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Posted: 1/4/2002 7:49:17 AM EDT
[#1]
Yupp you've got it!
I just got FMJ "collectors" edition for Christmas and a new Wega television yesterday to watch it with. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 7:51:02 AM EDT
[#2]
I would have to add "A Bright Shining Lie" with Bill Paxton. It is a truthful look at the politics and why the war was lost.
Pluss Hamburger Hill naturally! |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 7:54:23 AM EDT
[#3]
If you guys ever see the movie "Tigerland" in the video store, DONT RENT IT. It looks like a cool Vietnam movie on the cover, but in reality it sucks my ass.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:03:00 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted: I just got FMJ "collectors" edition for Christmas and a new Wega television yesterday to watch it with. Is the collector's edition still in full screen? I want to buy a DVD copy, but I want letter box. If I want to watch it in full screen, I'll just pull out my VHS copy. Jay Arizona edited because I couldn't spell "buy" [%|] |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:05:04 AM EDT
[#5]
FMJ collector's edition?????? I'm IN! I literally watched my VHS version (bought new) so many times that the audio track deteriorated and now sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies. The DVD was the first one I bought and came home with the player.
Don't forget about "Siege of Firebase Gloria." |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:06:33 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted: If you guys ever see the movie "Tigerland" in the video store, DONT RENT IT. It looks like a cool Vietnam movie on the cover, but in reality it sucks my ass. Thanks for the warning. I've been threatening to rent that one a couple of times, but was skeptical. It's not a Vietnam movie, but if you want a good war flick, check out "The Beast", with Jason Patric and George Dzundza. It's about a Russian tank crew in Afghanistan who are being hunted by a group of Mujihadeen after they get lost in a hilly area. Beautifully shot, exciting, and poignant at times. Spearweasel gives it [bounce][bounce][bounce][bounce][bounce] |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:09:14 AM EDT
[#7]
Apoc Now?! There's a peice of tripe with roman candles for tracers...never saw a slick pick up a riverine boat...no way. Yep, guys are going to let a mammasan run toward them with a hat clutched to her chest and not notice...no way except for greenies in country for a week.
FMJ/Platoon...intersting basic training for Marines...stupid combat scenes. They would've let the sniper die with rats chewing on her. Any movie connected to Oliver Stone will be anti-service and anti-US. I like Forest Gump...HUH? The tracers were realistic (wrong color though), the monsoon season shots were good. That was the first movie I saw that got that much right...a nice surprise. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:15:48 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted: If you guys ever see the movie "Tigerland" in the video store, DONT RENT IT. It looks like a cool Vietnam movie on the cover, but in reality it sucks my ass. I actually saw this on cable late one night not too long ago. I would agree that if you go into the movie expecting a VN war movie, you will be very disappointed. However, I thought the movie was actually impactful. It was a look at the reality of the draft and the "Vietnam training" those people went through later in the war. (the whole movie is about a company that is in training just before being shipped to VN) You get very pissed off at people you would label "cowards" as they try everything from medical/hardship discharges to paying hippies to smuggle them to Mexico in order to avoid going to war. All in all, it struck me as an eye opening look at the way the Army was long before I experienced it (like, when they could beat you for discipline) and what it was like living with a draft. No flame or argument intended, just my opinion... |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:19:34 AM EDT
[#9]
The FMJ DVD is full screen with dolby 5.1 sound.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:34:11 AM EDT
[#10]
'Hamburger Hill' was great.
BTW one of my best friends is a black Baptist preacher in Fair Park, who was actually at the 'Hamburger Hill' firefight. His company, which had, according to him, a 'whole lotta brothers' in it, was one of the companies attacking the hill. Just before the engagement, another company of predominantly white boys came up to join the fray. My friend said he and the others noticed something odd about the new company - he said it was so strange, because to everyone there, it appeared the new company was 'gray', meaning they didn't look white, but just a strange gray color. And for some reason the two companies never talked to each other, which my friend thought was also odd. When it came time for the attack, through a mistake by one of the officers, my friend's company went up the hill along the wrong line of attack, they were going up the hill along the line that the 'gray' company was supposed to go. The 'gray' company went up the hill along the line that was originally assigned to my friend's company. When the engagement was over, out of my friend's company, there were only three men left standing, including the preacher, who was only slightly wounded. The 'gray' company, however, just simply died. Not one came off the hill alive. Ordinarily, I suppose this could just be another 'Vietnam war story' that needed to be taken with a grain of salt. But the impact that this action left on my friend, the preacher, cannot be easily denied. So I believe him. He also told me that he became a vegetarian that day! But he won't tell me why, and I don't dare ask! Eric The(Amazed)Hun[>]:)] |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:36:59 AM EDT
[#11]
Platoon.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:37:42 AM EDT
[#12]
84 Charlie MoPic ain't bad.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:38:56 AM EDT
[#13]
Quoted: If you guys ever see the movie "Tigerland" in the video store, DONT RENT IT. It looks like a cool Vietnam movie on the cover, but in reality it sucks my ass. I thought "Tigerland" was a GREAT movie. Every description I ever read about it stated it was about soldiers training FOR Vietnam, not IN Vietnam. Anyway, I really liked it, and so did a lot of other people. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:41:28 AM EDT
[#14]
Quoted: Quoted: If you guys ever see the movie "Tigerland" in the video store, DONT RENT IT. It looks like a cool Vietnam movie on the cover, but in reality it sucks my ass. I thought "Tigerland" was a GREAT movie. Every description I ever read about it stated it was about soldiers training FOR Vietnam, not IN Vietnam. Anyway, I really liked it, and so did a lot of other people. I guess I didn't like it because I was waiting for "the big fight scene." When the movie ended and there wasnt one, it pissed me off. I was expecting something completely different from the move.... |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:41:37 AM EDT
[#15]
Anybody ever see "Hell's Angels in Vietnam"? Seriously. It's not on IMDB, but it's out there. They actually ride their bikes in battle against VC and NVA regulars. [;)]
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:48:46 AM EDT
[#16]
Quoted: Anybody ever see "Hell's Angels in Vietnam"? Seriously. It's not on IMDB, but it's out there. They actually ride their bikes in battle against VC and NVA regulars. [;)] Yeah, I think I saw that one. The NVA and VC rode Cushman scooters - right ? [smoke] |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:53:34 AM EDT
[#17]
I liked "Go Tell The Spartans".
and the funniest Vietnam war movie was "The Green Berets" |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:55:44 AM EDT
[#18]
I will second or third it. TIGERLAND SUCKED. Cover makes it look like a good war movie, the old bait and switch.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:02:18 AM EDT
[#19]
Platoon. Period. Despite what you may think of Oliver Stone, he served as a grunt in Vietnam, and had something valid to say. Plus, great actors and great music.
FMJ is a distant second. The Deer Hunter wasn't really about Vietnam. Not sure what it was about. Apocalypse Now was somebody's wet dream gone horribly wrong. Just my $0.03 |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:12:56 AM EDT
[#20]
I edited my post ...nearly having forgotten my old friend Bobby Mueller
Bobby was a Lt. in a Marine Rifle Company who after having taken the same hill three times in one day and having given it back three times...was shot in the neck and paralyzed on his fourth attempt...Bob went through pure hell after Vietnam...Hell being the VA Hospital depicted in the movie - Bobby overcame got a law degree and was one of the founders of Vietnam Veterans of Ameica "Born On The Fourth Of July" In the sewer of the VA hospital depicted in the movie... Ron Kovic was in the bed next to Bobby...there they became close friends...the scenes in the movie were toned down from the reality of that dumpster of a hospital and the treatment recieved at the hands of the non caring staff.... out into the world that figuratively and literaly spit on vietnam vets...though we no longer see eye to eye on politics..Im not the one in the wheel chair having given up my youth..my ability to father children..to have the years doing the things Ive always like to do that required two legs...so to Bob and Ron and those vets who gave nearly all they had...and paid the price of their service every day of their lives..This is the best of the Vietnam War movies in my opinion...And regardless of what you may think of their politics today..these guys are both heros in my book..."real heros"..not professional atheletes or movie stars heros... |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:23:48 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted: The Deer Hunter wasn't really about Vietnam. Not sure what it was about. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:30:19 AM EDT
[#22]
On the movie "Hamburger Hill" did anyone else notice the characters were borrowed from the book [u]The 13th Valley[/u]. The plot is different but the characters and location are the same. If you have not read the book do, it is the best Vietnam War book I have read. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:42:35 AM EDT
[#23]
Although it is about as far from reality as you can get."Apocalypse Now" is a damn cool movie.
I just rented the new uncut resease.It was pretty cool to see all the stuff they put back in it. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 10:27:00 AM EDT
[#24]
As much as I like letter box, I wish I could find a copy of FMJ in letterbox but the funny thing is Kubrick liked to work in an aspect ratio very close to full screen.
Check out this site, lots of great information. www.dvdtalk.com/leonvitaliinterview.html One of the areas of greatest debate in the DVD community is about aspect ratios. The two films that people talk about the most in terms of aspect ratio are Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut, maybe because those are the ones that have been seen theatrical by the DVD buying audience. But people will go through kind of frame by frame and say "In the trailer of Eyes Wide Shut, you can see a sign on the street that you can't see on the full frame video. You can see an extra character…" So how do you address the differences between the theatrical releases of Eyes Wide Shut and of Full Metal Jacket in the DVD releases? The original video release of Full Metal Jacket was in the supervised hands and owned by Stanley. The thing about Stanley, he was a photographer. That's how he started. He had a still photographer's eye. So when he composed a picture through the camera, he was setting up for what he saw through the camera - the full picture. That was very important to him. It really was. It was an instinct that never ever left him. What he wanted the videos to reflect was how he shot the film through the camera, what was on the original neg and what his composition when he was shooting it was. That's why Full Metal Jacket is in full frame. If people looked, okay? What you get on the video that you didn't get in the theatrical because of the 185 masking, was what Stanley was invisioning. You assume these soldiers in the world that they're in. And he uses wide angle uses to shoot. I mean an 18 millimeter lens was the commonest one. He used 24 sometimes. Wide angle lenses. It was important to him the relationship between things. You can see in Full Metal Jacket how small the people were in relation to this huge landscape. The thing with Eyes Wide Shot, it was how he saw the thing through the camera and how he set it up. That's what he wanted to reflect in his videos. He did not like 1.85:1. You lose 27% of the picture on 1.85. Stanley was a purist. This was one of the ways it was manifested. If full frame was so important why didn't Kubrick release them theatrically that way? After Barry Lyndon, more and more theaters were showing films 1.85 or in Cinemascope even if it wasn't shot that way. He had no control. He couldn't go around every cinema and say "You show this film in 1.66" as you could with Clockwork Orange, because then the projectors had 1.66 mask. With multi-plexes things are different and so they only show a film in 1.85 or in 2.21, the Cinemascope. You know? You cannot put a mask in 1.66 as it should be for Clockwork Orange. You can't put a 1.77 in as it should be for Barry Lyndon and that's what Stanley understood with The Shining onwards. He realized that his films we're going to be shown in 1.85 whether he liked it or not. You can't tell all the theaters now how to show your movies. They say it's 1.85, that's it. Stanley realized that masking for 1.85 would far outweigh having 1.66 projected at 1.85. We did a re-release of Clockwork in the U.K. and it's 1.66. It's composed for 1.66. It's shot in 1.66, and the whole shebang. Well, you know, they had to screen it in 1.85. I can't tell you how much it hurt that film.[\quote] |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 10:31:59 AM EDT
[#25]
Quoted: The Deer Hunter wasn't really about Vietnam. Not sure what it was about. The Deer Hunter is a classic tale of friendship, loyalty, survival, and compassion. It demonstrates to the uninitiated why soldiers don't necessary fight for their country, they fight for each other. I don't dispute your assertion about soldiers. After all, the mantra is "unit, corp, god, country". I just found the movie flawed. A 30-45 minute scene of a wedding celebration was just about more than I could stand. Watching a bunch of drunks with hunting rifles also made me queasy. And watching some disturbed person earn money for his sick friend by playing russian roulette made a point, but I'm not sure what it was. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 11:27:05 AM EDT
[#26]
84 Charlie Mopic was an unusual movie. I recommend it as well.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 12:59:25 PM EDT
[#27]
I also will say that 84 Charlie MOPIC was good. I also Liked the Boy's in Company C as well as the others listed.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 1:26:45 PM EDT
[#28]
How can you shoot women and children?
Anyone who runs is a.... |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 2:03:22 PM EDT
[#29]
DONT FORGET THE GREEN BERETS WITH JOHN WAYNE!!!!!
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Posted: 1/4/2002 2:26:06 PM EDT
[#30]
"F*ckin' A!" Actually, that movie made me really sad. Especially when Christopher Walken lost his game of roulette.
[i]FMJ[/i] is mostly good for the lines. Who doesn't laugh when they see that door gunner scene, or when the gunny is yelling at the recruits? My Hollywood Marine buddy (0331) said that his D.I.'s used practically every memorable line from that movie at least once. Except they were far more serious when they said they'd rip his head off and...yeah. Kubrick made boot camp look alot more fun than it was for my friend. I love [i]Platoon[/i]. I guess Charley Sheen's character was supposed to be like Oliver Stone when he was in - quiet, observant college kid who ends up opposing the war - but I don't care. The visuals were great, the soundtrack is awesome, and the Defoe/Berenger rivalry was terrific. The assault in [i]Apocalypse[/i] is good for a little fun, and Robert Duvall is really likable. I have trouble paying attention during the rest of the movie, but I still like it. The only time I saw part of [i]Hamburger Hill[/i] was when I visited Aberdeen, and the Army guys there were playing it on a big-screen TV before a lecture. I'll have to rent it sometime. I also saw the last part of [i]Tigerland[/i], but missed the rest. I would put my top three in this order: 1. [i]Platoon[/i] 2. [i]Full Metal Jacket[/i] 3. [i]Apocalypse Now[/i] Forgot to say, I also really enjoyed the Vietnam scenes in [i]Forrest Gump[/i]. He empties that M16A1 in about two seconds, instead of the magazine lasting him 500 rounds like in typical Hollywood gun scenes. Plus the tracers and the sound of the passing bullets were cool. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 2:32:57 PM EDT
[#31]
Although a "B" rated movie, I thought
The Iron Triangle had an excellent story. It told it from both sides, which was an interesting twist. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 3:11:11 PM EDT
[#32]
Flight of the Intruder by John Milius - Goin' Downtown!
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Posted: 1/4/2002 3:14:18 PM EDT
[#33]
Platoon.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 4:57:13 PM EDT
[#34]
I'd have to say that "A Bright Shining Lie" and "The Odd Angry Shot" are 2 of my favorites. "Platoon Leader" was pretty good as well.
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:35:00 PM EDT
[#35]
I'm voting for "Odd Angry Shot" as well. Now if I can just find it on DVD...
Quoted: I'd have to say that "A Bright Shining Lie" and "The Odd Angry Shot" are 2 of my favorites. "Platoon Leader" was pretty good as well. |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 8:58:40 PM EDT
[#36]
Somebody should mention "Good Morning Vietnam". Wait a minute, I just did. [:)]
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:03:48 PM EDT
[#37]
STRIPES
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:18:44 PM EDT
[#38]
Though i only watched it once a long time ago there was a film called "the Iron Triangle". it depicted the war from both the American and Veitcong perspective. it stood out in my mind so maybe it was'nt too bad.
when i was in middle school i remember reading a journal by a LT. about his tour in veitnam. if someone has any idea what the title of this book is and the name of the auther please let me know. id like to hunt down another copy of it. lib |
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Posted: 1/4/2002 9:56:15 PM EDT
[#39]
I vote for the Green Berets, first because it was the first Movie about the War that was not anti-war and tried to explain why we were there, second because it stared John Wayne, and last I really loved the the Barry Sadler Song the Ballad of the Green Berets.
Apocalypse Now was an anti-war movie but fun to watch even though not very realistic, didn’t everyone water ski behind a patrol boat and carry surf boards with them. Both Platoon and Full Metal Jacket were good movies as movies go. The one about the Hells Angels going to Vietnam was very funny and actually based on the offer of the Hells Angels to go to Vietnam and fight as a guerrilla force. |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 10:27:56 AM EDT
[#40]
1) Good Morning Viet Nam
2) Forrest Gump 3) Casualties of War [;)] But seriously, The Anderson Platoon, a 1967 documentary. |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 11:02:40 AM EDT
[#41]
Well, I surely don't want to throw a match in the gasoline can, but I gotta comment on this one...
I vote for the Green Berets, first because it was the first Movie about the War that was not anti-war and tried to explain why we were there... At the end of WW II a band of guerrilla fighters in Vietnam overthrew the Japanese occupiers and then later the French colonialists who had "repossessed" their colony following the war. Their leader, Bac Ho (aka Ho Chi Minh), quoting the American Declaration of Independence, declared the beginning of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (with the popular support of the people). Because we sided with French colonialists, the Vietnamese looked elsewhere for help in their fight against France. And because of our psychotic fear of Communism (the Domino Theory, etc.) and a bunch of morons for leaders (LBJ, MacNamara, Westmoreland), we waded in to crush this fledgling democratic republic. The rest is history. This is my understanding of why we were there. What is yours? |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 11:10:02 AM EDT
[#42]
OK, here's one from out in left field: The "American Grafitti" sequel. One of the guys went to 'Nam and most of his part in the movie is about him trying to get out and back to The World. It's good, and funny.
Tigerland was a dog. Other than that, standard votes for FMJ, The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse. |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 11:14:52 AM EDT
[#43]
Marvl,
Our "Psychotic" fear of communism was well founded. Just look what happened to Vietnam and Cambodia after we pulled out. As for idiot leaders, I'll agree about LBJ and McNamara, but Westmorland was fighting a WAR, not a political action, and the conflict between these two approaches to war was what cost him (and a lot of others). |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 12:20:16 PM EDT
[#44]
Hey, how come no one has mentioned "Rambo"? Yo, Adrienne! [BD]
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Posted: 1/5/2002 12:41:57 PM EDT
[#45]
FMJ (for the lines)
Platoon (reasonably well done) Flight of the Intruder (well done) I hated Apoc Now. Boring, confusing, and downright disappointing. |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 1:44:01 PM EDT
[#46]
Though it should not be in the top 3, or maybe
top 5 movies, I'd like to recommend "Gardens of Stone". It is an ok movie, the book however is way way better. DanM |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 1:57:59 PM EDT
[#47]
The entire 27 months that I spent in the Nam now seems like a surreal experience. Looking back on it from todays perspective, Apocalypse Now best describes the feelings I have about being in the Nam. It was and remains, a strange experience in my life.
But the best Nam movie is Platoon and next would be the Seige of Firebase Gloria... 7th |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 2:06:20 PM EDT
[#48]
1) FMJ
2) Platoon 3) Hamburger Hill Then there is reality such as the stories told to me by a friend who did a tour in Nam as a chopper door guner......then volunteered for a second tour. That is about as real as it gets. |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 3:59:42 PM EDT
[#49]
Dear America - Letters from Vietnam.
Not so much a dramatized movie, but just letters being cited with archived video material. But yet one of the best movies I've seen on the Vietnam War. The last letter from a mother with the Wall in the background never fails to get my eyes all teary... Kuiper |
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Posted: 1/5/2002 4:23:06 PM EDT
[#50]
I know someone who was in Vietnam for a year in '68, and he said that Platoon was without doubt doubt the most accurate portrayl of what happened.
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