Not to take anything away from "Blackhawk Down" but this movie totally blows BHD away!  I believe this depiction of the action in Nam is far more indicative of the brutality of war itself as well as what it must have been like for our boys.  I did not join till '79 but have read alot about this "war" and I believe I have as good a feel for what these guys went through as anyone that has never been in combat.

As for the actors, I was very impressed with Gibson and Elliot in particular as well as the rest of the crew and I hope they get best actor for the year even though that sort of thing means nothing to me.  Sgt.Maj. Plumley's character just completely blew me away, that guys attitude was awesome!  Ever notice that hollywood always has the colonels remaining standing and completely unnerved by the Hell being unleashed around them, ie: "Apocalypse Now"  or was that a major?  oh well I digress...

I do have some questions though:

a.  were those chrome bolt carriers on the AR's or was the blue just worn off them from combat?

b. were those MG-42's the NVA was using, and is that accurate?

c.  why were there no lock washers behind any of the flash suppressors on the AR's or was that my imagination?

d. way out of my league here but were those French Mirage fighter/bombers or am I just way off the deep end?

Lastly, at the end of the movie why did Col. Moore ring the doorbell to his own home? It could not have been that late 'cause the kids were still up. BTW my wife just knew it was another telegram...

a. The original M16s had chromed carriers.  They changed it a few years later because the hard chrome was tearing up the inside surfaces of the upper receivers.

b. They were using a large assortment of weapons that had been supplied by the Russians, supplied by the Chinese, bought on the open arms market, captured from the French or, later in the war, captured from the Americans.

c. No idea.  I didn't look except to notice that they had the 3-prong hiders

d. They were American planes,  F103s or something like that.

e. Do you think he carried a house key around in VN?

I can't get past Mel Gibson playing Air Cav.

like can't get past it in a good way (you like it) or a bad way (you don't)?

OT:There is a rather glowing review of the movie in the current issue of Soldier of Fortune Apr 2002 Major Jim Morris(ret).

No Likey.

Where brass deflectors standard on that era of m-16??  

Great movie btw.

idaho-ar15

Saw it last night. Excellent, Excellent movie.
As far was which is better, BHD or WWS, I'd say they were equal.

Why?  Why is he unsuited to play Air Cav?  He's conservative, pro-American, pro-military.  He was never in the armed forces, but then again he never dodged the draft either.  No reason he shouldn't play the part over anyone else.

I saw a few F-100's in there too
And lets not forget my all time favorite, the A1-E Skyraiders.. IMHO, the Best of the last kick@ss Prop planes  [:)]

(btw, I just saw the movie today, one thing that really puzzled me was why that guy popped the WP???????????????)

The white phos puzzled me too in that I could have sworn that it was an American GI that popped it...

No kidding!  My uncle flew one of those during that time, same kind of run, and I thought of him every time one came on the screen.

JFP: you were right, it was a GI who popped it...I think he was wounded, and overestimated his ability to throw.  The results were tough to stomach.