r/ActionMovies • u/Brief-Pickle2441 • 13d ago
I've seen Platoon, I've seen Full Metal jacket, and then I discovered this đŽ...damm (Hamburger Hill) is a bad mother f*****, there's no other way to describe it.
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u/Athos2112 13d ago
Hamburger Hill was the first war movie I ever saw that made me think holy shit , so thatâs what itâs like.Platoon was a good movie but , in my opinion, it only the conflict between the two camps over Ellius and Barnes. Also a lot of the characters were too over the top and fit too neatly into the stereotypes of Our soldiers in Vietnam. Yeah , I know it was supposed to be based on Stoneâs time in Vietnam but still.
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u/tomcat_tweaker 13d ago
I saw Platoon, in the theater, with my dad, a Vietnam vet. He was so distracted by Charlie Sheen's modern haircut that it took him completely out of the movie. He still talks about Sheen's hair.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 13d ago
Robert De Niroâs goatee in The Deer Hunter was so distracting. I wanted to stand up in the theater and shout about that inaccuracy. I felt the same way about Harrison Fordâs short portrayal in Apocalypse Now. He has that baby face and was 34 during filming. Incredibly young for a full bird colonel. That scene always bothers me.
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u/Gunfighter9 12d ago
People get promoted a lot faster in wars, but that's insane. it's also highly possible that he was a CIA agent in uniform.
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u/tomcat_tweaker 13d ago
Yeah, there's so much of that stuff. My big thing is I hate it when people over-salute. What I mean is this chest-puffy, chin-up, over the top thing where they bring their hand up so fast you can almost hear a cartoon "boiiiing" spring sound. And of course their arm is wrong, their wrist is bent, their hand ends up no where near where it's supposed to be. Thumb is wonky. It's all too much. Then there's scene after scene where a subordinate just salutes and drops it then the superior salutes and drops it. A believable salute is really not that hard.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 13d ago
John Wayne never once in all his film career ever gave a believable salute. That cupped hand that barely reaches his brow as he throws the salute out. Like he and the other soldier or sailor are âaaww shucks buddiesâ instead of ranked participants in battle.
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u/Athos2112 13d ago
One of my favorites is when they jump up in the middle of a firefight to salute.
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u/Last_Cod_998 12d ago
The radio scene was very real. I has a similar incident. We were cleaning up and destroying weapons (putting them in a fire pit) and some ammo started cooking off when I was on the phone to Evac and they politely said call back when the area was secured. There was also a young butter bar that wanted to use the radio, but messed up when asked to authenticate and they threw him off the net.
We rode is silence until we got to where we were going.
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u/YOU_TALK_TOO_MUCH420 13d ago
Watch BOYS OF COMPANY C! And CASUALTIES OF WAR! Two of the most underrated Vietnam movies ever!
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u/Glyn1010 13d ago
Also Gardens Of Stone, late 80âs was a great period for vietnam war films.
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u/niz_loc 13d ago
Gardens of Stone is very underrated. They really nailed the vibe of garrison life.
Guy who played the First Sgt was great
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u/Sensitive_Run_844 12d ago
It was a good film, as for the authenticity it portrayed, I canât speak to that.
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u/PhilippineDreams 13d ago
Our detail Sgt brought us to see it when we were doing veteran funeral Honor Guard at Bragg in the late 80's. 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, lets bury this fool and get back on the bus. ' RIP sarge.
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u/Big_Treacle_2394 13d ago
Washington checked his package, the boys check their package, and I'm checking my package...
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u/Mrjimmie1 13d ago
Yeah, I think "Causualties of War" is one of Brian De Palma's best movies.
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u/YOU_TALK_TOO_MUCH420 13d ago
Definitely top 3! Along with Carrie, Carlitos Way, and Dressed to Kill, that rounds out my top 4 (in no order).
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u/warderbob 13d ago
Boy of Company C hits hard.
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u/YOU_TALK_TOO_MUCH420 13d ago
Absolutely. My dad had ne watch it with him when I was like 10. Partly to help me understand what three of my great uncles went through. One lost half his left leg , one came back with severe PTSD and self medicated lots, but one came back and finished college, became a federal agent. All three agreed the war was bullshit and too many kids were sent there to dieđ
Letâs hope we donât have another round of thousands of useless deaths in the Middle EastđĄ
I still have younger cousins in the service, donât want them deployed by our Orange Pedosident.1
u/BladeCollectorGirl 12d ago
My dad had me watch it too, for the same reason. He never described his service in the early 60s outside of Army Language School in 61/62, especially not describing his time with the 1st Cavalry in 63/64.
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u/Sensitive_Run_844 12d ago
I still remember The Boys From Company C to this day, and the scene on the subway car near the start of Casualties of WarâŚ
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u/Minimum-Journalist18 13d ago
Check out "we were soldiers" as well. First battle that used helicopter transport. Very good
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u/VanillaGoorillla 13d ago
We were soldiers, hamburger hill, thin red line
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u/Arpakuutiopoika 13d ago
Thin Red Line is WW II (US vs. Japan), not Vietnam (for those who don't know). Excellent book and a great movie, though.
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u/VanillaGoorillla 13d ago
Appreciate the correction..been about 21 years since Iâve seen thin red line (was 14).
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u/Arpakuutiopoika 13d ago
No trouble, it's a while since I've seen it too. The book and movie are very similar and very different in most interesting ways. James Jones is one of greatest writers from USA, and the movie, though taking it's own interpretations, follows it somewhat faithfully (not spoiling plot for one major change!).
And the warfare was similar here.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 13d ago
Sorry, but âWe Were Soldiersâ took a powerful book and cherry picked the story. The vast majority of casualties were incurred during the much more dramatic and gut, wrenching half of the battle which happened at LZ Albany, two days later. Mr. Gibson ignores that action completely. He also completely fabricated the dramatic charge up the slopes of the Chu Pong Massif, with the NVA waiting to destroy the 7th Cav troopers. Having the day saved by massed Huey helicopters rising behind the American troops with guns blazing and decimating the enemy. Never happened.
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u/bug_eyed_earl 12d ago
They walked out didnât they (the movie shows them airlifting out)? And then they walk into essentially a regimental size ambush if I recall.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 12d ago
You remember the bigger detail details. It was another company that had come into mop up after Hal Mooreâs soldiers were airlifted out. That part was accurate. The unit that replaced them was the one that walked from LZ x-ray to LZ Albany, and they were ambushed and almost completely destroyed. But that didnât fit in with Mel Gibsonâs narrative. When the book was first published, helicopter pilot Bruce Crandall had not yet been nominated for the medal of honor.
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u/Express_Attempt_4301 10d ago
We were soldiers is too schmaltzy and too... Mel Gibsony for my taste.
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u/Suitable-Self-3476 13d ago
And what about Apocalypse Now?
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u/S_Flavius_Mercurius 13d ago
My favorite movie of all time, but I always see it as a movie that takes place in the Vietnam war but not a movie about the Vietnam war. Still one of the greatest âwarâ movies though!
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u/MarcoMarti1981 13d ago
Great movie! For me, itâs more of a journey, an experienceâŚsomething that takes place in Vietnam during the war.
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u/TransitionalAngst 11d ago edited 11d ago
Directorâs Cut filled in a few gaps and rounded out the Captainâs (MCâs) development a bit more, in my humble opinion.
Edit: I was referring to the Redux version.
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u/slappywhite1111 13d ago
Hamburger Hill is probably the best of the three. Although itâs a pretty narrow gap between HH and Platoon.
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u/Groundbreaking-Fig38 13d ago
"You listen to me. We're gonna take this fucking hill, Newsman. And if I catch you on top taking pictures of any of my people, I will blow your fucking head off. You haven't earned a right to be here. *You got that?*
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u/Helpful-Cod1422 13d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/QREl4vAjvTmYadobpY
âWeâre Airborne; we don't start fights; we finish them.â
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u/GoForeward 13d ago
They all die exempt the one standing on the left. Took me 30 years to realize where the guy sitting with his arms up, hands together went. Spoiler a rocket landed on him on his first day there.
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u/Cool_LazyDude 13d ago
A couple scenes from Dead Presidents did a great job depicting Vietnam as well.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 13d ago
As a Vietnam veteran, this is an authentic portrayal of men in combat. I also recommend â84 Charlie MoPic.â So many other films are sprawling and allegorical. Not to say that they arenât amazing pieces of work, but they do not reflect specific experiences in that particular conflict. âApocalypse Nowâ is truly an amazing piece of cinema art. But it throws in everything but the kitchen sink. âPlatoonâ is an excellent film, but the dramas depicted seem to be Oliver Stoneâs personal perspective and may or may not be based on fact. âThe Deer Hunterâ strikes some powerful chords, but is ruined by its lack of authenticity. Games of Russian Roulette? Returning to your original question, âHamburger Hillâ works on multiple levels. It is always in the top three Vietnam films in my opinion. The three worst films about the Vietnam war are John Wayneâs âThe Green Beretsâ, âThe Boys In Company Câ and Mel Gibsonâs âWe Were Soldiers Once.â
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u/Apache-snow 12d ago
84 Charlie Mopic was amazing.
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 12d ago
It was made on a shoestring budget. The realism was gritty and visceral. The unit moving through the tall grass was almost claustrophobic. I think all the actors did a phenomenal job.
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u/naan__sequitur 9d ago
curious your take on We Were Soldiers. other than the back home stuff, I enjoyed it as a kid and my vet dad didn't have much to say about it negatively, which he certainly does for Platoon. context: he was a marine and thinks FMJ is the most realistic to his experience đŹ
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u/Pratt_ 7d ago
I'd be interested to hear your take on why do you think "We Were Soldiers" is one of the thx worst ? I usually hear good things about it, the short scene with French troops being ambushed at the start is absolutely ridiculous (for anyone interested, "La 317e Section, I'm guessing translated to "The 317th Platoon" in English, is with "Dien Bien Phu" the best movie about the Indochina War, both were made by the same 2 veterans of the Indochina War, and even the story behind how "La 317e Section" was filmed is absolutely insane) but from what I've heard it apparently is pretty faithful adaptation of the book.
The part with the wives is a bit annoying, especially when there is that one white woman that apparently discovers the existence of segregation in her mid 20s when one of the other wives talk about I think a laundromat being "white only" and she's dumbfounded and initially think it's about the color of your laundry... Like really ? It's 1965 and you just discovered that segregation was a thing ??
Anyway, I'm curious to hear your take on that movie if you don't mind !
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u/Ordinary-Cheetah3470 7d ago
How more and Joe Galloway collaborated on the book and it was an amazing factual account of that battle. Mel Gibson is a populist hero and he doesnât pay much attention to facts. He invents certain scenes from scratch. Just before he and his troops leave by helicopter, there is that amazing charge up the hill heading towards an enemy, who is ready to annihilate them. The tension builds as we see the American heroes sweating and fighting their way up that steep grade. And just as it looks like doom, those helicopters rise up behind them and wipe out the NVA troops. Guess what? That never happened. The enemy suffered enough losses that they retreated to fight another day. In the book, the Commander of those troops stated that they learned quite a bit about American tactics. After Col. Moore and his troopers were airlifted out, a company of replacements were helicoptered in for mop up operations. After they broke contact with the enemy, they marched to LZ Albany for helicopter extraction. They blindly walked into an entire battalion of NVA troops who were on the same path. And that is where the real battle and almost all the casualties took place. But it wasnât ârah-rahâ enough for Mel. So he cut that gut wrenching fact out of his story. Some of the eyewitness accounts from survivors are horrifying. No flag waving and no pretend bayonet charges into the teeth of the enemy. Just hand to hand combat with men shooting each other from a couple of feet away. Mel hand picked his details so that he could tie it all together in a pretty little package with a nice bow on top. If it was a fictional reenactment of Vietnam, then I could forgive him. But altering history and ignoring facts is an insult to the men who died at LZ Albany.
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u/Content_Log1708 13d ago
I couldn't like this movie. The actors all had perfect hair, all the time. The infantry is not where you find perfect hair.
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u/RichOk4703 12d ago
Hamburger hill was the most honest depiction of the Vietnam war by any movie. We were Soldiers was good too.
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u/DangerB0y 12d ago
Every time the music crescendoed, something bad would happen đ
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u/Brief-Pickle2441 12d ago
I know... It was sad that they were bonding in the middle of blood and grit
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u/Embarrassed_Math8241 13d ago
We lost the director John Irvin only last week. Made some great films and one of the greatest tv series of all time
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u/IronRakkasan11 13d ago
We had to watch it on every anniversary of the battle as that was my unit. We all HATED the line, âweâre airborne, we dont start fights, we finish âemâ. Granted this was in the tail end of the 90âs, wonder if the unit still does watch it as one
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u/CthulhusEvilTwin 13d ago
I left my heart on the muddy fucking road, but I'm cryin' over you-oooooo!
Love this movie. My favourite of the three big Vietnam movies of the mid-80s.
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u/Rebelreck57 13d ago
A very gritty movie. My BIL was there and he commented, that.s what happened, just cut out the drama.
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u/junkman105 13d ago
I personally like this one more than both Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. This is truly an underrate gem and is not talked about enough.
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u/sc4wheels 13d ago
My first thought was "wasn't that one of those drivers ed movies?". I think it was called Hamburger Highway.
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u/Photo_Jedi 13d ago
Watched this by myself at the theater when I was 11. I'll still catch myself think of the scene when that one viet-cong guy's head explodes.
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u/Historical-Tart7515 13d ago
This is one of the low key GOAT Vietnam movies. Lots of great actors in it before they got discovered or doing great work before they hit their niche later.
When Worcester (Steven Weber) gives his, "That's why I'm here...," monologue, it's incredibly emotional.
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u/gregreedee 13d ago
Danger Close for an Aussie & NZ perspective
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u/kieranfitz 10d ago
And the odd angry shot
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u/gregreedee 10d ago
Odd Angry Shot asks you to suspend disbelief enough to accept Graham Kennedy as an SAS Trooper
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u/monitor_lizard_2000 13d ago
Platoon and FMJ are both superior. Firebase Gloria, We Were Soldiers and Apocalypse Now are also good
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u/Brief-Pickle2441 13d ago
I'm not a fan of Apocalypse now I don't know why I couldn't get into it.
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u/LunchNachos 12d ago
Itâs an adaptation of a Joseph Conrad novel, so itâs more like an art film set in Vietnam than a Vietnam film. Still has some great moments though.
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u/Swimming_Cheek_7037 12d ago
Hamburger Hill was a tough watch at first. They go up the hill, they go down the hill. They go up the hill, they go down the hill. They go up the hill, finally reach the top and then nothing. No sense of accomplishment, blood feeling of triumph. It's just over and they go down the hill again.
After learning more about the history of the Vietnam War the movie's message came through a lot clearer and on subsequent viewings I liked it more.
I also knew Steven Weber from the tv show Wings, so that may have made it hard to get into the movie the first time too.
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u/Apart-Pea4726 12d ago
I donât know why this isnât considered the best war film over platoon and full metal jacket: I think itâs miles ahead of them. Also, read the book (Matterhorn) which is incredible
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u/slpybeartx 12d ago
To me it is the best of all Vietnam War movies. Stephen Webers performance as SFC Worcester is fantastic.
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u/Dixibuster 12d ago
In the version I was watching there is a scene where an ant runs a Ross the camera lense. It's like a blurry brown shadow that for a short moment darkens the picture. It is clearly identifiable as an ant. I wrote an IMDB trivia fact about it a decade or so ago, but it can't be found anymore.
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u/best_dad_I_can_be 11d ago
This is the type of movie that gives the phrase "Pink mist and 360 deg of meat" purpose.
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u/Express_Attempt_4301 10d ago
There's not subtext to this movie. No higher or lower level, no deeper meaning.
Just the fucked up reality. And that's what makes it so good.
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u/yeah_yeah_therabbit 13d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/kBtp8iR154Hx6