We Were Soldiers (2002) Wife's First Time Watching! Movie Reaction!
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- We Were Soldiers (2002)
I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me, God.
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00:00 Intro
02:01 Reaction
30:31 Outro & Discussion
41:10 THANK YOU!
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This is an underrated Vietnam War movie that needs the attention it deserves.
"Underrated"?! By whom?!
Yes and no
It's more about the tragedy of war set in one of the best examples of what was the point of all the killing
Just like everything else… it’s “underrated”.
@@gimpyrules6714 national liberation from western colonizers
@@uncleho1945 tell that to the director of the film that knows what he wanted to portray lolololol
This is a great movie, but I have to admit my favorite person in it is Sam Elliott. Every moment he is on screen is gold, even without his mustache.😂
He's a perfect sarge. "What are you, a fuckin weatherman now?"
I love the introduction:
“Sergeant Major Plumley made all four combat jumps in the 82nd Airborne during World War II -- Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and Holland, plus one more in Korea. He answers to me and to me alone.”
But is he still Sam Elliott without his mustache? 🤔
@@shag139I hope you like training, because me and the Sgt major, we love it
Sam Elliott became so close to the real Basil L. Plumley and his family that during Plumley's funeral with military honors Elliott sat in the front row beside Plumley's daughter as she received the folded flag.
The real Harold G. Moore and Joseph Galloway traveled back to Vietnam after the war and met the real Nguyễn Hữu An as research for their book so they could understand the battle strategy of the North Vietnamese at Ia Drang. Moore claimed he and An had no bitterness and respected each other as soldiers.
One of the real-life officers who survived the battle was Lieutenant Rick Rescorla, who is the main figure on the cover of General Moore's book, on which the movie was based. A biography of Mr. Rescorla's very interesting life was published in the mid-2000s, called "Heart of a Soldier". He died in the 9/11 attacks, while employed as Head of Security for Morgan Stanley, while making sure all of the company's employees had gotten out of the World Trade Center (they had).
Some Vietnamese actors in the movie had been in the North Vietnamese Army.
Many of the women in the film are soldiers' wives in real life, too.
The French bugler shot, in the beginning, is portrayed by writer and director Randall Wallace's real-life son.
The wives are watching television, which is airing the famous "Why We Are in Vietnam" speech, by President Johnson, from July 28, 1965.
The first movie to use the 90th Anniversary Paramount Pictures logo.
Charlie Hastings was the Air Force combat controller who was guiding in the air support. He credits Hal Moore's encouragement and support for helping him cope with the tragedy of the napalm drop. Later, Hastings was wounded while serving as combat controller for a different infantry unit, and when Moore found out, he contacted the hospital and told them "Take good care of him. He's one of ours."
At least according to the movie’s depiction, I’m not sure how avoidable the friendly fire incident was. The NVA are within yards of the command center where the colonel is trying to direct the battle.
@@DP-eo5xd Marine Air Groups going back to WWII were always more skilled at close ground support of the infantry and were often more accurate when attacking yards in front the lines.
The Air Force had a reputation for being the worst but they specialized air-to-air combat and not air-to-ground.
@@DP-eo5xd I think you're absolutely right. Charlie Hastings did he best that was humanly possible, and like Hal Moore's line in the movie "You're keeping us alive" said, Hastings saved the unit from being overrun and wiped out.
Looks to me like the plane that hit our troops were coming straight towards them. The other planes were coming from another direction flying straight across in front
@garycollins7750 the Air Force has since filled the technological gap in capability with the best close air support aircraft ever built. The A-10.
Really like how this film doesn't treat the Vietnamese as cannon fodder or savages like some American movies do but rather as fearsome, determined, and honestly quite scarily competent. It also shows how the tactical acumen of the Vietnamese commander, and how close he was to shattering the American lines.
Agreed. So many movies act like the US are they good guys. And I’m not saying they aren’t. But the Vietnamese weren’t the bad guys either. Love how this movie shows respect to both sides.
The VC were trained by the Americans in WW2 to resist the Japanese. They had defeated 2 major powers by this point, of course they had some tactical skill.
@@mestupkid211986 And they were fighting for their home/country on their soil which they knew like the back of their hands.
Also they were fighting the NVA not the Viet Cong
@@chrisdef15"Agreed. So many movies act like the US are they good guys. And I’m not saying they aren’t. But the Vietnamese weren’t the bad guys either. Love how this movie shows respect to both sides."
Eeeeeeh, the northvietnamese and the viet cong, weren't just fighting for independence, they were fighting for their country being of a particular ideology, whether the rest of their countrymen wanted it or not.
Granted, south vietnam was far from perfect and pretty close to, if not in fact, a dictator ship.
The cost of peace was also very high.
The estimates of south vietnamese sent to re-education camps range from 50.000-400.000 with a native observer saying that 443.360 people had to register for a period in re-education camps, where people might stay from days to over a decade.
Re-education camps are not good.
A million north vietnamese migrated to the south, while a 750.000-1.000.000 south vietnames were moved (forcibly displaced?) to uninhabited forrested areas.
3.000.000 people left Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as refugees, they were denied entry by most asian countries and fled by boat. The US took in around 1.2 million. Canada, Australia and France took in 500.000 and China 250.000.
The UN estimated that 200.000-400.000 refugees died at sea, trying to flee in the boats.
North Vietnam lost influence over the Khmer Rouge, who took over Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia in 1975. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rough would end up killing 1-3 million Cambodians out of a population of 8 million.
The new Vietnam ended up in a war with Cambodia afterwards and China invaded Vietnam themselves.
Which led to 450,000 ethnic Chinese leaving Vietnam as refugees or by being deported.
In Laos there were a relatively peaceful revolution, but they still sent 30.000 people to re-education camps for years.
...
Were they evil people?
I think some of them were. War and authoritarianism can probably attract some people that "get off" on other people's misery or inflicting pain on others, but that goes for all the sides.
But you don't have to be an evil person, to do evil.
You can be a good person, convinced you're doing good things, that are necessary and must be done, for the greater good.
You can be right or you could be wrong.
...
The fact you need to send people to re-education camps afterwards, does suggest your arguments for your actions were lacking though.
EDIT and PS: That got a little long winded.
War is just about the worst thing that humans can do to each other, but history have taught us that there are few things worse than war. Things we can't abide ever.
I am a combat vet ( Vietnam ) I just don't have the words to thank you enough for this . May God bless you both for the rest of your lives .
Thank you for your service!
This movie was sucky.
the thing about it was it was on point with the facts. I was there in 65 & 66 . It may not have been that entertaining to you but everything was true. God bless you@@DestinyAwaits19
@@DestinyAwaits19 ??????????
@@weeatpplproductions The family scenes, the hammy dialogue, the fake heroism. I Lol'D hard.
TBR: “I’ve seen this a handful of times so I don’t there’ll be any surprises”
Also TBR: “WTF Job Hamm is in the movie?!”
😂😂😂😂😂
That's Hamm from the Book of Job, not Jon Hamm from Mad Men. So it's understabdable!
I served in the 1st Cavalry Division during the GWOT and had the pleasure of meeting both COL Crandall and Joe Galloway, who came to talk to the unit I was assigned to.
The reporter in this movie (Joesph Galloway) was the co-author of "We Were Soldiers Once, And Young" from which the movie was based. One of his best photos, and one of the iconic photos of the GI in Vietnam, was of Rick Rescorla, who died on 9/11 after saving hundreds of lives - an even greater hero than he was during these days.
2,700 lives
A panel of veteran officers voted this the most realistic war movie because it included the whole experience
When I was in the military, I was a forward observer. Primarily, that meant my job was calling in and coordinating artillery strikes, but I got training on how to call in helicopter and air strikes as well, and attended a course on how to coordinate them all simultaneously.
Its impossible to describe how absolutely chaotic that environment is, and thats without being under fire. You're delicately balancing all of these assets, directing them, making sure they don't run into each other, don't hit friendlies, get where they need to go on time, etc etc etc.
The guy running things in this battle absolutely deserves an immense amount of credit, and did a phenomenal job.
To the American leaders, this battle proved that the air mobile was a viable way to deal with the inhospitable terrain in Vietnam. To the North Vietnamese leaders, this battle proved that their small country could hold its own against staggering might of the United States military. It gave them both a tragic optimism for the war.
This movie is so well-loved because it is about bravery, dedication, and self-sacrifice … showing heroism without needing to demonize the enemy. To their credit Hal Moore and his Vietnamese adversary met after the war at the site of the battle, and honored those who died on both sides for their respective beliefs.
We watched this movie at boot camp and it showed us as officers we need to be leaders not only in words but in action. This film changed me and my perspective as a military member. I read Col Moore’s writings and did my best to let him lead me in the toughest moments. This movie was so powerful and your reaction really hit home. You guys continue to be one of my favorite reaction channels
Thank you for your service and for your kind words!
Joe Galloway was with UPI, the military's journalism organization. Before this battle he had been at the Siege of Plei Mei, where North Vietnam attacked a Special Forces camp. He helped man an M60 at that battle. A true badass. The photos shown after the napalm incident are real photos he took of the Ia Drang engagement.
I was in basic training at fort Benning Feb 2001 when we had Mel Gibson come onto our firing range dressed in Vietnam era uniform shooting full auto with an a1. All our drill sergents got autographs while we would have gotten smoked for even looking in his direction. I ended up seeing him up close as he was driven away but mad respect for the justice he did on this film representing the story.
Yeah sure , when did you wake up ?
If I wanted to make up a story I would have at least made it sound cooler. But i was indeed in at the range when he was there, I assume he was getting some VIP tour and came to the range we were using for some basic A1 training. We knew it was an A1 because it wasnt a 3 round burst type of firing. He wasnt going all out auto mag dumping but you could clearly hear it was faster than what ours could do. We were never told what movie he was filming and only found out much later when the movie came out. After AIT at fort gordon, I ended up back at Benning airborne school. In the film, you can clearly see the 250ft airborne towers in the background durung the bus scene. The staduim and officer housing are also 100% legit locations on the base. My friends and I walked from the school to the infantry museum and seen both locations. Of all the housing in the army, I have to say the one used in this movie was really, really pretty. They dont show it in the film but there is a very large house in that neighborhood that the home/yard takes up a whole block. It was 2 stories tall, white and a huge yard with a small parking lot near the mailbox. We all assumed it was the base commanders home.
@@eg6728 I went to Fort Sill for basic
I was at Benning at that time as well. C Co. 2/19 1st Platoon. Sam Elliot came to our chow hall and I didn't recognize him at first without the mustache.
Hell of a movie. Reminds me of something Samuel Fuller said "The only real glory in war is surviving"
I was an Air Force dependant. My father went to Vietnam twice. I will never forget the fear in my mother's eyes whenever there was a knock on the door. Fortunately, my father returned home safely, but not unscathed. He retired the same year that I joined the Navy in 1973.
I would highly recommend Colonel David Hackworth's book "About Face". He was in the Army from age 17.
He fought in Korea and Vietnam. He was an amazing soldier. He describes what a mess the Vietnam war actually was.
Excellent book. "Bright Shining Lie" by Sheehan, "The Best and the Brightest" by Halberstam, as well as "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" by Moore and Galloway are superb.
"Street Without Joy" is an awesome work by Bernard Fall which will shed more light on the Groupement Mobile 100 Massacre referenced in this film (as well as the rest of France's Indochine War).
*Does it come in movie form?* Because, reading... ugh. LOL
Officers aren't soldiers.
@@hulkhatepunybanner I don't read much either, but they have it as an audio book. I just picked it up.
@@randallshaw9609 An interesting audio book I finished a few years ago was "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram". It's about a young North Vietnamese woman who was a doctor during the Vietnam War.
War movies are tough. They ar hard to watch but important that we all see them. Thanks for the great reaction.
I’ve had the pleasure of both meeting, spending a bunch of time with, and interviewing Medal of Honor winner Bruce Crandall (Pilot Snake) and let me tell you he’s an extremely fine human and talks very glowingly about this movie. He maintains they did the absolute best they could to balance, historical accuracy, and a good story that accurately portrayed how it felt to be at Ia Drang.
Decades later Listening to Joe Galloway describing the napalm scene is haunting. That guy still sees, hears, feels, and smells what happened.
Honestly if you combine the story and acting this deserved an award
Beside Lethal Weapon and Road Warrior,this film and Braveheart are my favorite Mel Gibson films.
My ex-father-in-law was in Vietnam. He was a supply truck driver, which, besides being on the front line, is one of the most dangerous jobs in war. We watched this with him when it came out on DVD, and he was holding back tears the entire time. He said it was the most accurate film about Vietnam he ever watched. The only real embellished part of the whole film was the first part with the French soldiers. While the attack did happen, there's no real first hand account from any living person.
There's a documentary about this battle produced by ABC back in 1994, where Lt. Col. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway and soldiers that fought in the battle returned back to Ia Drang. US and North Vietnamese soldiers that fought during that battle went together during the documentary. It's really interesting when things like that happen decades later. I recall another story about a US soldier from WWII that went to meet a Japanese soldier at a battleground they both fought in at the same time. Their personal views on the subject were really eye-opening.
the documentary was called they were young and brave. There are at least clips of it here on youtube.
There’s a story about a German pilot who spared a heavily damaged US bomber and escorted it halfway across the channel. The American pilot ended up living in Seattle and the German ended up just north of the border in Canada and they happened to reconnect and ended up becoming best friends. War is a helluva thing.
Mel Gibson's Gallipoli is fantastic. You will see where 1917 got some of its inspiration from.
Ransom is another great Mel Gibson movie and strangely not many people have reacted to it. He is on top form once again. Definitely check it out.
The patriot is Mel Gibson's finest movie in my opinion. There's something about watching Mel Gibson cry that turns grown men into blubbering babies and I have no shame in admitting that 😂
The gravity of "Gentlemen prepare to defend yourselves!" gives me goosebumps. Like there is nobody here to save you, doesn't matter if you're already hit. Live or die here we go. Insane adrenaline
That "don’t you have a key?" Reaction was sooo a reaction from a Wife and mother. It made me smile. You guys are awesome
one of my favs thanks for the viewing
The movie had many great combat scenes that depicted the horror of war, they last a long time, which is quite unique.
I really like seeing American reactions of war movies about the Vietnam war. My mother was a child during the war (around 6 or 7), and she would always tell me about nights where she’d hear planes in the distance and how her teachers always told her to not play in the courtyard of the school because there were undetonated bombs there. Really fascinating stories.
It’s also equally fascinating how the Vietnamese were taught to view Americans at that time. Obviously now the relationship between both countries is more amicable; however, for many years during and after the war, Americans were taught to be “less” than humans, capitalist enslavers, and foreign invaders. Also interesting is how my Vietnamese friends view American movies like “Full Metal Jacket”: they all say something along the lines of: “This isn’t realistic. We were much smarter than this. We used traps and a lot of strategies to surprise and hurt Americans. That’s why they eventually gave up and left.”
Regardless, the war is in the past, I’m glad for another movie reaction, and as always…cheers to everyone!🎉
Great reaction to a great movie.
Years ago I was talking at work about seeing this movie when first saw it. One coworker pulled me aside and asked me to refrain from talking about it because a gentleman who was there saw action in that war and didn't like talking about it. So I did. A little later that night the older gentleman came to me and said he served under the colonel I spoke of. He then said they were the experimental troops, and he said they got separated overnight from his commander. He said he really respected his colonel. I said sir, this movie was about you! He asked me how him and his soldiers were portrayed? I told him , with honor, you were soldiers...😢
I'll never forget that night.
The one reason I love this movie is that this movie is not Good vs Bad, it's one side vs the other.
hell yeah been waiting all day for this to drop
and first like and comment lets go
The opening scene where the French forces were wiped out happened at the Mang Yang Pass. My first hump in Vietnam was in the Ia Drang Valley. I hated that place then and I hate it now.
The Patriot is amazing too
This is a favorite of mine for two reasons. First, showing what the wives and families went through at the beginning of this war, because no one was prepared for that many deaths that quick. Second, it acknowledges the brilliance, courage and knowledge of Hal Moore and shows how he used the things he learned and applied them to counter everything the enemy through at him.
Great cast. Great flick. Great reaction
One of the best war movies few reactors have done is Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas.
Thank you guys for reacting to this. My grandfather was apart of the second wave that was dropped at la Drang. He was not featured in this movie. He didn't make it back to us alive to tell his story. His name Robert lewis can be found on the 3rd panel, 28 down from the top 11th in from the left. I met colonel hal moore at the age of 13 during a commemoration ceremony at Joint Base Andrews and its a memory that will be with me and my family for a lifetime. I enjoyed your reaction.
That ending line "We who have seen war.." that knocks the wind out of me every time. Barry Pepper's performance right there is awesome.
As a veteran of 23 years in british army and fighting for hours each day in Afghanistan, you still cant even imagine the scale of the battles in the likes of the WW and Vietnam, this film always gets me and i absolutely love the song in there. Great reaction troops 🏴💚
Thank you for your service Sir
Very late to comments here, no idea if you'll see this. I served briefly w/British Army in Iraq. Stuff is crazy now after Iraq & Afghan. Lots of politics & questionable govt policies (as always). I hv ton of respect for British forces. We hear a lot in US media abt big downsizing in UK forces. When metal meets the meat, I'm confident US & UK are brothers in peace & war. UK may not be biggest dog in the fight, but they've got big fight in 'em. As an American veteran, I thank u for your service brother!
@user-kj5iu8bs1p thanks brother
When I went to DC with my parents, it took me 30 minutes to get a name from my father (who served in the Marines in Vietnam) so I could go see the name and pay tribute to a fallen friend of my dad's. That was decades ago and I still remember how hard it was for him to let a name go.
Awesome movie based on the book We Were Soldiers Once And Young which was written by the reporter Joe Galloway and Hal Moore. Also, there is a scene, that is set within a church, that has Retired Lieutenant General Hal Moore and his wife as part of the extras in the congregation.
Little known fact, the French soldier whom was executed at the beginning of the film. Was the son of the director, and he later said that scene was quite hard to direct due to having to see someone pointing a weapon at his son's face.
There is also one other thing I'd like to note. During the premiere of the film, Hal Moore's daughters were in the audience. And the final scene, where he comes home to his family after his deployment. One turned to the other, and with tears in her eyes said "Dad always comes home"
One of my favorite war films is Tears of the Sun. If you haven’t seen it, I think you’d both like it.
Fun fact… the man who plays Sergeant Savage in this movie (and is also in Remember the Titans), his real name is Ryan Hurst. He is the real-life son of Rick Hurst who played Deputy Cletus Hogg on the original Dukes of Hazard series.
Rick was also in 3 Twilight Zomes
Charlie Lose was the medic with Second Platoon when they got cut off. They had taken up a defensive position on a slight rise, and so the North Vietnamese had to fire at them at an upward angle. Because of this, as long as the Americans kept low they were relatively safe from direct fire, but Lose had to repeatedly put himself into a raised position so he could treat the wounded. Despite the danger this posed to himself, he did so without hesitation to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. For his heroic actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The U.S. Army's second highest decoration for valor.
The soldier burned (Jimmy Nakayama) died shortly after. His wife lived in my hometown Billings, MT and the local paper did a story on her reaction to seeing this film back when it was released.
Sam Elliott is the best. Loved his reactions to Sgt. Savage, especially his final one.
I was wondering when y'all were going to get to this movie. This is a cinematic masterpiece. It captures the very essence of what war truely is.
Im pretty sure Sam Elliots real life character fought in World War 2 as well, an absolute badass!
Yes he did, He was first an Artillery officer in Africa with the 82 Airborne under Patton (82nd being the former Marine Division that Kick the Germans out of the Argonne in WW1) then he transferred to the 101st Airborne in the 187th Paragliders and jumped into Normandy and Market Garden (Same as Easy Company from the 506th Airborne Regiment from Band of Brothers), finally when Korea broke out he entered the 7th Cavalry.
He fought in WW2, Korea and Nam, fought in 3 of the most decorated combat Units in US history and in the bloodiest battles of 3 wars....and then live for 40 more years past retirement, passing away in 2012
Yeah, the sending of a cab driver to report the death of ones husband is on par for the Vets and the fallen in Vietnam. The spitting on them at airports, the lack of support, the disrespect. Moreover, the government did not allow those boys to win. No one can tell me that our boys didn't kick the shit out of them in Vietnam ten to one. I'm a vet. The sort that went places I never went and did things I never did. Thank you, you are worth it. Whenever I meet someone who served in Vietnam I always tell them, "welcome home".
That scene with the Willy Pete grenade (white phosphorus) is terrifying. These kids went through hell over there for absolutely nothing. This is a movie I should watch. Unfortunately, there are few Vietnam movies made and even fewer of this quality.
And man do I love Barry Pepper (the shoe story)!
God bless our vets!
You two should definitely read the book "We were Soldiers..." it gives so much more details and really adds more weight to the people you see featured in the movie
theres also a documentary that is here yon youtube that aired in 1994 called they were young and brave
I’m an Army National Guard Artilleryman. My Dad was a combat engineer in the Army and was in Vietnam 68 through 69. He always said that this movie is the most accurate and realistic portrayal of Vietnam combat he had ever seen. This is one of my favorite war movies. It just tells it like it was. 3 Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers who were at Ia Drang. 2 helicopter pilots and one of the infantry platoon leaders. I also love Sam Elliot’s character especially. From my experience I’ve served under SGT’s major who were a lot like him.
We Were Soldiers, Hacksaw Ridge, and Black Hawk Down are probably the three best and most realistic War Movies ever made because they all have an amazing sense of realism whilst remaining entertaining as movies (there's a few more like The Outpost that i've heard are amazing, but i've not seen them yet so i can't judge).
I happened to meet a veteran of this battle about a year after this movie came out. I had lunch with him and he had visible wounds from this battle. He could not say enough good things about their commander Hal Moore. He said that the feeling that his men had for him they would have followed him anywhere.
If you were to watch the making of We Were Soldiers. You would find out that there was very little straying from the true depiction of this encounter. Along with the training that they did prior to their deployment. Colonel Hal Moore was on set to make sure the story was told accurately.
This movie gets me every time with the cab company. Wonderful reaction.
15:31 Tom Metsker got out of the helicopter to load his more seriously wounded friend Ray Lefebvre on in his place and was fatally shot as he stood in front of the door. Ray believes that he wouldn't have survived his wounds if Tom had not gotten him onto that helicopter when he did feels that he owes his life to Tom.
Tom's daughter, Karen, was seventeen months old when he died, and the subject of his death was too painful for her mother to discuss in detail, so she grew up only knowing that her father had died because he traded places with another soldier. She grew up blaming that unnamed soldier for Tom's death and resented that soldier for robbing her of the chance to know her father.
In 1990, an article about the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in U.S. News & World Report described Tom's death and mentioned Ray's name. Karen got in contact with Ray and arranged to meet with him at a reunion of veterans of the Ia Drang. At the reunion, she learned how much the other men loved and respected her father and what good friends he and Ray had been. She realized that Ray would have given up his life to save her father if he could. This realization helped give her the closure she needed, and the vets gave her a second family that could understand and deal with her pain and her loss as no one else could. BTW The vets believe that these reunions and the support network in creates has helped survivors of the Ia Drang have a lower than average incidence of PTSD related tragedies.
The best book on Air Cavalry in Vietnam is Robert Mason's book Chickenhawk.
He was a HU-1 Huey pilot with the 1st Cavalry Division flying in 1965-66 and was actually in the Battle of Ia Drang shown in this movie
Great book
Great movie choice and great reaction as usual. Another military movie that's slept on is 13 hours.
"fix bayonets" = in my opinion the scariest order a modern solder can get. you hear that order and you KNOW what is about to happen.
The real Colonel Hal Moore did actually give a speech like that before they went to fight. I don't think it was exactly the same but it covered the same points and after the battle he later returned to fine the MIA's of his unit staying true to his word, leaving no man behind.
Patriot if you haven't seen it.
The Moores had a an Army fort in the US re-named for them this year.
The Greg Kinnear character, Major Bruce Crandall, was given the Medal of Honor for his actions.
It is always great to revisit these amazing films through your eyes, reactions and comments 👍
Madeline Stowe was in Last Of The Mohicans. She's also the wife of Brian Benben who starred in the HBO comedy series Dream On. You should check out the series for yourselves, even if it's not for the channel.
A funny story about the Sam Elliot character telling the Col he has to get down. I saw an interview with Mel Gidson when the movie came out and he mentioned this scene. He said that he thought the scene was a little too Hollywood Gung-ho. He had Hal Moore and Joe Galloway on set as advisors to the movie so he went to ask Moore about this scene. He said “ people didn’t really have to tell you to get down did they?” Moores response was “oh yeah, all the time”. He said “ you know we were being attacked from all 4 sides. What did you think I would do climb into a bush and hope for the best. I had to move around continuously and reassess the situation and adjust the orders. While assessing the situation on who is shooting more your guys or theirs sometime you forget that theirs are shooting at you too.”
My Dad was in 5th Group during this time and served two tours in Viet Nam. He has nothing but praise for this movie. We were stationed at Fort Bragg, and while I cant personally relate to what happened in the movie as far as the combat goes( though my Dad says it's quite realistic) I can tell you that life on Base was very much like that. The wives, our Mom's, held things together, and the Commander's wife was very much front and center.
basically broken arrow and layman’s terms is basically drop everything you can on their position. Risking not only Friendly fire but taking out the enemy as well.
I love this movie! If you want a couple more great war movies, Windtalkers with Nicolas Cage and Flags of Our Fathers Directed by Clint Eastwood are really good!
On the subject of reporters I forget who said it other than they were a war correspondent but there was a quote that went something like.
"If the press were given as much freedom during World War 2 as they were in Vietnam we would have lost the war by the Battle of Tarawa"
The helicopter pilot, snake, who kept flying back in and carrying dead and wounded out, was shot threw both thighs early on and kept flying. Pretty sure he kept them alive and ending receiving the medal of honor
One of my favorite war movies EVER. My brother and I watched this SO MUCH as a kid.
Another great reaction TBR/Sam! Though, I've seen this one before, I was absolutely on the edge of my seat once the bullets started flying! Great story. Great writing. Great acting. And great music. I wanted to take a moment to recommend "The 13th Warrior" to you both. Hope to one day see your reaction to it! Its a great, lesser known, movie, that once you see, will stay with you a long while! ( :E
Such a great movie! Every actor gave a fantastic performance and drew you into the story.
The youngest daughter is Taylor Momsen. Former actress in Gossip Girl and The Grinch, now lead singer of The Pretty Reckless.
My father was in thr U.S. Navy for twenty years and whenever he shipped out I don't think he ever took his keys with him. He had no need for them across the globe and said more than likely he'd just loose them somewhere. And when he came home my mom would take us to the dock to pick him up. So no keys needed, mom had hers.
My most favorite fact about this movie was when critics went hard on this movie. Especially criticizing the use of cliche war dialogue like “I’m glad I could die for my country” or “Tell my wife I love her.”
In response to these critics, the real Hal Moore went public and apologized how his men weren’t being creative or original in their final moments. That got the critics to shut up.
Even worse is what they don't show. After the battle at LZ Xray, the remaining two battalions were ordered to walk to two new landing zones called LZ Albany and LZ Colombus. A lot of the NVA soldiers saw this and set up an ambush at LZ Albany. A lot of those that marched to Albany were exhausted as they just fought in the battles depicted in the movie, the soldiers were exhausted and a lot of them fell asleep, when this happened the Vietnamese surrounded the US column and attacked the flanks, encircling the heart of the column and inflicting massive casualties. Of the 400 men that marched to Albany 151 were killed and another 120 were wounded, making it the deadliest battle of the entire war.
Col. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway (the reporter) together wrote the book “We Were Soldiers Once and Young” which the movie is based off of. The movie is pretty true to their book
Hal Moore passed away in 2017. He was instrumental in the making of the movie.
Gibson knows how to do war movies, try The Patriot and Hacksaw Ridge if you haven't already. Thanks for this one.
One of the only Army-centric films I ever really liked.
That reporter, Joe Galloway, died 2 years ago. Although a civilian, he was awarded a Bronze Star for his actions at Ia Drang.
(The impact on those at home - I'm suddenly reminded - As a young new troop in Nam, I had written home almost daily for a few months. My circumstances changed such that I had gotten so busy that I hadn't written for a long time. My mother had apparently contacted the Red Cross to learn whether I was dead or alive. I learned of this - personally - from the Company 1st Sgt. who was not happy. I was told in no uncertain terms what I was to do ASAP. Lesson learned. When wounded, I called home from Japan to let loved ones know I was coming home early and I was OK. Nice try. I learned later that my assurances were less than 100% persuasive. I came to appreciate, a little late, how those at home also serve.)
The same happened to me in Thailand in 1969, my CO made me sit in his office and write a letter right then
Continue reacting to the ALIEN franchise, with Alien 3 (1992), a very underrated sequel, but which has some good moments, you'll enjoy it
Same
A realistic depiction of American bravery and hubris. Win a battle but lose a war. One of my coworkers started as a helicopter infantryman, but he begged a transfer to "transportation". A month later all his platoon he had been in, were wiped out in an ambush ;-(
When this came out on DVD my father, a Vietnam vet, could only get through half of it before he collapsed into tears. I also had a hard time for a long time being a veteran myself. I have always liked that they showed the homefront on both sides. War is indiscriminate of politics, religion, race, or creed.
No matter the flag or the color of the skin, we are all humans and this movie breaks my heart, every situation they tells us in this movie. some orders from the gobernments puts soldiers lives at risk. Good reactions friends. Regards from Mexico.
The cab driver who delivered the telegrams was wearing a Korean war Army jacket, so its implied he is a veteran still trying to do what he can to help.
Oh Daniel you and I are in the same boat, I've been watching this one since I was 12 and it gets better every time, even the book is very tense. When I saw this one pop up I was like no Daniel please don't torture Samantha with this one, but it's important to see for everyone. This is the most underrated Vietnam movie ever and it barely gets recognized which is sad. Long Live We Were Soldiers. My other favorite War Film from this year was Windtalkers (2002) which I highly recommend for a viewing, it has Nicholas Cage and Adam Beach, it's so good.
My Top 5 Favorite Vietnam War films have to be:
1. The Deer Hunter
2. Platoon
3. Hamburger Hill.
4. We Were Soldiers
5. Full Metal Jacket.
Great reaction & comentary. Another movie that's a must see if you haven't seen it yet, is Taking Chance. Although it's not about Vietnam, it is covers that price that the families of soldiers also pay. My brother is a current active Marine. He served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. And although he wasn't physically injured, i lost my little brother after his second tour. He was never the same and till this day he won't or can't talk about what happened during that tour.
This film does such a great job of not only showing the view from the American soldier, but also the Vietnam side and the viewpoint of the women left behind.
In terms of the press showing up at the end, the Vietnam war was the first war to truly be televised and have serious media coverage and not many people know that
This came out post 9/11 and I remember alot of the negative reviews was on the last words of two NCOs from the "cut-off" platoon. "I'm glad I could die for my country". That was taken straight from the book written by Joe Galloway. Man...unless you were there...
I’ve watched this dozens of times, it gets me every time.
this was one of the few none sci fi or car movies I saw in the theaters and loved it. me and my best friend still talk about it every so often
One of Gibsons most underrated acting roles (and often overlooked) imo is "DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE".
I always urge ppl who are watching this for the first time that haven’t read the book to find and watch the making of this movie, Hal Moore was on set to consult and make sure that if another war movie got made about Vietnam that they get it right. It’s definitely worth the watch, having Lt. Gen Hal Moore, his wife, Joe Galloway and others is very enlightening.
"They're not lost, just cut off and surrounded".
My father, 101st Airborne (Ret), would say that's the POINT, paratroopers drop behind enemy lines, you're supposed to be cut off and surrounded. If you're not, you dropped into the wrong place.
He was in the Airborne 1959-1960, back when the 101st still had career WW2 vets in their ranks who were in all the major historical engagements we make shows and movies about today, that knew what it was like to drop into an entire hostile, enemy occupied CONTINENT on their own.
My uncle Ralph Brown died in this battle, he was one of the companies being dropped in and he was killed being dropped off by a chopper.
Thanks Ralph for your service