenes with Kurtz.

Agreed (see my comments above ;)). But I did like the stealing of the surfboard.

Do yourself a favour you slimy little communist shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker and see it!! :D

I don't really view Apocalypse Now as a 'Nam movie, as it's based on (arguably) the first modern book, written over 100 years ago. And the war is secondary to the internal conflicts within and between Kurtz and Williard.

I don't recommend seeing the Dux version though. I can see why they cut most of that out first time round. Except the last few extra scenes with Kurtz.

I am not a communist. I'm more anticommunist than Augusto Pinochet, Alfredo Stroessner, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Luis Somoza Debayle, Fulgencio Batista, Rafael Trujillo, Jorge Rafael Videla, Leopoldo Galtieri, Joe McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, Martin Dies, Robert Welch, Alan Stang, Otto Otepka, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Francisco Franco, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, Draza Mihailovich, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, George Papadopoulos, Moise Tshombe, Ian Smith, Daniel Malan, Johannes Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd, Balthazar Vorster, P.W. Botha, Jonas Savimbi, Suharto, Chiang Kai-shek, Syngman Rhee, Nguyen Cao Ky, Nguyen Van Thieu, Ferdinand Marcos, Boun Oum, Vang Pao, Lon Nol, Robert Menzies, King Faisal, and the Shah of Iran COMBINED.

Although it's one of my two favorite movies (the other being Blade Runner) , I really can't put Apocalypse Now down as a Vietnwm war movie. It's an excellent rendition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness into a film, but sucks as a Vietnam movie.

Full Metal Jacket is based on The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, which I understand is based on his experiences in Vietnam. I

Hamburger Hill, Go Tell the Spartans, and We Were Soldiers are also very good, IMO.

Eutrusca, have you seen We Were Soldiers?
Yes. I forgot that one. I think it ranks right up there with the top three or four.

I am not a communist. I'm more anticommunist than Augusto Pinochet, Alfredo Stroessner, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Luis Somoza Debayle, Fulgencio Batista, Rafael Trujillo, Jorge Rafael Videla, Leopoldo Galtieri, Joe McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, Martin Dies, Robert Welch, Alan Stang, Otto Otepka, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Francisco Franco, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, Draza Mihailovich, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, George Papadopoulos, Moise Tshombe, Ian Smith, Daniel Malan, Johannes Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd, Balthazar Vorster, P.W. Botha, Jonas Savimbi, Suharto, Chiang Kai-shek, Syngman Rhee, Nguyen Cao Ky, Nguyen Van Thieu, Ferdinand Marcos, Boun Oum, Vang Pao, Lon Nol, Robert Menzies, King Faisal, and the Shah of Iran COMBINED.
Why you little maggot, you make me want to vomit. You Goddamn communist heathen, you had best go watch Full Metal Jacket, or I'm gonna stomp your guts out. ;)

Agreed (see my comments above ;)). But I did like the stealing of the surfboard.
Yeah, I saw your comments after I posted. Personally I didn't like the stealing the surfboard scene. I felt that throughout the movie Williard was distancing himself from the others on the boat, because he was operating in a totally different space to where they were. He had to put up with them because he needed their boat, but he made it obvious that he didn't want to. The scene where he shoots the wounded in the boat they stop and search showed his true character - that he cared about nothing except his mission.
But the stealing the board made him seem like he was trying to fit in with the boys. So it just didn't click.

And the French people scene bordered on farce, what with the guy wandering around in the background playing the accordian. Though it did clear up what they did with the chief's body.

There are American Vietnam movies that are NOT propaganda? :eek:

We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers.

Because it's actually about Viet Nam and the military in general, rather than just using the war as a subplot, like Apocalypse Now or Platoon, which could've been written during any war.

Also, you can't beat We Were Soldiers for realism, and for not treating either side like they were a bunch of animals, like the U.S. side is usually portrayed, or as a bunch of back-stabbing amateurs, like the other side is often portrayed as. In WWS, the Vietnamese were outgunned and outdisciplined, but not cowardly or lacking perspective..

Also, I remember seeing WWS in the theater with my dad, whose unit it was about, and he was pretty affected by it, so it must be somewhat true-to-life as to what people new to the war would've felt in the first days.

Ein Deutscher']There are American Vietnam movies that are NOT propaganda? :eek:

Most American Vietnam War movies are anti-military or anti-war propaganda, if that's what you mean.

Ein Deutscher']There are American Vietnam movies that are NOT propaganda? :eek:

amazingly enough... yes

Go Tell the Spartans (came out early 1970s) was the best movie about Vietnam made during the war.... focused on US Advisors, problems the US Army was already having (careerism, focusing on the wrong things) and the bravery of the local Village militias (which historically fought over half the battles and suffered a lot more casualties than either the regular Vietnamese or US forces).... damned good movie too.

Hamburger Hill is just a damned good movie .... especially when the soldiers talk about what is waiting for them at home and how they are either forgotten or condemned.. and its based on a true incident (battle of the same name in 1969)

We Were Soldiers was just as good.

Platoon, Apoclypse Now and Coming Home had very slanted stories to tell or were based loosely on the war (good point about Heart of Darkness by the way... I was studying that book in High School when that movie came out originally... definitely skip the directors cut, another hour, and god its not worth it). Green Berets was slanted toward the right, although the firebase battle is pretty well done.

The Boys of Company C is damned good, catch that one

A couple of others come to mind... a movie about a Doctor (I forget the name, but it has Robert Emory in it) but its basically an adventure/romance novel. Another couple of decent movies are aviation films... Flight of the Intruder and Bat21...

a good movie about the French Indochina War is an old movie called the Last Command, which also goes into the French Algerian War (opening of the movie takes place at Dien Bien Phu)

I haven't seen any Vietnamese movies... oddly enough, they never made it over here.

Another one worth catching once is Casualties of War (shows an American atrocity, which should make Ein Deutcher happy)

Platoon

Yeah, I saw your comments after I posted. Personally I didn't like the stealing the surfboard scene. I felt that throughout the movie Williard was distancing himself from the others on the boat, because he was operating in a totally different space to where they were. He had to put up with them because he needed their boat, but he made it obvious that he didn't want to. The scene where he shoots the wounded in the boat they stop and search showed his true character - that he cared about nothing except his mission.
But the stealing the board made him seem like he was trying to fit in with the boys. So it just didn't click.

True, but on the other hand, I thought it jibed well into the whole "They were gonna make me a major for this, and I wasn't even in their fuckin' army anymore." disconnect the military. Plus I thought it was funny.

And the French people scene bordered on farce, what with the guy wandering around in the background playing the accordian. Though it did clear up what they did with the chief's body.

Absolutely!

Go Tell the Spartans (came out early 1970s) was the best movie about Vietnam made during the war.... focused on US Advisors, problems the US Army was already having (careerism, focusing on the wrong things) and the bravery of the local Village militias (which historically fought over half the battles and suffered a lot more casualties than either the regular Vietnamese or US forces).... damned good movie too.

:D Sometimes I wonder if I was the only person who saw that one.

Well, naturally the one that describes the US troops without any propaganda-bullshit is Full metal jacket.
Not a very original post but it's always better than any of those sad propaganda-movies hollywood likes to manufacture.

No propaganda?! what the heck have you been smoking? The entire concept of Full Metal Jacket was to make a political statement of how the military destroys the humanity of soldiers, turning them into killing machines.

hmm... We were soldiers would be my vote...

Full Metal Jacket, BY A MILE!

That film has so many cool quotes, I could quote it all day. Plus, 'Animal Mother' is the coolest name anyone ever had, in fiction or reality.


A close second comes Platoon, I reckon, but I mostly enjoyed that because about halfway through I saw Johnny Depp (!!) in it, as some bit part, and I spent the rest of the film laughing.


Apocalypse Now was alright, I suppose, although I hated the ending. It was just trippy and weird, and thank god when the 70s ended, people stopped ending films like that. I mainly liked it for that crazy air cavalry officer, the one who attacks a village just because there's a good beach there for surfing.

The Odd Angry Shot is a must see, though you will probably never be able to see it. It's quite hard to find, even in Australia where it was made.

Of the ones i've seen: Apocalypse Now or Platoon; though I'm ranking them as movies and not necessarily accurate representations of the Vietnam War.

I admit I´m not a fan of war movies but I must say the best movies I´ve seen about Nam are Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket (no surprises here). I also enjoyed Saving Private Ryan very much.

I admit I´m not a fan of war movies but I must say the best movies I´ve seen about Nam are Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket (no surprises here). I also enjoyed Saving Private Ryan very much.

I liked Saving Private Ryan too, though it's a horribly inaccurate version of the Vietnam conflict, I must say. ;)

I liked Saving Private Ryan too, though it's a horribly inaccurate version of the Vietnam conflict, I must say. ;)perfer "lost Platoon" High on the drama... but man those guy needed to do their research... :D

If you have seen, or are going to see, Apocalypse Now, then read Conrad's Heart of Darkness. IMHO it's one of the best novels ever written in the English language (along with Lord Jim), and the film is, on the whole, an excellent adaptation of it.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Born on the Fourth of July. A must-see, and to my eyes it ranks high up in the list of films about Vietnam.

And finally, of course, Full Metal Jacket, a masterpiece. The whole final part revolving around the Vietnamese sniper is one of the most powerful, moving things I've ever seen in any film. Absolutely brilliant.

Have your Vietnam flicks, I'll keep to my Korean War tv series

A Bright Shining Lie was a great book, but not as good as a movie.

I agree Apocalypse Now is a great movie, but not so much as a movie about the Vietnam War. I would say the same about Birdy.

So, I'd agree with most:
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket

(Not in any particular order)

FWIW, here is what seems to be apretty comprehensive list (http://www.geocities.com/warmoviedatabase/mvietnam.html) of Vietnam (and other) War movies.

No propaganda?! what the heck have you been smoking? The entire concept of Full Metal Jacket was to make a political statement of how the military destroys the humanity of soldiers, turning them into killing machines.
I meant that kind of propaganda Hollywood likes to make: the US army is something holy and nothing shall be able to stand in it's way.

We were soldiers - as others have said before, a wonderfully balanced movie, more focusing on the fears of the commanding officer and the bitterness of war than slanting the viewpoint in any direction. I also liked the small way in which the two commanding officers mirrored each other in a few minor scenes. Pretty good.

Bat 21
84 Charlie Mopic
Garden of Stone
DeerHunter

All very good movies. 84 Charlie Mopic is a must see and aparently not very well known because I seldom see it mentioned. Bat 21 is on HBO sometimes.

The Odd Angry Shot is a must see, though you will probably never be able to see it. It's quite hard to find, even in Australia where it was made.

I forgot about that one, I haven't seen it in years... it was a good one

The Deer Hunter

Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
Good Morning Vietnam