Best vietnam war movie

explanation would be needless here.

The Green Berets.

Oh, you said best, not worse.

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Tough poll.

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I had to go with Platoon, it has always been my favorite. I think We Were Soldiers should have been on the poll, I took my dad who served a few tours in Vietnam to go see it and he said a lot of the stuff with the helicopters and the way they flew was way more realistic then any other Vietnam movie he had seen.

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Platoon's probably my favourite, but I went with "other" because I think that Hamburger Hill is great.

Oh yeah I forgot about Hamburger Hill, it has been a long time since I have seen it but I remember it being really good, with a pretty impressive cast.

Of those, I'd probably choose Apocalypse Now as the "worst". It's a decent spectacle and film, but the more I watch it and soak it in, the less it has to do with Vietnam. It's an adaptation of a novel set in Africa long before any major external wars involving the U.S. and never quite addresses anything all that specific about Vietnam.

The other films are all certainly legit. but I ultimately went with the one which seemed to specify WHY the Vietnam War was more insane than any other war the U..S. had participated in up to that time, whatever the hell you think that is.

On the other hand, the most poetic and metaphorical Vietnam flick on the list is probably The Deer Hunter.

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Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

I'd go with Hamburger Hill as well. Although I think Apocalypse Now was a good reworking of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I've always rated Go Tell the Spartans (See link).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077617/

I went with Full Metal Jacket. I recently re-watched Apocalypse Now (original version) and liked it better than I ever have before, but I still don't think it's a great movie. I remember thinking it was interesting that one of the scenes included in the Redux version focused on French plantation-owners, which is an aspect of the war that is rarely seen in movies, but I would have to see it again to say more than that.

For movies not listed I would rank Casualties of War as one of the best, and there are a number of interesting movies that are about subjects peripheral to the battles of the war but rather deal with different human or political aspects or dramatize the war differently than the usual War idiom.


Boat People, The Quiet American, The Killing Fields, Little Dieter Needs to Fly are a few of these.

I forgot about Casualties of War, which has to be another grossly underrated Vietnam film. Sean Penn is genuinely scary in that movie. I can't understand why the tabloid press criticised & belittled Penn so much years ago as he can produce brilliant performances on screen. Well, I can, as the tabloids are essentially owned & written by a bunch of no-talent wankers. I suppose being married to Madonna (or Madge as the redtops often refer to her as) didn't help as she is often a prime target for them.

I went with Platoon. Tough choice though. It really could have been any of the 4 not including Good Morning Vietnam.

I know it's not set in Vietnam and it's about the pre-Vietnam training down in Louisiana, but I thought 2000's "Tigerland" was a pretty good flick. Anyone else?

(Voted for "Platoon," by the way)

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The actual answer is Apocalypse Now, but I voted "other".

My other is Tropic Thunder. I know it doesn't have much to do with Viet Nam, but I couldn't resist!

Seriously, how is Apocalypse Now not winning hands down? linespalsy, how is it not a great film? Not only is the film itself great but the entire story of it's making is the very definition of artistic creation. When the director comes home to his wife mentally destroyed and says "Oh I hate this movie, I have no idea how to do it" and then that is the final product I just sit back in pure wonder. I'd kill to see that film on the big screen. Truly amazing.

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Gotta go with Apocalypse Now, even though Platoon is the only other movie up there I've seen

Great movie. Bouncingbrick pretty much summed up all my feelings about the film.

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Apocalypse Now is nothing but a bunch of Bull Ca Ca. It is fantasy pure and simply fantasy. Oliver Stone's Platoon and Hamburger Hill are the two best. Both show a very real look at how Vietnam was. Full Metal Jacket showed the fight the Marines had in Hue during the Tet offensive. Likewise Hamburger Hill was one battle the 101st Airborne fought for one hill. Apocalypse Now was more fantasy then John Kerry's war stories last election. Overall, my vote goes to Platoon and Hamburg Hill.

So, what you're saying is fantasy can't be a representation of/metaphore for true life? Or that it's somehow less valid because it's not "real"?

So much for art imitating life.

Apocalypse Now, while not as realistic as Platoon, was far more horrifying. Therefore I'd argue it's more successful at displaying the Vietnam War.

Plus Platoon is kinda boring. Oliver Stone is hugely overrated, IMO.

I will give vote to Good Morning, Vietnam.

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Apocalypse Now is great of course and one of my top favorite films of all time, so it gets my vote. Duh.

I have a soft spot for First Blood, as I tend to look at it outside of the context of Rambo, meaning the two silly films that followed. It's the post-Vietnam Lonely Are the Brave.

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