07-21-06

The Siege of Firebase Gloria
(1989 - Brian Trenchard-Smith)

This is going to be a short review, because I have not seen the movie recently and cannot tell many specific details about it, because I will probably get them wrong. The Siege of Firebase Gloria stars Lee Ermey (mostly known from Full Metal Jacket, he plays a lot of military roles) as Sergeant Major Bill Hafner, and Wings Hauser as Corporal Joseph DiNardo. Hafner is the big man at a firebase in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. He and his men must hold down the base until Tet ends, defending themselves from Charlie (The VietCong) as they attack the base. I saw this movie on Showtime and loved it. I think it ranks up there with the more popular war movies of all time, like Platoon and Apocalypse Now. I spoke with director Brian Trenchard-Smith, and asked him why this movie was not so popular and was never released on DVD. He told me that MGM released a limited number of VHS tapes for the movie, and never thought a DVD would do well. It is still one of the most rare VHS tapes you can find. If anybody has seen this movie, tell me. If you haven't, I think there are some DVDs recorded off of the VHS on eBay for $10. If you like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, or any other Vietnam movies, you should like The Siege of Firebase Gloria.

I give it an A
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"You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."

-Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore