Best Vietnam war movie?
Or Full Metal Jacket?
sharei always found the second half of full metal jacket with the actual war somewhat forgettable. so yes, apocalypse now is the better vietnam war movie.
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MovieChat Forums > Apocalypse Now (1979) Discussion > Best Vietnam war movie?
First Blood
shareoh come on, really?
shareYes! Dont sleep on First Blood just because itโs a blockbuster action movie. Itโs a gritty action film, shot in a beautiful part of the country; with a powerful message about the way a war can ruin lives, even after a war has long ended.
When you talk about war veterans and their concerns (eg PTSD, homelessness, lack of gratitude in society, inability to succeed in civilian sectors etc), then First Blood is the quintessential movie.
I take First Blood over Apocolypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, and other films.
First Blood is very much a Vietnam War movie and it's a great one. It's not perfect, there are a couple of silly moments (like the scene with Lt. Clinton Morgan) but by the end everything comes together in John Rambo's heartbreaking speech about the horrors he experienced and how now that he's out of the army he has nothing, he went through hell just to be treated like garbage by the people he thought he was serving. It also served as an action movie as well and it examined a different aspect of the war that other Vietnam films didn't (what it was like trying to transition back to society after coming home from Vietnam and how the public treated the returning soldiers)
shareVery well said. ๐ฏ๐๐ฏ
shareThis was based on the book Heart of Darkness which was set in 19th century Africa, hot Vietnam. Full Metal Jacket was not up to Kubrick standards. Born of the 4th of July and Platoon are two contenders.
shareHow about "casualties of war" ? Not my favorite by along shot but probably effected me the most.
shareDidn't see Casualties of War is that the one with Michael J Fox?
As for Born on the Fourth of July, it's solid but I cannot watch the hospital scenes, that to me is some of the most disturbing sh!t I've ever seen (and I've seen Cannibal Holocaust). I also wish it didn't get political at the end.
I felt both this film and Full Metal Jacket were misfires. FMJ starts out in boot camp and when it is there I found it interesting. When it moves to Vietnam it lost me. I would put Platoon as the best movie about Vietnam. We Were Soldiers is a close second.
sharePlatoon is great, We Were Soldiers is a little too much up its own butt and doesn't have enough substance to back it up. I thought FMJ was better when they actually got to Vietnam.
share"We were soldiers" is just your typical american macho hero shit.. it was tolerable, but just that one "macho scene" of Mel Gibson shooting a Vietcong running towards him without even looking completely trashed the movie...!
The type of movie where americans kill 20 enemies with a few rounds, but the enemy can't aim or hit a soldier.. that's your typical Hollywood trash...!
1. Apocalypse Now
2. Platoon
3. First Blood (yes it is a Vietnam War movie, along with being an action movie)
4. Full Metal Jacket
5. The Deer Hunter
6. Born On The Fourth Of July
7. We Were Soldiers
I think Apocalypse is the most literary movie about Vietnam actually following a book 'Heart of Darkness' about a trader who has been lost to savages in the Congo. The overriding theme of the movie is the question of insanity, is living w supposed savages more insane than life in the real world or not?
In the movie, everyone's behavior can be measured along those lines. Everyone in the war appears to be insane at some level at some pt. Kilgore surfing under fire, the crew on the boat water skiing and taking drugs, a playboy show, no one in control at the bridge, Colby , Kurtz, even Willard breaks down 2 times in the movie.
Would add another movie to the list that was really the 1st of the Vietnam movies, The Deer Hunter. A great movie showing how the impacts of the war on the lives of 3 men and their small Pennsylvania community.