What is the Greatest Vietnam War Movie?

What is the Greatest Vietnam War Movie?


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I always think of Apoc Now as similar to Once Upon A Time In America, yeah there both atmospheric arty films but you could hardly say they are lacking in larger than life character/action either, its not like asking an average joe to sit down and watch Stalker.
 
Green Beret is remarkable for one truly distinct quality among Hollywood films about Vietnam, among them all, and deserves viewing for this reason alone. It's the only film that supported the war effort during the war, and didn't approach it cynically. Plus it has John Wayne. I'll never forget learning that from Maltin's thick book, but the internet makes everything easily accessible:
http://www.filmsite.org/warfilms4.html
Vietnam-War Related Films:

The Vietnam-War experience produced only one film during the actual era of conflict and it was one of the worst films ever made about Vietnam: the propagandistic, inaccurate, pro-war The Green Berets (1968), a shamelessly jingoistic, heavy-handed, gung-ho action film starring John Wayne as ultra-patriotic, anti-Communist Colonel Mike Kirby - the leader of elite, hand-picked Special Forces troops fighting against the Vietcong. This war film flopped, probably because it echoed Wayne's earlier westerns and cowboys-vs-Indians mentality, with the star apparently engaging the enemy singlehandedly, and walking off into the sunset at film's end.
 
"Apocalypse Now", but "Rescue Dawn" is severely underrated.
 
Apocalypse Now is the best film, but I liked FMJ better. Private Pyle's meltdown is one of the most intense scenes in all of film.

Video quality of this clip sucks, but I couldn't find better or full length scene.

Here's a high-quality version:

 
Since this thread is about war movies. I need help figuring out a movie.

I am pretty sure that the movie took place in New York during the Vietnam era. I am also pretty sure that I saw it in the late 1990s.

The only scene that I remember is that the main character and his friends are registering for the military, perhaps the army. While registering a recruiter asks the main character his name and the main character says something weird enough that the recruiter walks away and then comes back and questions the young man about his name again. I think he tells the recruiter his nickname and this confuses the recruiter.

After this exchange the recruiter kicks the main character out and the main character is not allowed to register because the military thinks he is too stupid to be drafted. I think there is narration that says the guy is embarrassed to tell his parents that he is not smart enough to join the army.
 
China Gate. 1957. (also the First Vietnam War Movie)

Angie Dickenson plays the Vietnamese girl
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Here she's got legs and a bottle of hooch. @steve38
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Nat King Cole as Goldie
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Lee van Cleef as the evil Saigon General
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Directed by Sam Fuller
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Ain't no topp'n that motherfuckers!



 
I have a soft spot for Platoon. The movie actually makes you care about a lot of the characters. Except for Dillon's character Bunny who was a piece of garbage.
 
This is a documentary, should it be added to the poll? I'm not sure. What do you guys think?
No, IMO, if you do that, you should do a separate thread/poll for Vietnam documentaries, or perhaps just war documentaries.
 
Haven't seen a few of those, but Apocalypse Now is my fav
 
Platoon
and then We Were Soldiers (highly underrated IMO, like Tears of the Sun)
 
The first half of FMJ is literally a masterpiece that is accurate as fuck. Paris island was a fucking awful evil place.

Second half is dated.

I recently saw Platoon and thought it aged badly.

How exactly is a period piece dated ? It still relates to the period exactly like it did in 1986 , you changed not the movie.
 
How exactly is a period piece dated ? It still relates to the period exactly like it did in 1986 , you changed not the movie.

I'm guessing he ment in style but really I don't see that, the second half still feels very comtempory to me. As I said I could see something quite similar being made about a modern war in terms of camera work, lighting and especially music. I think you could argue here that Kubrick invented the Tarantino style soundtrack with this film just as he did using classical music ironically in the 60's and 70's.
 
Voted for Full Metal but I love Platoon as well.
 
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