Macbeth
Banned
+2,444|5556

I don't care what Charlie Sheen does with the rest of his life, he will always get credit from me for making the best Vietnam movie ever. Of the four big movies that are associated with Vietnam, Deer Hunter, Apocalypse now, Full metal Jacket, and Platoon, Platoon captures what Vietnam was the best.

All of those other movies are 10 out of 10's themselves but they either don't capture Vietnam in the same way Platoon does or Vietnam is just the setting for a larger story. The second part meaning- you could have put the story into any modern American war and it would have worked the same. Platoon was uniquely Vietnam.

Full Metal Jacket was a great movie (and I'm a HUGE Kubrick fan) but it wasn't really a movie about Vietnam. The first and most memorable half of the movie is set stateside in a boot camp and makes no mention of Vietnam. The first half could be set in a WW2, WW1, Korea etc. movie without a problem. The second half of the FMJ, the Vietnam part felt rushed and incomplete. The only lasting memory most people have of the second part is of the "Me love you long time" opening. I think it's safe to say FMJ isn't so much about Vietnam but is more a criticism of war and the military than anything.

Of the big four Nam movies, Deer Hunter is probably the least about Vietnam than anyone of them. Of all the Vietnam movies Deer Hunter is probably the best 'movie' in and of itself but less than half of the movie is actually set in Vietnam. Most of it deals with the relationships of the the Vets before and after the war. And while the two most intense scenes from any of the aforementioned movies came from this one, the fact that only a quarter of the movie is in Vietnam doesn't really qualify it as a Vietnam movie. If someone asked you for a movie about Vietnam, Deer Hunter would be the last movie of the four to give them.

Apocalypse now is the only movie which comes close to rivaling Platoon in terms of what a 'Vietnam movie' would be. But it loses it on two points. The first would be the actual plot basis of the movie. The movie isn't so much about the war as much as the war is a back drop for the assassination of Marlon Brando-Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. Like Full metal Jacket, the movie could very well have been set in Korea or WW1. The second point where the movies loses it is the ridiculousness of some of the scenes. I'm referring to scenes like Dennis Hopper's rant or the surfing Colonel. I can appreciate those parts of the movie for what they are- good movie. But when it's not authentically Vietnam. It 's not accurate as to what the war was like. I think the movie is attempting to be both a criticism of war and a criticism of Vietnam and manages to not do either really well.

Platoon manages to be authentically Vietnam while still providing an excellent storyline with the two Sargents and their effects on a young Sheen. The movie manages to use the main plot of the two Sargents and their dealings with Sheen to actually showcase what Vietnam was in a way Apocalypse Now couldn't. For instance, Sargent Barnes murder of the woman in the village actually builds on tension between Barnes and Sargent Elias and at the same times gives a glimpse of what the reality of Vietnam was like. While the movie occasionally gets into the relationships between the soldiers they are all still kept within the context of the war. Neither the side tracking philosophizing and introspection of Apocalypse now nor the relationship focus of Deer Hunter is present in Platoon. The movie stays grounded in it's location and theme. The theme of Platoon is Vietnam not anything else. That's why if ever someone where to ask you for a movie about Vietnam, Platoon would be the perfect movie.
AussieReaper
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+5,761|6123|what

Apocalypse Now had the better soundtrack.
https://i.imgur.com/maVpUMN.png
Kampframmer
Esq.
+313|4813|Amsterdam

AussieReaper wrote:

Apocalypse Now had the better soundtrack.
Its not just the music that made that scene so great, the whole scene was magnificent and die walkure just made it so much better.
And lets not forget adagio for strings in platoon. Great scene, also made better with beautiful music.

Last edited by Kampframmer (2011-08-07 06:12:22)

UnkleRukus
That Guy
+236|5006|Massachusetts, USA
I agree, Platoon was a much better Vietnam movie. The village scene was always somewhat hard to watch, was a shock to me the first time I saw it. The relationships between the characters were good too. John C. McGinleys character was great, how he did all that sucking up and then got stuck with the entire platoon. Elias and Barnes were fantastic, Rabbit was just so insane.
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Finray
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+2,629|5758|Catherine Black
tl;dr
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Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6441
the first half of FMJ is amazing cinema. the second half seems to be random kubrick vignettes. falls flat in that sense.

also i don't understand the position of authority you're writing from when you say "xyz ... captures the spirit of vietnam best". were you there?
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Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6441
also your point about apocalypse now is hopeless as you clearly haven't read 'heart of darkness'. it is not a criticism of war - it is a criticism of human nature itself (amongst many other things). what motivates you to write 4 paragraphs to yourself about a subject nobody enquired into when you haven't even done your basic research / background reading? bored?
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
AussieReaper
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+5,761|6123|what

Uzique wrote:

also your point about apocalypse now is hopeless as you clearly haven't read 'heart of darkness'. it is not a criticism of war - it is a criticism of human nature itself (amongst many other things). what motivates you to write 4 paragraphs to yourself about a subject nobody enquired into when you haven't even done your basic research / background reading? bored?
Now explain why he needs a lit degree to have an opinion on movies.
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Cybargs
Moderated
+2,285|6686
everyone only remembers the first half of FMJ.
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ROGUEDD
BF2s. A Liberal Gang of Faggots.
+452|5359|Fuck this.

Cybargs wrote:

everyone only remembers the first half of FMJ.
Who could forget Animal?
Make X-meds a full member, for the sake of 15 year old anal gangbang porn watchers everywhere!
Kampframmer
Esq.
+313|4813|Amsterdam

Cybargs wrote:

everyone only remembers the first half of apocalypse now.
fixed.
ghettoperson
Member
+1,943|6619

Technically Apocalypse Now was a Cambodia movie, not Vietnam.
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5328|London, England
Sergeant, not sargent.
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Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6441

AussieReaper wrote:

Uzique wrote:

also your point about apocalypse now is hopeless as you clearly haven't read 'heart of darkness'. it is not a criticism of war - it is a criticism of human nature itself (amongst many other things). what motivates you to write 4 paragraphs to yourself about a subject nobody enquired into when you haven't even done your basic research / background reading? bored?
Now explain why he needs a lit degree to have an opinion on movies.
he doesn't need a lit degree. apocalypse now is the film version of heart of darkness, supplanting the tale from colonial africa to wartorn vietnam. the themes and characters are essentially exactly the same - only superficial details have changed. you can pretty easily divide the obvious 'contemporary political comment on vietnam situation' stuff from the actual meat of the story, i.e. conrad's original stuff. do you need a lit degree? no. i am not asking you to provide a deconstructive reading of apocalypse now utilising the postcolonial theories of chinua achebe. i'm just saying you're really missing the entire point of the film (which is obvious to non-literary people, anyway).
libertarian benefit collector - anti-academic super-intellectual. http://mixlr.com/the-little-phrase/
-Whiteroom-
Pineapplewhat
+572|6629|BC, Canada

Uzique wrote:

also i don't understand the position of authority you're writing from when you say "xyz ... captures the spirit of vietnam best". were you there?
This is what I was thinking.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

I liked Forrest Gump.
ROGUEDD
BF2s. A Liberal Gang of Faggots.
+452|5359|Fuck this.

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

I liked Forrest Gump.
Lt. DAN!!!
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+510|5444|Ventura, California
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Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX

ghettoperson wrote:

Technically Apocalypse Now was a Cambodia movie, not Vietnam.
It was a bit of a mixture, maybe that was the point.

Platoon never got beyond the personal level, so meh.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Uzique
dasein.
+2,865|6441
technically apocalypse now was a belgian congo movie, going into the interior of a continent, the geographic as well as metaphorical 'heart of darkness', so going way upriver into cambodia beyond the authorities is very much "the point", yeah.
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Pug
UR father's brother's nephew's former roommate
+652|6512|Texas - Bigger than France
Not bad Mac.

But you failed to include Tropic Thunder.
M.O.A.B
'Light 'em up!'
+1,220|6193|Escea

ROGUEDD wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

I liked Forrest Gump.
Lt. DAN!!!
You'd better tuck that in, don't want to get it caught on the tripwires.
SonderKommando
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+564|6630|The darkside of Denver
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gurdeep
­
+812|4725|proll­y

Pug wrote:

Not bad Mac.

But you failed to include Tropic Thunder.
Ilocano
buuuurrrrrrppppp.......
+341|6637

Pfft.  John Wayne on The Green Berets.

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