View Full Version : Best Vietnam Movie Ever
Which of these is, in your opinoin, the best Vietnam movie?
smoak
11-17-2005, 02:03 PM
Does Rambo count?
I voted Deer Hunter, but I haven't seen many of these.
redskin_rich
11-17-2005, 02:21 PM
I had to vote for The Deer Hunter simply because it is one of my all time favorite movies. Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are all very good too.
RedskinsDave
11-17-2005, 02:23 PM
I voted Full Metal Jacket but on the opinion of a friend of my dad's who was there, Hamburger Hill is apparently pretty accurate.
akhhorus
11-17-2005, 02:27 PM
What is "The Killing Fields" doing on this list? And while the "The Deer Hunter" is the better movie, "Platoon" is exclusively about Vietnam. Gotta to go with that. No love for the Chuck Norris movies though?
What is "The Killing Fields" doing on this list? And while the "The Deer Hunter" is the better movie, "Platoon" is exclusively about Vietnam. Gotta to go with that. No love for the Chuck Norris movies though?
LOL! I found it on a list of the 10 best vietnam movies.
http://www.epinions.com/content_1284153476
I've never even seen it. Which Chuck Norris movie are you talking about?
MoeRedskins
11-17-2005, 02:35 PM
I haven't seen all of them, but I gotta go with Full Metal.
whitskins
11-17-2005, 02:37 PM
Platoon is my fave. It rocked me pretty hard.
dj_stouty
11-17-2005, 02:42 PM
Here is how I rank them..
Full Metal Jacket
Apolcalype Now
Hamburger Hill
PlatoonBTW - I hated Casualties Of War
Note to all FMJ fans: My wife is getting me this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590710479/104-0312802-3625505?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance) book for Christmas. It is a diary written by Mathew Modine regarding the grueling filming of this movie and working with Kubrick. Looks to have some great behind-the-scenes stories in it....
danny's stogie
11-17-2005, 02:42 PM
I went with Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick creepiness at its best. However, the only other ones I've seen are Apocalypse, Platoon, and I fell asleep 15 minutes into Deer Hunter. I loved apocalypse but the ending always felt a bit phony to me. Platoon would have been one of the all time great films period if it weren't for Charlie Sheen, although the music gives me chills every time I hear it. One Nam film I liked but that I thought was a bit underrated was "The thin red line".
akhhorus
11-17-2005, 02:43 PM
LOL! I found it on a list of the 10 best vietnam movies.
http://www.epinions.com/content_1284153476
I've never even seen it. Which Chuck Norris movie are you talking about?
Weird. Vietnam is never a part of the Killing Fields, maybe somebody just assume it did.
I went with Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick creepiness at its best. However, the only other ones I've seen are Apocalypse, Platoon, and I fell asleep 15 minutes into Deer Hunter. I loved apocalypse but the ending always felt a bit phony to me. Platoon would have been one of the all time great films period if it weren't for Charlie Sheen, although the music gives me chills every time I hear it. One Nam film I liked but that I thought was a bit underrated was "The thin red line".
Thin Red Line was not a Nam movie. It's focused on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Santheb
11-17-2005, 02:46 PM
I don't know about you guys, but most people I've talked to said FMJ gets pretty crappy after the bootcamp part (and the hooker.) I've never gotten around to seeing all of it, I've seen the first half a couple times though. I even saw it in English class because R. Lee Ermey is a "master of the English language."
(that is what the teacher said, no joke.)
dj_stouty
11-17-2005, 02:47 PM
Weird. Vietnam is never a part of the Killing Fields, maybe somebody just assume it did.
Check out the review (http://imdb.com/title/tt0087553/)written on imdb.com.
whitskins
11-17-2005, 02:48 PM
Here is how I rank them..
Full Metal Jacket
Apolcalype Now
Hamburger Hill
PlatoonBTW - I hated Casualties Of War
Note to all FMJ fans: My wife is getting me this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590710479/104-0312802-3625505?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance) book for Christmas. It is a diary written by Mathew Modine regarding the grueling filming of this movie and working with Kubrick. Looks to have some great behind-the-scenes stories in it....
I hope Modine makes mention of the fact that Anthony Michael Hall was originally cast in his role in FMJ, only to be fired after a couple weeks for his constant complaining about Kubrick's directing style. Yes, that's right "The Geek" from The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles was to have starred in a Kubrick film.
Weird. Vietnam is never a part of the Killing Fields, maybe somebody just assume it did.
This is the description in the link I gave you:
The Killing Fields (1984)
Haing S. Ngor is the shining star in this movie depicting the accounts of a reporter in Viet Nam for the Fall of Saigon. Ngor plays Dith Pran, assistant to reporter Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) of the New York Times. When the Western journalists left the country, their many assistants and interpreters were left to be victimized by the invading Khmer Rouge, who regarded them as collaborators and traitors. While Sydney is home in America, picking up awards for his brilliant work, Pran is interred in prison camps, and must endure daily error and degradation, until he escapes and risks his life, walking miles and miles to eventual freedom. Ngor, in fact, faced many of the same experiences in his real life, and in a painful end to his life, was shot for no apparent reason in the driveway of his home in America some years ago. To have survived the horrors that he did and for his life to end so senselessly, is perhaps the most terrible thing I have ever heard of. This movie is especially moving for that reason, and there is an abundance of fine acting throughout this film. John Malkovitch is very stirring in his film-debut, and there are also good performances from the likes of Julian Sands, Craig T. nelson, and Spalding Gray.
dj_stouty
11-17-2005, 02:49 PM
I hope Modine makes mention of the fact that Anthony Michael Hall was originally cast in his role in FMJ, only to be fired after a couple weeks for his constant complaining about Kubrick's directing style. Yes, that's right "The Geek" from The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles was to have starred in a Kubrick film.
There is NO way he could have pulled off that role!
Santheb
11-17-2005, 02:49 PM
Check out the review (http://imdb.com/title/tt0087553/)written on imdb.com.
One would think that the The Killing Fields would refer to Cambodia..after all..uh..yeah.
RedskinsDave
11-17-2005, 02:50 PM
Well Modine isn't exactly the picture of manliness himself. I can't stand him but he did a good job in the movie.
danny's stogie
11-17-2005, 02:53 PM
Thin Red Line was not a Nam movie. It's focused on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
All swampy East-Asian locales are the same in my book...just kidding of course. This should explain why I don't watch many movies, in one ear and out the other.
akhhorus
11-17-2005, 02:55 PM
This is the description in the link I gave you:
All you have to do is reaplace Saigon with Phnom Penh and Vietnam with Cambodia, and thats dead on.
All swampy East-Asian locales are the same in my book...just kidding of course. This should explain why I don't watch many movies, in one ear and out the other.
That (Thin Red Line) was a weird movie IMO. So many big-name actors yet none of them are in the movie for more than 20 minutes. But the movie so incredibly loooooooooong. I only watched it once.
redskin_rich
11-17-2005, 02:56 PM
I went with Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick creepiness at its best. However, the only other ones I've seen are Apocalypse, Platoon, and I fell asleep 15 minutes into Deer Hunter. I loved apocalypse but the ending always felt a bit phony to me. Platoon would have been one of the all time great films period if it weren't for Charlie Sheen, although the music gives me chills every time I hear it. One Nam film I liked but that I thought was a bit underrated was "The thin red line".
You fell asleep on The Deer Hunter but liked The Thin Red Line? I admit the beginning of TDH is a little slow but its necessary for the character build-up. TTRL was terrible IMO, an entire movie on the thoughts in everyones heads. Maybe it was too artsy-fartsy for me, I don't know. I have trouble taking Travolta seriously in a war movie also.
danny's stogie
11-17-2005, 02:58 PM
I don't know about you guys, but most people I've talked to said FMJ gets pretty crappy after the bootcamp part (and the hooker.) I've never gotten around to seeing all of it, I've seen the first half a couple times though. I even saw it in English class because R. Lee Ermey is a "master of the English language."
(that is what the teacher said, no joke.)
After the first half of FMJ anything would pale in comparison. I thought the second half was pretty good though...it does a great job building up the tension and suspense.
...everybody's heard about the bird, the bird bird bird, the bird's the word.
danny's stogie
11-17-2005, 02:59 PM
You fell asleep on The Deer Hunter but liked The Thin Red Line? I admit the beginning of TDH is a little slow but its necessary for the character build-up. TTRL was terrible IMO, an entire movie on the thoughts in everyones heads. Maybe it was too artsy-fartsy for me, I don't know. I have trouble taking Travolta seriously in a war movie also.
Yup I did, Deer Hunter isn't a very good drinking movie.
Edit: I forgot that Travolta was in it, but Penn, Woody, and Nolte were all great.
GibbsRules!
11-17-2005, 03:06 PM
Here is how I rank them..
Full Metal Jacket
Apolcalype Now
Hamburger Hill
PlatoonBTW - I hated Casualties Of War
Note to all FMJ fans: My wife is getting me this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590710479/104-0312802-3625505?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance) book for Christmas. It is a diary written by Mathew Modine regarding the grueling filming of this movie and working with Kubrick. Looks to have some great behind-the-scenes stories in it....
I actually liked Casualties of War...seeing Michael J Fox in such a dramatic role was awkward after watching him on Family Ties. To his credit, he pulled it off. I loved the Deer Hunter and Apocalypse now as well, but I'll go with Full Metal Jacket as my fave.
HAWGZHEAD
11-17-2005, 03:26 PM
It was close for me between FMJ an Hamburger Hill but ended up going with FMJ. Thin Red Line was mentioned earlier, I turned that movie off about 15 minutes into it. They dragged the beginning out so long I couldn't take it.
LATrueRedskin
11-17-2005, 03:57 PM
Apolcalype Now.
halter91
11-18-2005, 08:23 AM
Full Metal Jacket or Platoon. Hamburger Hill was very good too. How can you forget Forest Gump?? :lol1:
Full Metal Jacket or Platoon. Hamburger Hill was very good too. How can you forget Forest Gump?? :lol1:
Or Good Morning Vietnam?
Ibleedburgundy
11-18-2005, 01:08 PM
Platoon. Tom Berranger and Willem Defoe were outstanding.
Spence
11-18-2005, 01:24 PM
Apocalypse Now was the best. Full Metal Jacket in second place.
WackyJacky
11-18-2005, 03:27 PM
I've seen all of these, and Full Metal Jacket gets my vote. It has always stood out in my mind. I'm not a Kubrick fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I really liked how this movie was done -- indelible characters, unforgettable scenes, plus a great cast (still trying to picture dorky little Anthony Michael Hall in Matthew Modine's role...nope, can't do it).
One of my favorite scenes:
Colonel: You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?
Private Joker: No, sir.
Colonel: You'd better get your head and your *** wired together, or I will take a giant **** on you.
Private Joker: Yes, sir.
Colonel: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.
Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.
Colonel: The what?
Private Joker: The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir.
Colonel: Whose side are you on, son?
Private Joker: Our side, sir.
The Skinsinator
11-18-2005, 03:40 PM
Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Highly emotional movies. My dad (ret. Air Force O-5) left Platoon in tears. Full Metal Jacket's training scenes are awesome, especially the DI. The last 1/2 of the movie isn't as entertaining as the first. Great flick though.
MONK_in_HOF
11-18-2005, 04:06 PM
Platoon. Easily IMO. I took a class in college on how Vietnam has been portrayed through film and novel. The instructor was a Vietnam veteran who served 2 years in the war and also a very good teacher. It was the most interesting class I have ever taken. By all accounts of veterans we spoke with during this class Platoon was by far the most accurate.
Platoon. Easily IMO. I took a class in college on how Vietnam has been portrayed through film and novel. The instructor was a Vietnam veteran who served 2 years in the war and also a very good teacher. It was the most interesting class I have ever taken. By all accounts of veterans we spoke with during this class Platoon was by far the most accurate.
Platoon was filmed by Oliver Stone, who is said to have fought in Vietnam.
MONK_in_HOF
11-18-2005, 04:33 PM
Platoon was filmed by Oliver Stone, who is said to have fought in Vietnam.
Correct you are. BTW Great Thread
frankez99
11-18-2005, 08:08 PM
Apocalypse Now easily....any movie that has Martin Sheen punching a mirror to "The End" by the Doors gets my vote...
Plus the move was good as hell....
Daddy is a Vietnam Vet...and it's his favorite too.
thickskin
11-18-2005, 10:51 PM
I don't know about you guys, but most people I've talked to said FMJ gets pretty crappy after the bootcamp part (and the hooker.) I've never gotten around to seeing all of it, I've seen the first half a couple times though.
watch the second half and then tell your friends i'm coming to kick their arses, nam vets or not. fmj is the easily the best of those movies. you have to appreciate the problem kubrick faced in trying to render two vastly different but equally complex narratives: boot camp, and the war itself. making the segue between the two will involve either a temporal leap forward, or following the characters through their first experiences in nam. with the latter, the characters haven't had the time to establish repoire with more typical vets, the battle-tested types, and so you miss out on those character aspects. the trouble with the former, the option kubrick chose, is that it creates a disjointedness in the viewing experience, which, though it works nicely in other kubrick films, is a little awkward in fmj. so what kubrick does is track joker (modine), who's become a noncombat journalist. this is a truly brilliant narrative device bc part of his job is to interview and photograph troops, which provides profiles of a whole menagerie of vets. he goes on an assignment on which he's reunited with cowboy from bootcamp. cowboy's risen through the ranks and is battle tested. so when fightning ensues, we get to see two characters we've known from the outset, one as battle savvy and hardened, the other as he deals with his first combat experience.
apocalypse now was a better idea than it was a finished project. i always thought heart of darkness should have ended with marlowe killing kurtz, but when i saw apocalypse now, i understood why conrad didn't write it that way. there's no return from the utter darkness kurtz has descended into, marlowe is able to return (and tell the story) only bc he flirted with the darkness, but was not completely consumed.
IowaSkinsFan
11-19-2005, 07:44 AM
Personally I had to go with Full Metal Jacket, and that's due largely to the first 15 minutes of the movie.
RedSkinBrit
11-21-2005, 01:10 PM
Apocalypse is a masterpiece and will take some beating.
BurgundyNGold
11-21-2005, 01:24 PM
I said "Platoon". If we were talking about the best boot camp movie ever, then I'd have to say "Full Metal Jacket".
Patrick
11-21-2005, 02:29 PM
One that's not on the list but is a movie that does an excellent job in showing REALLY how unprepared the US was for fighting in Vietnam ........ "We Were Soldiers".
One of Gibson's better rolls too............. and Sam Elliot.
Spence
11-21-2005, 02:38 PM
Well Modine isn't exactly the picture of manliness himself.He always seems to have a cold or a chronic sinus condition.
GibbsRules!
11-21-2005, 03:24 PM
He always seems to have a cold or a chronic sinus condition.
Or nosebleeds...that lucky son of a gun got to star opposite Linda Fiorentino in Vision Quest. Poor fella.
VTBob
11-23-2005, 03:17 PM
Platoon, FMJ is really good but not quite as good as Platoon IMO - and where is We Were Soldiers in this list? Not the most accurate portrayal, but still a very good Vietnam film...
IllinoiSkinFan
11-23-2005, 06:20 PM
Someone should do the best prison movie ever poll.
BurgundyNGold
11-23-2005, 06:21 PM
Someone should do the best prison movie ever poll.
Shawshank Redemption would pull away from Cool Hand Luke in a resounding victory.
HAWGZHEAD
11-23-2005, 06:30 PM
Someone should do the best prison movie ever poll.Caged Heat, a well done women's prison movie ;)
BurgundyNGold
11-23-2005, 06:32 PM
Caged Heat, a well done women's prison movie ;)
LMAO! I stand corrected. The movie that singlehandedly launched Cinemax must get its props. :D
redskin_rich
11-23-2005, 06:32 PM
Shawshank Redemption would pull away from Cool Hand Luke in a resounding victory.
Papillion!
BurgundyNGold
11-23-2005, 06:33 PM
Papillion!
Would Stalag 17 count as a prison movie? How about Bridge on the River Kwai?
Midnight Express hands down!!
ihatedallas
11-24-2005, 06:17 PM
I liked the boot camp part of FMJ, but i just liked platoon for the actual war part of the movie...
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