A disturbing look inside the fight between themselves and the enemy… This was a rough watch yet easy to appreciate for what it made us feel! Thank you for your support!
You can watch the interview with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who was alive and well after the USSR collapsed. Of course the Author of the "X Telegram" was alive and well back then too. Clark Clifford I think was still around. If you think Vietnam in the 60s was bad you should have tried Washington DC in the 1990s.
Your poor wife, dude, she's such a trooper watching all these. One of these days you gotta watch like "You Got Mail" or something to make it up to her.
I guess next up for Vietnam films is the Deer Hunter. Although you were saying you needed a break from the heavy stuff, maybe go with Good morning Vietnam it still has its heavy Parts but it's Robin Williams film.
My grandmother was the only one out of my whole family and friends who wrote to me when I was in Vietnam in 1970. I was stationed at a little rat hole called Phu Bai, about 80 clicks away from the DMZ. Those letters from her helped me get through it all, so I relate to him writing to his grandmother.
Thank you for your service, sir. Youre actions and selfless service have inspired today's warriors and have carried the beacon for peace. If you ever would like to talk about your time let me now, Ill always lend an ear to any veteran, God bless,
@@ajbravo8661 What are you talking about, the guy was tricked into going into hell, watch his friends die, get shot at, just to be an accomplice to terrorism and mass murder. Thank god he made it out. But you should thank the vietnamese, for defending their country like david facing off against goliath. And Phu Bai is now a nice town, not a rate hole anymore, because vietnamese soldiers died doing so.
@@wasclit11 Thanks man, I appreciate your taking time, and to me it`s special to receive the first welcome home from a fellow Vietnam Vet. I would like to welcome you "home" as well, and to thank you for your service. In "71" your unit was known as the "Green Hornets" right?
My dad was 18 years old and fought as a tunnel rat with the Marines in Vietnam from 1968-1970 and he said when he watched platoon he could feel the heat and the humidity of the jungle again, like he was right back in 130° heat and 100% humidity. He said it was one of the most accurate war movies on Vietnam he'd ever seen. My Dad was killed by Agent Orange 4 years ago, it's a chemical that US Government used in the war to kill large swaths of jungle and destroy Vietnam's crops, and the Marines and soldiers were exposed and are dying 50+ years later from it. I was born with kidney failure from my Dad's exposure to agent orange in Nam. But yeah he said this movie is extremely accurate and it's been one of my favorites since my Dad first let me watch it 15 years ago.
Bless him for his service. Know that he is a hero to me for just being there. No one should have taken part of that brutality, especially so young. Thank him for me. And know the boys outta Afghanistan with me thank him too.
The back story of Barnes is that we was the only survivor of a patrol and was shot in the face by a NVA soldier and left for dead. Once he was put back together we went back into action knowing he was not going to live through the war, and wanted to kill every Vietnamese he could, and anyone that got in his way. Barnes and Elias were both guys that just kept re elisting to stay in the fight for totally opposite reasons. Elias wanted to save his guys. Barnes just couldn't stop killing.
5% of the world are psychopaths and another 5% are sociopaths. You put them in the jungle where they can shoot to kill with impunity... they are going to re-enlist every time
@Shawn D - Animal House would be a good movie to review, if they need a comedy to cleanse the palate of intense war films! Does have Neidermeyer, though, who may have been Barnes but at the college ROTC level!
Charlie Sheen (Taylor) and Tom Berenger (Barnes) immediately went from this movie to making the movie Major League. You two should definitely watch that to see how amazing they transitioned to very different roles.
That is really great to know that because after this movie they really needed a pick-me-up I bet place to relax a little! That was such a great movie to they should definitely see the Major League!
major league is a great movie! my parents let me watch it when i was in 2nd grade. needless to say i picked up a few new vocabulary words that i still use today. and it made me want to read moby dick. haha
Oliver Stone volunteered to go to Vietnam, and the character of Taylor is basically a representation of himself, while the film is largely an autobiographical depiction of his own experiences during his tour of duty. Pretty much everything depicted here is exactly as Stone himself experienced it, and is widely regarded as THE true, honest screen depiction of what it was REALLY LIKE in the Vietnam War.
@@DerOberfeldwebel Yes, and that was one of the best things he did in this movie. He didn't call him out in front of the rest of the platoon, because they needed to stay a cohesive unit and not have everyone point the finger of blame.
I remember pulling security in the field while in the Army. Waking up the next guy and handing off the NODS (night observation devices) with only a couple of hours to get sleep before stand-to was not fun. Oh, and don't be that guy waking up in the morning with the NODS right next to you.
One of my grandfather's friends was a tunnel rat in Vietnam. When they found tunnels, he was sent in to scout them out with a light and a pistol. Those guys had to do a lot of close-quarters killing. He was a really nice guy, but a little strange, unsurprisingly.
Fun fact: The final battle is based off the New Years Eve Battle which Oliver Stone fought in and earned a Bronze Star. For years he thought he imagined that battle until he ran into a fellow veteran who explained it all to him.
When my father first landed in Nam, the first thing he saw was the body bags being loading in a transport heading back to the states. This movie brought a lot of memories back for my father. He was in the Air Force, he did see some combat even though he was an aircraft mechanic.
The characters of Barnes and Ellias are depictions of the inner conflict in every soldier. Whether they act like Ellias or Barnes during conflict. There is a conflict between good and evil in everyone. But it's up to us to decide which one wins.
Exactly, war pushes people to that precipice, it removes the veneer of civilisation and reduces people to the basest instincts, survive, fight, kill or die. Barnes represents the soldier that allows the violence to be unleashed, he is not actually a sadist, during the movie you don't see him rape, he experiences rage and focusses it without restraint, he also allows those men in the unit who are truly savage carte blanche to indulge that viciousness. On the contrary Elias, a similar veteran killer, controls and restrains that violence, he focuses his killer instinct to protect the men around him, not simply the physical safety, but in a horrific environment he attempts to protect the psyche of his men as well. Barnes becomes convinced that Elias, representing mercy and responsibility (externally and within the men) must be eliminated because the division will destroy the unit (Barnes has already done this within himself, destroyed the merciful to preserve his increasingly extreme, savage inner-mind). Elias, who serves the men simply must trust Barnes, it is intrinsic to the self. The truly evil people are Junior a coward who never accepts responsibility, Bunny who is a true sadist, Sgt O'Neill who is the NCO who, like Junior, avoids responsibility and constantly defers to Barnes and ultimately the Officer, Lt. Wolfe the man who should be in command and is constantly out of his depth and ends up deferring to Barnes.
In the Naked Gun movie, there was a brief bit where Leslie Nielson and Priscilla Presley leave a theater, laughing...and on the marquee is Platoon. A visual joke that probably makes sense after seeing this film.
I worked with vets in my old job and they didn't give a shit about petty office politics. I saw one of them laugh in a supervisor's face when he was told that there would be a note in his file for too many absences. This vet saw his best friends killed in front of him. A yellow note in his file compared to what he survived is a joke. They really weren't kidding about this quote
Too bad it wasn't gravy for everyone who made it back to "the world".This war was very personal to me.. my oldest brother did a tour back in 1966 or '67. A cousin served served in 1968. Several guys from my neighborhood. I remember reading a review of this film at the time it was first released. The writer pointed out how "Platoon" acted as a catharsis for many veteran who went to see it. In some instances, they were actually crying in the movie theaters..
Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture. Based Loosely on the life of Oliver Stone whom was in the Army during the Vietnam War. Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, and Keith David star in this epic war film.
Realistic Vietnam war flick with veterans Oliver Stone and Dale Dye, who is a technical advisor on a lot of war movies. Oliver Stone was on the field phone in the tent when the suicide bomber ran in.
@Shawn D you mean "aka the captain/colonel/general in every single war movie". Lmao! Dude, Dale Dye has played a high ranking military officer in so many movies/TV shows, a lot of them classics.... It's insane. He was even in that alien invasion apocalypse TV show called Falling Skies for like an episode or two right?
@Necramonium From the DVD extras, after they shot the Village Scene, both Stone and Dyle didn't say anything. Just 'Cut!' and both turned around and walked away.
You should look at the "making-of" documentary about this movie. Oliver Stone took the actors out into the actual jungle out there and had spec-ops veterans train them, run night drills, and treat them like grunts in the field. They fed them MREs, made them deal with the bugs and leeches, and ended up breaking more than one of them. A lot of what you see in the film isn't acting, it's what these guys were seeing and feeling at the time. When Charlie Sheen wept on the chopper at the end, it was because he was actually leaving and Oliver Stone told him he was done and could go home.
From what I remember from the Director's Commentary, Stone told him you'll never see your friends again, and mentioned them by name, Elias, Big Harold, etc. And that's what made him cry.
Surely not MREs, probably C-Rats right? Not to be a pedantic dickhead but MREs hadnt been invented yet and therefore totally anachronistic for the Vietnam war.
Another extremely perceptive reaction/review, guys! Platoon is about as authentic as a Vietnam movie can be, but it still presents a somewhat "heightened" version of events in order to highlight the psychological trauma that the combatants suffered. Some veterans did not think it represented their experiences at all, while others couldn't sit through it all because it was way too close to reality for them. Whatever the "truth," the movie served as a way for Americans to begin to understand what veterans had gone through, and gave veterans some way of beginning to articulate their experiences. With regards to the village scene, these raids were pretty common and known colloquially as "Zippo Raids," because - as you see in the film - the soldiers generally started the fires with cigarette lighters. Because the villages were prime recruitment targets for the Viet Cong, the official US policy was to make the villagers relocate to new areas that had better defences, so the VC couldn't infiltrate them, use them as storage caches or force the inhabitants to fight for them (though many villagers were sympathetic to the VC and willingly helped). The emptied villages were then burned down. The raid in the film was a typically confusing affair for the US soldiers, because the VC were clearly active in the area and they found munitions in the village. However, there was no way to tell if the villagers were willingly helping or if they had been coerced, so you ended up with what happened.
19:31 Not sure if you can really see it, but I 'love' the fact that they have this scene in here where Chris is holding a grenade in his hands (thinking about blowing himself up) then tries to nonchalantly drop it before any of his approaching fellow soldiers notice. Just another element that really speaks to the nightmarish reality they were experiencing. Charlie Sheen actually came up with the idea for doing that on the spot the day of filming and Oliver Stone thought it was perfect.
It was based on the directors Oliver Stone's experiences in Vietnam. A brilliant movie. A soldier you should look up is Roy Benevedas as his story of his time in Vietnam are just insane. Such an amazing story and man. Total respect for him. In his first tour he was injured so badly he was told he would never walk again yet so he was told he would be discharged but he begged to do office work instead. He never stopped his training and went on to walk again then he became a navy seal but its what he did next was even more unbelievable. A hero.
After seeing this movie, and witnessing the fracturing of the troops, and the ensuing chaos, is it any wonder why so many Vietnam vets suffered for decades with PTSD? Bless their souls. I hope they've finally found the peace they deserve.
@@Juggernogger64 let them. Not like that many these days are going straight up to someone's face doing it. There will always be opposition.. it's not one you always have to literally fight
The Ants that Charlie Sheen swatted away from his neck at the start of the film went on to star in many more Vietnam war films, including Full Metal Jacket, as “Ant number one”, “Ant number two” and “Ant number three”. Only Ant number two would ever find really enduring success in show business though, going on to be chief Ant adviser on “Ant of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ry-Ant”.
Casualties of War by Brian De Palma and The Deer Hunter by Michael Cimino are the last two war films based on Vietnam you guys should see. I know it's a difficult subject matter but a lot of the things depicted in these movies happened. That's why so many veterans came back home broken and our society spat in their faces and called them baby killers. A lot of the people who were homeless in the 80s and 90s were Vietnam vets and it's heart breaking. But these movies need to be seen and talked about or else we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Great video and I do hope you guys mix it up a bit with comedies. Those are also good videos.
De Palma got skewered (unfairly) for "Casualties of War." He had made some riske thrillers in the 80s which contained overt sexuality and wherein some female characters were definite "sex objects." Some mean critics said that, with "Casulties of War," De Palma created a rape fantasy picture. =0
I was a kid when this movie came out. I remember there being a wave of Vietnam War media, from movies like Casualties of War, to songs like Paul Hardcastle's "19."
It took those who served a bit to be able to comment publicly, and for the public to be ready to hear it. My brother and i were watching Hamburger Hill with my nephews and my Dad. About half way through he looked at us, and asked if it was really like that. My brother left the room, and I began to cry. So many, so senselessly died.
The smile Elias gives Barnes isnt about finding an ally. It's more him saying after all I've been through, I knew it would be you who would kill me. That shot of Elias death is iconic.
@@Asher8328 Yea, that's why "Platoon" is basically an independent film. Oliver Stone had been trying to sell his script since the early '70s. The studios thought it was a good script but no one wanted to make it because it was so downbeat and depressing. So, it's really ironic that "Platoon" became a blockbuster. It's the most financially successful Vietnam War movie out of the bunch (Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket etc.).
Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, made only 5 years ago, was made only with 40 million dollars (a very low budget for today) and it seems like 150 million for everything that is seen on the scene, incredible what Mel Gibson achieved with so low budget.
You've watched three of the big four Vietnam flicks. "The Deer Hunter" (1978), was nominated for nine Oscars and took home five including: Best Picture, Best Director and Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken.
The Deer Hunter is NOT a Vietnam movie. It's a boring-ass wedding movie with a handful of Vietnam thrown in. One of the worst/most boring/overhyped movies I've ever seen. If it wasn't for the Russian roulette scene, I don't think anybody would give half a fuck about that shit movie. *smh*
@@DarthMohammedRules The Deer Hunter is one of the best war movies, selected by the prestigious AFI as one of the 100 best movies ever made. No amount of whining and short-sighted, tasteless, "wrong" opinions is going to change that, lol.
I remember watching this movie in a theater during the Christmas season of 1986 with my brother. One of the few times the whole crowd walked out of the theater almost 100 percent quietly. That has only happened a few times in my lifetime. Very powerful movie.
This movie perfectly illustrates war crimes. Most people follow the rules, but you will always have a couple of rotten apples in the basket. Also i really like how you feel the jungle as a really bad place to fight. This is my favorite Nam movie by far
The Capt in the movie is Capt Dale Dye..He was an officer in Vietnam and has been the military advisor to almost every realistic war film since platoon.
It's a really well done film, it also shows, amercians were not angels neither in a war. It's also a Biographie, Oliver Stone went to war and he described in the film what he saw in Vietnam.
I'd say at least 85 percent of people know that we aren't angels, especially when it came to Vietnam. Straight up baddies in that one, NVA ain't angels either but fucking hell.
This was the first realistic Viet Nam War movie made. Before this movie came out there was stuff like Rambo, Missing in Action, Uncommon Valor, but this movie really showed us many aspects that many people didn't know about. After this movie came out, Hollywood started making more realistic Viet Nam movies like Hamburger Hill, Born on the 4th of July, Casualties of War, etc. It really was a game changer in 80's cinema. Great reaction video. Love your channel.
I love watching these reaction videos because they function as best-of hit reels for the movie and your reactions clue me in to things that I missed or didn’t string together. The real villain of this movie is Lt. Wolfe, who absolutely fails to maintain discipline within his unit, allows soldiers to become drunks and druggies (destroying cohesion, reducing fighting effectiveness, they make bad decisions), fails to reprimand soldiers for atrocities and oh yeah, gives bad coordinates for artillery.
The "funny" part is that Mark Moses actually did get his butt chewed on by Dye during training for splitting up the "platoon" and having half of it on a hill and the other half down in a riverbed. So his inability to read a map wasn't too far off.
The Captain who called in the airstrike is played by Dale Dye. He is an actual Viet Nam veteran and a very prolific military advisor in Hollywood, especially for Viet Nam films. He often appears in movies he consults on.
Just as Col. Walter Kurtz said in Apocalypse Now, an effective soldier has to make friends with horror and moral terror but can also fight with their hearts and still be a father and a good husband. You effectively become 2 personalities, a killer and a lover.
Oliver Stone who directed this went to Vietnam and said this movie was based on his own personal experiences. He purposefully picked very young actors mostly between 18 and 21 to make it as real as Vietnam was with so many young soldiers drafted right after high school
You should see The Killing Fields. You see the war in Cambodia from the perspective of the Cambodians as well as from the perspective of Western journalists. It's a powerful true story and one of the stars lived through it; he spent years in a Cambodian work camp hiding his education (educated people were killed by the Khmer Rouge). Dr. Hang S. Ngor was only one of two non-actors to ever win an Academy award in an acting category.
I recommend that you add to the list: "Born on The Fourth of July" with Tom Cruise, the next film by this same director Oliver Stone, after "Platoon", which narrates the post-war for a soldier and all the physical and psychological consequences. That's probably Tom Cruise's best performance of his entire career. This movie is highly recommended. Also performing in this: Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger (Barnes) and other supporting Platoon actors. And if we talk about more good Oliver Stone movies, add to the list: JFK that narrates the theory about who murdered the president and the controversial Natural Born Killers, other good Oliver movies.
Oliver Stone The Director of Platoon In April 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army and requested combat duty in Vietnam. From September 16, 1967 to April 1968, he served in Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division and was twice wounded in action. He was then transferred to the 1st Cavalry Division participating in long-range reconnaissance patrols before being transferred again to drive for a motorized infantry unit of the division until November 1968. For his service, his military awards include the Bronze Star with "V" Device for valor, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster to denote two awards, the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge
Honestly impressed by how well you guys predicted what was about to happen, I’ve seen other reactions to platoon and no one saw anything coming, you two were really paying attention to the little details like the forest ambush
Adagio for Strings is wonderfully beautiful yet haunting and really made an impact when I watched this film. Then to hear it again in the game Homeworld...
My grandpa was in the Vietnam war, he got blown up trying to carry a fallen brother lost a testicle, took shrapnel in his legs along with a gunshot wound that he already had. The explosion messed up his hands to the point where he can’t open them all the way. But happy to say that tough bastard is still alive an kickin til this day. Even with messed up hands he can still drive to, he even got him a Purple Heart marines license plate lol love that man.
As disturbing as the events that take place in the village are in the movie, the reality of some of the things that happened in Vietnam is far worse. I suggest you research the massacre at Mỹ Lai, probably the worst atrocity of the Vietnam war.
It's important to point out that the approximately 6,000 who were murdered in Hue during Tet were murdered by the North Vietnamese. Mostly people they had to liquidiate like teachers and police officers, people who would stand against the communism the North wanted to interject into the South. Cancel culture taken to It's murderous, inevitable conclusion. Not American servicemen.
Oliver Stone made the actors dig their own foxholes for this, and do other work, so they wouldn't just act "tired, hot and dirty", they'd know exactly what if felt like, because that's how'd they'd be feeling. The entire film was also shot in chronoligical order, so each each time somebody died in the film, they left the set, were flown home, and the other actors didn't see them again.
You should watch the movie "Hamburger Hill" it's based off real events during the Vietnam War and is considered one of the most realistic depictions of the war
My favorite Oliver Stone movie, and one of my favorite movies period. Stone served two tours in Vietnam and based the characters off people he knew; the inspirations for Barnes & Elias didn't serve together, and Stone was curious about what might have happened if they had, since they were such opposites. I'm particularly glad that Stone & Berenger didn't make Barnes into a purely evil villain, but allowed you to see how/why he does what he does; when Stone showed this film to some of his old Vietnam colleagues, he noted how many of them sided with Barnes rather than Elias or Taylor.
A big part of O'Neill's reaction to getting Second Platoon was not only that he was gonna stay, but also *Barnes been wounded 7 times. The only thing that can kill Barnes, is Barnes* He just couldn't believe Barnes was gone.
Vietnam War movies timeline( more movies to add to your lists ) Pre-War: Go Tell The Spartans - 1978( Story inspired by failed special forces operation at Tan Hoa based on novel Incident at Muc Wa by Daniel Ford - 1964 ) The War: We Were Soldiers - 2002( Battle of Ia Drang - 1965 ) Good Morning Vietnam - 1987 ( Saigon AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer's experiences - 1965 ) Casualties of War - 1989( Incident on Hill 192 - 1966 ) Platoon - 1986( takes place near the Cambodian border - 1967 ) Full Metal Jacket -1987( Basic training & The Tet Offensive - 1968 ) Hamburger Hill - 1987( Battle of Hill 937 - 1969 ) Apocalypse Now - 1979( covert Nung River mission into Cambodia - 1970 ) Bat*21 - 1988( Rescue of Airman Iceal Gene Hambleton "Bat 21 Bravo" behind North Vietnamese lines - 1972 ) The Killing Fields - 1984( Fall of Saigon immediate aftermath - 1973 ) Green Eyes - 1977( A soldier's return to Vietnam to find his family left behind -1977 )
Yes! 🙌 Thank you so much, and I appreciate the reaction. After a long hard week of working, and stressing. I finally get to watch my favorite youtubers react to a favorite movie of mine. You guys made my week. 🤩
There was a little known and not talked about phenomenon in that war. It was called fragging. Infantry soldiers were so fed up with the war and the incompetence of the senior officers that at night when the officers were sleeping in their tents. Some soldiers would lob a grenade into the tent in hopes of blowing the officers to kingdom come. It got so bad that the officers would sleep in different tents from night to night and not try to give it away.
I'm surprised there aren't more people talking about that movie in the comments, it's Oliver Stone's best imo - and Tom Cruise killed it. It's a bit more like the Deer Hunter or Coming Home in that it's about the effects of war but it's such an emotional flick
We were soldiers is ok until the end, which is hollywood schlock. Read the book- it will blow your mind how different reality was. Long story short, there was no heroic ending. During the LZ Xray battle parts of 2 more battalions were helicopetered in to support 1/7 Cav. At the end of the battle less than half of the guys still alive were helicoptered out. The rest marched to a different landing zone. They had almost made it when the Vietnamese ambushed them (LZ Albany), and the ensuing battle was even worse than LZ X-ray. It's a travesty how Gibson and Wallace left that out.
Great choice; great reactions!!! Love the discussion at the end of your videos. BTW, what you did with "The Pacific" series is AMAZING! I couldn't stop watching your videos back to back! TBR I'm your fan forever!!!!! "Peace" to you too :)
I've visited the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam and, even though they've been widened for tourists, they're one of the most claustrophobic experiences I've had. I can't even start to imagine what it must've been like for the (mostly Australian) soldiers who had to clear them, knowing that enemies, booby traps and poisonous animals (snakes, centipedes) could be around any corner. For a really good documentary on the war as a whole, the Ken Burns documentary 'The Vietnam War' is excellent.
People who are not involved in a situation can not understand it. Remember, these soldiers were drafted and sent against their wills to a foreign country with little training. These Americans went from living in a 20th century technological civilization to trying to survive in an agricultural land at a level of 100 AD. Soon, the soldiers realize that their lives are at risk for nothing - there are no buildings or airfields to destroy, no oil or mineral mines to take over, and no end to the war. The soldiers see that they are enduring disease, bug bites and fatigue in an operation against jungle fighters who pose no threat to the United States. The soldiers see that there is no military strategy - just endless walking through the jungle. Very easy for the soldiers to revert to an attitude that nothing matters. The soldiers are not the evil ones, but the American politicians who drafted the soldiers and sent them to Vietnam for no purpose with no strategy.
My father (rest his soul), a Vietnam veteran, said that he'd seen many Vietnam War movies---but this one----this one made the hairs in the back of his head stand up. The body bags at the airport, the midday hump thru the jungle on patrol. Some of this movie took him back there. Oliver Stone and his advisor Captain Dye really brought their horrific war experience to the screen.
I've listened to many interviews of vets made by Billings Gazette here on youtube, and some of the jobs those guys had were insane. I don't remember the name, but the "helicopter bait" guy was a stand-out. Just flying zig-zag over jungle, hoping for somebody to shoot at his chopper, then drop a smoke and a frag and get out before AF levels the place.
@@maintaint3003 Yup! That mission evolution was demonstrated in the John Wayne movie the Green Berets. The movie is piss poor at showing what the war was really like (more of a propaganda film), but helo bait was shown in that movie too. Those pilots had serious guts!
Barnes didn't just kill Elias to kill him, he killed him because he knows he fuc*ked up bad and was standing right there when Elias told the commander he would testify to what happened there. The Military legal system as written is a lot hasher than the civilian legal system. If Court-martialed and convicted He's facing either Life imprisonment or an execution. That's why Barnes also hesitates before he shoots Elias, he doesn't necessarily want to kill him but needs to get rid of the "evidence" and then he gets drunk after. But now Charlie Sheen knows what he did to Barnes, AND what he did at the village. He's already made his choice when he shot Barnes, and now Charlie Sheens the "Evidence". In Vietnam "Fragging" happened a lot more frequently than previous US wars and was named such as Hand/Frag grenades were commonly used when killing a superior. It'd leave less evidence of friendly fire with no bullet, casing, or your gun smelling like it was recently shot. And you could always use the excuse of a random grenade or lucky mortar round. Most Fraggings were either because a unit got a new inexperienced leader and they knew he was going to get them all killed, a unit got an overly gung-ho commander and they knew he was going to get them killed. Or the unit had a passive commander that got them too laid back and used to being safe, then he gets replaced and the new commander wants them to start doing more patrols and stuff like they'd usually do, and someone's terrified enough of going back to the danger that they get rid of him to try and stay away as long as possible. The Fragging could be from a lone wolf, or with multiple people knowing about it. And there were also Fraggings to avoid being Court-martialed for crimes like drug use, etc. Back to Barnes being afraid of a court-martial, unfortunately IRL the US Military Legal system is a lot more hit and miss, and it's usually miss when it's something big like that. You could spend years in prison for disobeying an order, hitting an officer, or getting a DUI; but stuff like in the movie is usually covered up. So Barnes probably could've done nothing and gotten away with it. The Massacre in the movie is partially based on the My Lai Massacre, where all the same stuff happened but much worse and on a much larger scale. It was covered up for over a year before it finally got out, even then it was only because a couple of servicemen sent letters describing what they saw to 30 congressmen of which all but one ignored them with that one starting an investigation; eventually a journalist started hearing things and it came out. Of the 100+ soldiers and officers that were there only 26 were charged with crimes, of those all but 1 were acquitted or had all charges dropped. Most of the defendants successful defenses revolved around "I was just following orders", this was very controversial as just 20yrs prior for similar crimes they'd told the Nazis at Nuremberg that following orders wasn't a valid excuse and given them lengthy imprisonment or the death penalty. The one guy eventually charged was a scapegoat, he participated claiming he thought those were his orders, his commander was also Court-martialed and denied giving those orders and got acquitted of all charges. Several months later he admitted he'd suppressed evidence and lied to the investigator about the amount of civilian deaths. None of the higher-ups were ever held seriously accountable, their only punishments being some demotions, reassignmens, and dishonorable discharges. Even the scapegoat they pinned it all on went from originally being convicted to life imprisonment with hard labor, to only 3 days later being released to house arrest to await sentencing. His sentence was eventually commuted to 20 years, then 10, before finally being commuted a third time all the way down to 3 years of house arrest. Of all the people involved, they blamed it all on just one man and even then, he got off extremely light. There were some soldiers there that didn't participate, but didn't speak up or try to stop it either just like in the movie. The most any of them did was one guy purposely shot himself in the foot so he wouldn't have to participate. There was a US Army helicopter crew that saw what was happening, called for medics, and tried to help the wounded managing to save 15-30+ people. The scapegoats apologized unprompted since for his part in it and says he's ashamed and regrets everything that he did(Not that it means much), I only mention it because I don't know if any of the other's ever apologized; and if not that's interesting. I'm a pretty patriotic person, love the military when it's not being stupid, support the troops and all that. But how can we expect our adversaries to be honorabe and held accountable, when we don't even hold our own side accountable when they do heinous shit. The VC also carried out a lot of civilian Massacres, executing entire villages women children and all, I assume committing some SA while doing it. That's not an excuse for us to do it too. War is War, and War is Hell; but believe it or not even War has Rules.
OMG, I just watched your Full Metal Jacket vid yesterday, suggested Platoon (not on Patreon) as being right up there as one of the best war movies, and this was posted just a few hours later!! Nice!!
Don’t know if anybody mentioned it already but, at the end after he kills Barnes, Chris was about to kill himSELF with a grenade. He’s sitting there about to pull the pin when the commando reinforcements arrive on the swastika APC. Chris quickly drops the grenade to the side, maybe ‘cause there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for him now... but I’ve always thought it’s just because in the moment he didn’t want to take any innocent bystanders with him. It happens so quick that most people miss it. I only caught it 20 years later.
Howdy from north Texas once again! Another great reaction y’all! I’d like to throw in my vote for The Unforgiven with the great Clint Eastwood and the equally great Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman... keep up the great work!!!
I saw this movie theatrically 2 days before I shipped off to boot camp. Check out The Boys in Company C if you can, it’s a awesome underrated Vietnam movie similar in structure to Full Metal Jacket.
I scrolled through most of the comments but didn't see this mentioned; it's been stated that Oliver Stone wrote Platoon as a more realistic counter to John Wayne's goody-goody, straight-up patriotic movie, The Green Berets. I always found that fascinating because I love both movies.
@@markhamstra1083 sort of. Apocalypse Now isn't really a Vietnam movie. It's Joseph Konrad's Heart of Darkness set in Vietnam and the story is total fiction, 100%. The Deer Hunter I agree is not propaganda, but it still presents the Americans sympathetically as 'good guys in a bad situation'. Up until Platoon and Full Metal Jacket no American war movie had ever been willing to present an American as the bad guy. Platoon crossed that line in multiple ways that even now few movies do- the child rape scene in particular. It's one thing to kill unarmed civilians- this happens all the time in war, usually by accident but still often intentionally (bombing especially). You can be a 'good guy in a bad place' and still kill civilians by accident in war and see that viewed as the lesser of some evils. Even when the captain sends orders to torch the village, that can be explained on a strategic or tactical level as negating resources to the enemy- it's certainly not 'good'... but it can be justified at some level (though many would still consider it a war crime). Raping children, as first depicted in Platoon.... that's something else entirely. That is an unambiguously criminal, evil, wrong thing to do.
@@markhamstra1083 I did say "one of"/ The other two explored concepts like psychological trauma and were set in a war but wasn't really about the average grunt's experience. Platoon was the first to do this in a traditional war setting.
I love Keith David's (King) supporting role in this film. The exchange at the end with Charlie Sheen (Taylor) is fantastic. Chris Taylor: It's the way the whole thing works. People like Elias get wasted. People like Barnes just go on making up the rules any way they want. So what do we do? Sit in the middle and suck on it. We just don't add up to dry shit, King. King: Whoever said we did, man? All you got to do is make it out of here, and it's all gravy. Every day, the rest of your life, gravy.
A disturbing look inside the fight between themselves and the enemy… This was a rough watch yet easy to appreciate for what it made us feel!
Thank you for your support!
If you want to see a rough watch you should watch "come and see" 1985 also a war movie, considered the best by many.
Hamburger Hill is pretty rough Vietnam Movie
You can watch the interview with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who was alive and well after the USSR collapsed.
Of course the Author of the "X Telegram" was alive and well back then too.
Clark Clifford I think was still around.
If you think Vietnam in the 60s was bad you should have tried Washington DC in the 1990s.
Your poor wife, dude, she's such a trooper watching all these. One of these days you gotta watch like "You Got Mail" or something to make it up to her.
I guess next up for Vietnam films is the Deer Hunter. Although you were saying you needed a break from the heavy stuff, maybe go with Good morning Vietnam it still has its heavy Parts but it's Robin Williams film.
My grandmother was the only one out of my whole family and friends who wrote to me when I was in Vietnam in 1970. I was stationed at a little rat hole called Phu Bai, about 80 clicks away from the DMZ. Those letters from her helped me get through it all, so I relate to him writing to his grandmother.
Thank you for your service, sir. Youre actions and selfless service have inspired today's warriors and have carried the beacon for peace.
If you ever would like to talk about your time let me now, Ill always lend an ear to any veteran, God bless,
Welcome home brother - 20th SOS UH-1N Huey doorgunner Class of 71
@@ajbravo8661 What are you talking about, the guy was tricked into going into hell, watch his friends die, get shot at, just to be an accomplice to terrorism and mass murder. Thank god he made it out. But you should thank the vietnamese, for defending their country like david facing off against goliath. And Phu Bai is now a nice town, not a rate hole anymore, because vietnamese soldiers died doing so.
@@wasclit11 Thanks man, I appreciate your taking time, and to me it`s special to receive the first welcome home from a fellow Vietnam Vet. I would like to welcome you "home" as well, and to thank you for your service. In "71" your unit was known as the "Green Hornets" right?
Welcome home, Soldier.
My dad was 18 years old and fought as a tunnel rat with the Marines in Vietnam from 1968-1970 and he said when he watched platoon he could feel the heat and the humidity of the jungle again, like he was right back in 130° heat and 100% humidity. He said it was one of the most accurate war movies on Vietnam he'd ever seen. My Dad was killed by Agent Orange 4 years ago, it's a chemical that US Government used in the war to kill large swaths of jungle and destroy Vietnam's crops, and the Marines and soldiers were exposed and are dying 50+ years later from it. I was born with kidney failure from my Dad's exposure to agent orange in Nam. But yeah he said this movie is extremely accurate and it's been one of my favorites since my Dad first let me watch it 15 years ago.
Bless him for his service. Know that he is a hero to me for just being there. No one should have taken part of that brutality, especially so young.
Thank him for me. And know the boys outta Afghanistan with me thank him too.
Chính phủ mỹ được cầm đầu bởi tay sai của quỷ dữ. Bố của bạn đã sai lầm khi bị chính phủ Mỹ lừa dối.
The back story of Barnes is that we was the only survivor of a patrol and was shot in the face by a NVA soldier and left for dead. Once he was put back together we went back into action knowing he was not going to live through the war, and wanted to kill every Vietnamese he could, and anyone that got in his way. Barnes and Elias were both guys that just kept re elisting to stay in the fight for totally opposite reasons. Elias wanted to save his guys. Barnes just couldn't stop killing.
5% of the world are psychopaths and another 5% are sociopaths. You put them in the jungle where they can shoot to kill with impunity... they are going to re-enlist every time
@Zoomer Stasi He wasn't at all. Watch the film again. He's nothing to be admired.
@Zoomer Stasi based!
@ZoomerStasiyea but he was the machine breaking down.
You read the book, so did I.👍🏼
Tom Berenger playing the role of Sgt. Barnes was deservedly nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar. The fact he didn’t win it, is a travesty.
Samantha's "hello!'" always makes me feel like I just arrived at a party I'm welcome at. xD
Facts
Absolutely true
Aww I love this! ❤️
@Shawn D - Animal House would be a good movie to review, if they need a comedy to cleanse the palate of intense war films! Does have Neidermeyer, though, who may have been Barnes but at the college ROTC level!
I was gonna comment this exact thing. It just puts me at ease.
Charlie Sheen (Taylor) and Tom Berenger (Barnes) immediately went from this movie to making the movie Major League. You two should definitely watch that to see how amazing they transitioned to very different roles.
That is really great to know that because after this movie they really needed a pick-me-up I bet place to relax a little! That was such a great movie to they should definitely see the Major League!
major league is a great movie! my parents let me watch it when i was in 2nd grade. needless to say i picked up a few new vocabulary words that i still use today. and it made me want to read moby dick. haha
Go from one of the best war films to one of the best sports comedies without missing a beat. Amazing actors.
one of the funniest movies ever, wasn't a young wesley snipes in that one too? haha
@@_eclipz_ Don't steal home without it.
Oliver Stone volunteered to go to Vietnam, and the character of Taylor is basically a representation of himself, while the film is largely an autobiographical depiction of his own experiences during his tour of duty. Pretty much everything depicted here is exactly as Stone himself experienced it, and is widely regarded as THE true, honest screen depiction of what it was REALLY LIKE in the Vietnam War.
Barnes was terrible but I really hated Junior too. Straight up fell asleep and immediately blamed someone else.
The guy from scrubs is probably my least favorite character. He's always patronizing everyone but then acts like a coward.
So happy to see him getting shanked.
I liked that Barnes didn't say much, but did let Junior know he knew exactly who messed that thing up.
@@DerOberfeldwebel Yes, and that was one of the best things he did in this movie. He didn't call him out in front of the rest of the platoon, because they needed to stay a cohesive unit and not have everyone point the finger of blame.
I remember pulling security in the field while in the Army. Waking up the next guy and handing off the NODS (night observation devices) with only a couple of hours to get sleep before stand-to was not fun. Oh, and don't be that guy waking up in the morning with the NODS right next to you.
I love Platoon so much because it feels more like a Documentary rather then movie especially with Oliver Stone a Vietnam Veteran directing it.
One of my grandfather's friends was a tunnel rat in Vietnam. When they found tunnels, he was sent in to scout them out with a light and a pistol. Those guys had to do a lot of close-quarters killing. He was a really nice guy, but a little strange, unsurprisingly.
Strange ? How so ?
@@storman4482probably strange in the sense they mean eccentric. But what is considered normal eh?
Fun fact: The final battle is based off the New Years Eve Battle which Oliver Stone fought in and earned a Bronze Star. For years he thought he imagined that battle until he ran into a fellow veteran who explained it all to him.
It's the movie Frank Drebin and girlfriend were leaving from and laughing about in Naked Gun.
he actually did 2 tours, once with the 1st Cav. and once with the 4th Inf.
In the Behind the Scenes on the DVD, one of the actors laughed,
'it's the ultimate Christmas movie!'
It was in fact, released at Christmas.
When my father first landed in Nam, the first thing he saw was the body bags being loading in a transport heading back to the states. This movie brought a lot of memories back for my father. He was in the Air Force, he did see some combat even though he was an aircraft mechanic.
That sounds rough! I’m sorry he had to experience that
The characters of Barnes and Ellias are depictions of the inner conflict in every soldier. Whether they act like Ellias or Barnes during conflict. There is a conflict between good and evil in everyone. But it's up to us to decide which one wins.
Exactly, war pushes people to that precipice, it removes the veneer of civilisation and reduces people to the basest instincts, survive, fight, kill or die. Barnes represents the soldier that allows the violence to be unleashed, he is not actually a sadist, during the movie you don't see him rape, he experiences rage and focusses it without restraint, he also allows those men in the unit who are truly savage carte blanche to indulge that viciousness. On the contrary Elias, a similar veteran killer, controls and restrains that violence, he focuses his killer instinct to protect the men around him, not simply the physical safety, but in a horrific environment he attempts to protect the psyche of his men as well. Barnes becomes convinced that Elias, representing mercy and responsibility (externally and within the men) must be eliminated because the division will destroy the unit (Barnes has already done this within himself, destroyed the merciful to preserve his increasingly extreme, savage inner-mind). Elias, who serves the men simply must trust Barnes, it is intrinsic to the self. The truly evil people are Junior a coward who never accepts responsibility, Bunny who is a true sadist, Sgt O'Neill who is the NCO who, like Junior, avoids responsibility and constantly defers to Barnes and ultimately the Officer, Lt. Wolfe the man who should be in command and is constantly out of his depth and ends up deferring to Barnes.
They were based on actual people the director knew in the war when he was there. Though neither were as extreme!
Barnes was just evil ! Was a total murderer
In the Naked Gun movie, there was a brief bit where Leslie Nielson and Priscilla Presley leave a theater, laughing...and on the marquee is Platoon.
A visual joke that probably makes sense after seeing this film.
Such a f'd up yet funny lil joke
It’s like Seinfeld, where they were making out in Schindler’s List. So effed up…
@@fritzk3627 I remember that Seinfeld episode, guarantee that Larry David personally contributed that joke in the writing room
"Make it outta here, it's all gravy, every day of the rest of your life - gravy."
One of the most underrated war quotes ever.
Great line!
I worked with vets in my old job and they didn't give a shit about petty office politics. I saw one of them laugh in a supervisor's face when he was told that there would be a note in his file for too many absences. This vet saw his best friends killed in front of him. A yellow note in his file compared to what he survived is a joke. They really weren't kidding about this quote
King was one of my favorite characters in this movie. He was very likeable and always seem to know the right words to say to give comfort to others.
Too bad it wasn't gravy for everyone who made it back to "the world".This war was very personal to me.. my oldest brother did a tour back in 1966 or '67. A cousin served served in 1968. Several guys from my neighborhood. I remember reading a review of this film at the time it was first released. The writer pointed out how "Platoon" acted as a catharsis for many veteran who went to see it. In some instances, they were actually crying in the movie theaters..
Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture. Based Loosely on the life of Oliver Stone whom was in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, and Keith David star in this epic war film.
Realistic Vietnam war flick with veterans Oliver Stone and Dale Dye, who is a technical advisor on a lot of war movies. Oliver Stone was on the field phone in the tent when the suicide bomber ran in.
Can't forget the Candyman himself! Tony Todd!
@Shawn D He has my favorite moment in the movie. When he is just staring at the aftermath of the battle.
@Shawn D you mean "aka the captain/colonel/general in every single war movie". Lmao! Dude, Dale Dye has played a high ranking military officer in so many movies/TV shows, a lot of them classics.... It's insane. He was even in that alien invasion apocalypse TV show called Falling Skies for like an episode or two right?
@Necramonium From the DVD extras, after they shot the Village Scene, both Stone and Dyle didn't say anything. Just 'Cut!' and both turned around and walked away.
Fun Fact: At Officer Training Courses the Character Lt Wolf is used as an example of how NOT to act as a young 2nd LT
You should look at the "making-of" documentary about this movie. Oliver Stone took the actors out into the actual jungle out there and had spec-ops veterans train them, run night drills, and treat them like grunts in the field. They fed them MREs, made them deal with the bugs and leeches, and ended up breaking more than one of them. A lot of what you see in the film isn't acting, it's what these guys were seeing and feeling at the time. When Charlie Sheen wept on the chopper at the end, it was because he was actually leaving and Oliver Stone told him he was done and could go home.
From what I remember from the Director's Commentary, Stone told him you'll never see your friends again, and mentioned them by name, Elias, Big Harold, etc. And that's what made him cry.
Surely not MREs, probably C-Rats right?
Not to be a pedantic dickhead but MREs hadnt been invented yet and therefore totally anachronistic for the Vietnam war.
Another extremely perceptive reaction/review, guys!
Platoon is about as authentic as a Vietnam movie can be, but it still presents a somewhat "heightened" version of events in order to highlight the psychological trauma that the combatants suffered. Some veterans did not think it represented their experiences at all, while others couldn't sit through it all because it was way too close to reality for them. Whatever the "truth," the movie served as a way for Americans to begin to understand what veterans had gone through, and gave veterans some way of beginning to articulate their experiences.
With regards to the village scene, these raids were pretty common and known colloquially as "Zippo Raids," because - as you see in the film - the soldiers generally started the fires with cigarette lighters. Because the villages were prime recruitment targets for the Viet Cong, the official US policy was to make the villagers relocate to new areas that had better defences, so the VC couldn't infiltrate them, use them as storage caches or force the inhabitants to fight for them (though many villagers were sympathetic to the VC and willingly helped). The emptied villages were then burned down.
The raid in the film was a typically confusing affair for the US soldiers, because the VC were clearly active in the area and they found munitions in the village. However, there was no way to tell if the villagers were willingly helping or if they had been coerced, so you ended up with what happened.
19:31 Not sure if you can really see it, but I 'love' the fact that they have this scene in here where Chris is holding a grenade in his hands (thinking about blowing himself up) then tries to nonchalantly drop it before any of his approaching fellow soldiers notice. Just another element that really speaks to the nightmarish reality they were experiencing. Charlie Sheen actually came up with the idea for doing that on the spot the day of filming and Oliver Stone thought it was perfect.
It was based on the directors Oliver Stone's experiences in Vietnam. A brilliant movie. A soldier you should look up is Roy Benevedas as his story of his time in Vietnam are just insane. Such an amazing story and man. Total respect for him. In his first tour he was injured so badly he was told he would never walk again yet so he was told he would be discharged but he begged to do office work instead. He never stopped his training and went on to walk again then he became a navy seal but its what he did next was even more unbelievable. A hero.
I Heard Oliver stone talk about this on Joe Rogan’s podcast
After seeing this movie, and witnessing the fracturing of the troops, and the ensuing chaos, is it any wonder why so many Vietnam vets suffered for decades with PTSD? Bless their souls. I hope they've finally found the peace they deserve.
A lot of those GI's will be around 70 years old now 🙏
To think there are a still bunch of ungratefull snowflakes still calling our veterans baby killer.
@@Juggernogger64 Consider the source. And then just dismiss them as completely irrelevant and useless.
@@Juggernogger64 let them. Not like that many these days are going straight up to someone's face doing it. There will always be opposition.. it's not one you always have to literally fight
Also, this film was based on director Oliver Stone's enlistment in 1968 and during the Tet Offensive.
Tom Berenger should have won an Oscar for this.
The actor that played Francis was Corey Glover, singer for the band Living Colour.
The actor who played Sal was the original drummer for Sonic Youth.
The actor who played Manny was the original Ringo.
The actor who played Chris Taylor survived the battle at the end because he had tiger blood.
The actress who played the angry Vietnamese woman who got shot went on to become the all-Asian invitational over 60s’ shot-put champion.
The Ants that Charlie Sheen swatted away from his neck at the start of the film went on to star in many more Vietnam war films, including Full Metal Jacket, as “Ant number one”, “Ant number two” and “Ant number three”. Only Ant number two would ever find really enduring success in show business though, going on to be chief Ant adviser on “Ant of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ry-Ant”.
Barnes was one of my favorite movie villains. Just a despicable person lol.
"Get me a medic. Go on boy"
Casualties of War by Brian De Palma and The Deer Hunter by Michael Cimino are the last two war films based on Vietnam you guys should see. I know it's a difficult subject matter but a lot of the things depicted in these movies happened. That's why so many veterans came back home broken and our society spat in their faces and called them baby killers. A lot of the people who were homeless in the 80s and 90s were Vietnam vets and it's heart breaking. But these movies need to be seen and talked about or else we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Great video and I do hope you guys mix it up a bit with comedies. Those are also good videos.
Hamburger hill is also good.
don't forget born on the fourth of july
De Palma got skewered (unfairly) for "Casualties of War." He had made some riske thrillers in the 80s which contained overt sexuality and wherein some female characters were definite "sex objects." Some mean critics said that, with "Casulties of War," De Palma created a rape fantasy picture. =0
@@IbrahimHoldsForth That was a real event. He didn't create a fantasy.
Oliver Stone`s 3rd Vietnam film called Heaven & Earth is also a great watch, criminally underrated!
Really impressed that you guys would do this movie. It doesn't get nearly enough attention on these types of channels.
Nor "the deer hunter" but platoon is great too. Dafoe is amazing in it & Tom Berenger
I fully believe Barns was a serial killer in civilian life.
I was a kid when this movie came out. I remember there being a wave of Vietnam War media, from movies like Casualties of War, to songs like Paul Hardcastle's "19."
It took those who served a bit to be able to comment publicly, and for the public to be ready to hear it.
My brother and i were watching Hamburger Hill with my nephews and my Dad. About half way through he looked at us, and asked if it was really like that. My brother left the room, and I began to cry. So many, so senselessly died.
The smile Elias gives Barnes isnt about finding an ally. It's more him saying after all I've been through, I knew it would be you who would kill me. That shot of Elias death is iconic.
Made on a $6 million dollar budget, it made $140 million dollars at the box office.
That’s insane!
Movies that don't portray the US military in a positive light don't get a lot of financing and are almost impossible to get made. That's just reality.
@@Asher8328 Yea, that's why "Platoon" is basically an independent film. Oliver Stone had been trying to sell his script since the early '70s. The studios thought it was a good script but no one wanted to make it because it was so downbeat and depressing. So, it's really ironic that "Platoon" became a blockbuster. It's the most financially successful Vietnam War movie out of the bunch (Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket etc.).
@@Asher8328 I would say this movie is portraying the US military negatively. In the end there is one bad guy, while we know that was not the truth.
Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, made only 5 years ago, was made only with 40 million dollars (a very low budget for today) and it seems like 150 million for everything that is seen on the scene, incredible what Mel Gibson achieved with so low budget.
If Barnes isn’t in your top five movie villains, we can’t be friends.
You've watched three of the big four Vietnam flicks. "The Deer Hunter" (1978), was nominated for nine Oscars and took home five including: Best Picture, Best Director and Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken.
The Deer Hunter is NOT a Vietnam movie. It's a boring-ass wedding movie with a handful of Vietnam thrown in. One of the worst/most boring/overhyped movies I've ever seen. If it wasn't for the Russian roulette scene, I don't think anybody would give half a fuck about that shit movie.
*smh*
@@DarthMohammedRules
The Deer Hunter is one of the best war movies, selected by the prestigious AFI as one of the 100 best movies ever made.
No amount of whining and short-sighted, tasteless, "wrong" opinions is going to change that, lol.
@@yeahwellthatsjustlikeyouro7466 Wake me when the wedding scene is over
I remember watching this movie in a theater during the Christmas season of 1986 with my brother. One of the few times the whole crowd walked out of the theater almost 100 percent quietly. That has only happened a few times in my lifetime. Very powerful movie.
20:15, Vietnam Vets saw the film and they applauded it, even though some of the stuff they saw was inaccurate, it is exactly how they experienced it
Casualties of War ('89) with Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn is one of the hardest Vietnam Movies I've ever seen. You must see!
This movie perfectly illustrates war crimes. Most people follow the rules, but you will always have a couple of rotten apples in the basket. Also i really like how you feel the jungle as a really bad place to fight. This is my favorite Nam movie by far
The Capt in the movie is Capt Dale Dye..He was an officer in Vietnam and has been the military advisor to almost every realistic war film since platoon.
It's a really well done film, it also shows, amercians were not angels neither in a war. It's also a Biographie, Oliver Stone went to war and he described in the film what he saw in Vietnam.
"But I thought we are the good guys?", said every country that ever fought a war. Lol
I'd say at least 85 percent of people know that we aren't angels, especially when it came to Vietnam. Straight up baddies in that one, NVA ain't angels either but fucking hell.
@18:19 'very brief' cameo by Oliver Stone as the alpha company Major in the bunker.
This was the first realistic Viet Nam War movie made. Before this movie came out there was stuff like Rambo, Missing in Action, Uncommon Valor, but this movie really showed us many aspects that many people didn't know about. After this movie came out, Hollywood started making more realistic Viet Nam movies like Hamburger Hill, Born on the 4th of July, Casualties of War, etc. It really was a game changer in 80's cinema. Great reaction video. Love your channel.
Rambo is more of an action movie!
so proud of this movie for showing the realities of war. its unreal what our soldiers went through in that conflict.
I love watching these reaction videos because they function as best-of hit reels for the movie and your reactions clue me in to things that I missed or didn’t string together. The real villain of this movie is Lt. Wolfe, who absolutely fails to maintain discipline within his unit, allows soldiers to become drunks and druggies (destroying cohesion, reducing fighting effectiveness, they make bad decisions), fails to reprimand soldiers for atrocities and oh yeah, gives bad coordinates for artillery.
The "funny" part is that Mark Moses actually did get his butt chewed on by Dye during training for splitting up the "platoon" and having half of it on a hill and the other half down in a riverbed. So his inability to read a map wasn't too far off.
The Captain who called in the airstrike is played by Dale Dye. He is an actual Viet Nam veteran and a very prolific military advisor in Hollywood, especially for Viet Nam films. He often appears in movies he consults on.
Just as Col. Walter Kurtz said in Apocalypse Now, an effective soldier has to make friends with horror and moral terror but can also fight with their hearts and still be a father and a good husband. You effectively become 2 personalities, a killer and a lover.
Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen like father like son.
Oliver Stone who directed this went to Vietnam and said this movie was based on his own personal experiences. He purposefully picked very young actors mostly between 18 and 21 to make it as real as Vietnam was with so many young soldiers drafted right after high school
The village scene was probably about the Mÿ Lai massacre, by Charlie company. There is
documentary’s on it
Hamburger Hill is a forgotten war movie that a vet I met who was there said the movie is pretty accurate.
You should see The Killing Fields. You see the war in Cambodia from the perspective of the Cambodians as well as from the perspective of Western journalists. It's a powerful true story and one of the stars lived through it; he spent years in a Cambodian work camp hiding his education (educated people were killed by the Khmer Rouge). Dr. Hang S. Ngor was only one of two non-actors to ever win an Academy award in an acting category.
I recommend that you add to the list: "Born on The Fourth of July" with Tom Cruise, the next film by this same director Oliver Stone, after "Platoon", which narrates the post-war for a soldier and all the physical and psychological consequences. That's probably Tom Cruise's best performance of his entire career. This movie is highly recommended. Also performing in this: Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger (Barnes) and other supporting Platoon actors. And if we talk about more good Oliver Stone movies, add to the list: JFK that narrates the theory about who murdered the president and the controversial Natural Born Killers, other good Oliver movies.
Actually he sort of made it a vietnam trilogy with Platoon, Born on the 4th of july and Heaven and Earth as conclusion on his Vietnam story.
Oliver Stone The Director of Platoon
In April 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army and requested combat duty in Vietnam. From September 16, 1967 to April 1968, he served in Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division and was twice wounded in action. He was then transferred to the 1st Cavalry Division participating in long-range reconnaissance patrols before being transferred again to drive for a motorized infantry unit of the division until November 1968. For his service, his military awards include the Bronze Star with "V" Device for valor, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster to denote two awards, the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge
For years I only knew the iconic opening classical music as 'The Platoon music' before I learned it was Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings'.
Honestly impressed by how well you guys predicted what was about to happen, I’ve seen other reactions to platoon and no one saw anything coming, you two were really paying attention to the little details like the forest ambush
Adagio for Strings is wonderfully beautiful yet haunting and really made an impact when I watched this film.
Then to hear it again in the game Homeworld...
Platoon won Best Picture in 1986. We Were Soldiers is another great movie also set in Vietnam with an amazing cast.
We Were Soldiers is a good veitnam war film. It gives another view of veitnam all be it early in the war.
*Albeit 😉
Yes, it's about the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major engagement between US soldiers and the NVA.
Excellent film.
Too bad they cut the final scene
"The First Pyrrhic Victory of the Vietnam War"
5: 43
My grandpa was in the Vietnam war, he got blown up trying to carry a fallen brother lost a testicle, took shrapnel in his legs along with a gunshot wound that he already had. The explosion messed up his hands to the point where he can’t open them all the way. But happy to say that tough bastard is still alive an kickin til this day. Even with messed up hands he can still drive to, he even got him a Purple Heart marines license plate lol love that man.
As disturbing as the events that take place in the village are in the movie, the reality of some of the things that happened in Vietnam is far worse. I suggest you research the massacre at Mỹ Lai, probably the worst atrocity of the Vietnam war.
Yes, I believe the village scene was supposed to represent the My Lai massacre. Maybe not exactly, but to show the overall brutality of it.
The murder of civilians in Hue during the Tet offensive was an order of magnitude worse, at least 6,000 murdered.
It's important to point out that the approximately 6,000 who were murdered in Hue during Tet were murdered by the North Vietnamese. Mostly people they had to liquidiate like teachers and police officers, people who would stand against the communism the North wanted to interject into the South. Cancel culture taken to It's murderous, inevitable conclusion. Not American servicemen.
Gotta watch hamburger hill next. Also, with all the cameos in platoon, surprised you didn’t notice a young Johnny depp at the village scene
Tom Berenger played the 'bad sergeant', Willem Dafoe played the 'good sergeant', both received Oscar nominations for their performances.
Oliver Stone made the actors dig their own foxholes for this, and do other work, so they wouldn't just act "tired, hot and dirty", they'd know exactly what if felt like, because that's how'd they'd be feeling. The entire film was also shot in chronoligical order, so each each time somebody died in the film, they left the set, were flown home, and the other actors didn't see them again.
You should watch the movie "Hamburger Hill" it's based off real events during the Vietnam War and is considered one of the most realistic depictions of the war
I met a vet who fought there bought 20 years ago. He said it was indeed very accurate. Hardest fight of his 2 tours.
Hamburger Hill was definitely the most realistic movie ever about how it is to be a grunt.
best endorsement this movie ever got was from Vietnam vets themselves
Thank you for your movie reaction choices, you pick a lot of movies that I care about.
Thanks for supporting the channel!
My father said soldiers like "Barnes" either were already had it in them or the war put it in them "being a killer"
In the british army we use a pen to indicate who is on watch, that way everyone knows who should be sleeping or not
What, like the clicking sound?
I like to think that Charlie's character in Two and a Half Men is the same character as this one and it's why he's so hedonistic.
My favorite Oliver Stone movie, and one of my favorite movies period.
Stone served two tours in Vietnam and based the characters off people he knew; the inspirations for Barnes & Elias didn't serve together, and Stone was curious about what might have happened if they had, since they were such opposites.
I'm particularly glad that Stone & Berenger didn't make Barnes into a purely evil villain, but allowed you to see how/why he does what he does; when Stone showed this film to some of his old Vietnam colleagues, he noted how many of them sided with Barnes rather than Elias or Taylor.
The village scene, I believe, is based upon the My Lai Massacre. Look into it if you’re interested.
A big part of O'Neill's reaction to getting Second Platoon was not only that he was gonna stay, but also
*Barnes been wounded 7 times. The only thing that can kill Barnes, is Barnes*
He just couldn't believe Barnes was gone.
These guys freaked out
I was 12 when i whatched this. I know every monologue.
Vietnam War movies timeline( more movies to add to your lists )
Pre-War:
Go Tell The Spartans - 1978( Story inspired by failed special forces operation at Tan Hoa based on novel Incident at Muc Wa by Daniel Ford - 1964 )
The War:
We Were Soldiers - 2002( Battle of Ia Drang - 1965 )
Good Morning Vietnam - 1987 ( Saigon AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer's experiences - 1965 )
Casualties of War - 1989( Incident on Hill 192 - 1966 )
Platoon - 1986( takes place near the Cambodian border - 1967 )
Full Metal Jacket -1987( Basic training & The Tet Offensive - 1968 )
Hamburger Hill - 1987( Battle of Hill 937 - 1969 )
Apocalypse Now - 1979( covert Nung River mission into Cambodia - 1970 )
Bat*21 - 1988( Rescue of Airman Iceal Gene Hambleton "Bat 21 Bravo" behind North Vietnamese lines - 1972 )
The Killing Fields - 1984( Fall of Saigon immediate aftermath - 1973 )
Green Eyes - 1977( A soldier's return to Vietnam to find his family left behind -1977 )
It's "Ia Drang" not "La Drang." Capital letter of "i."
@@dewjade4897Sorry! Thank you. I'll fix that. Much appreciated. 😊
the killing fields woulf be the aftermath of the cambodiam civil war no the vietnam
Hamburguer hill is underrated in my opinion.
@@geraldodozapzap6610 Geraldo do zap kkkkkk
The soldier Francis is played by Cory Glover the lead singer of the all black rock band In Living Colour.
Yes! 🙌 Thank you so much, and I appreciate the reaction. After a long hard week of working, and stressing. I finally get to watch my favorite youtubers react to a favorite movie of mine. You guys made my week. 🤩
There was a little known and not talked about phenomenon in that war. It was called fragging. Infantry soldiers were so fed up with the war and the incompetence of the senior officers that at night when the officers were sleeping in their tents. Some soldiers would lob a grenade into the tent in hopes of blowing the officers to kingdom come. It got so bad that the officers would sleep in different tents from night to night and not try to give it away.
“Born on the 4th of July” is also a good movie.
Undeniably one of Tom Cruise’s best performances
Also done by Oliver Stone, he did a third Vietnam film in the early 90's Heaven And Earth, which is from the Veitnamese perspective, also good
I'm surprised there aren't more people talking about that movie in the comments, it's Oliver Stone's best imo - and Tom Cruise killed it. It's a bit more like the Deer Hunter or Coming Home in that it's about the effects of war but it's such an emotional flick
One of the best Vietnam War movies is We Were Soldiers (Mel Gibson). One of the best WW2 movies is A Bridge Too Far (all star cast)
We were soldiers is ok until the end, which is hollywood schlock. Read the book- it will blow your mind how different reality was. Long story short, there was no heroic ending. During the LZ Xray battle parts of 2 more battalions were helicopetered in to support 1/7 Cav. At the end of the battle less than half of the guys still alive were helicoptered out. The rest marched to a different landing zone. They had almost made it when the Vietnamese ambushed them (LZ Albany), and the ensuing battle was even worse than LZ X-ray. It's a travesty how Gibson and Wallace left that out.
@@juvandy thanks for the info, I'll check out the book now!
Great choice; great reactions!!! Love the discussion at the end of your videos. BTW, what you did with "The Pacific" series is AMAZING! I couldn't stop watching your videos back to back! TBR I'm your fan forever!!!!! "Peace" to you too :)
Agree :)
Agree :)
These guys were the last of our brave souls who were drafted and not looking to be heroes. That to me is a true hero.
I've visited the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam and, even though they've been widened for tourists, they're one of the most claustrophobic experiences I've had. I can't even start to imagine what it must've been like for the (mostly Australian) soldiers who had to clear them, knowing that enemies, booby traps and poisonous animals (snakes, centipedes) could be around any corner.
For a really good documentary on the war as a whole, the Ken Burns documentary 'The Vietnam War' is excellent.
People who are not involved in a situation can not understand it. Remember, these soldiers were drafted and sent against their wills to a foreign country with little training. These Americans went from living in a 20th century technological civilization to trying to survive in an agricultural land at a level of 100 AD. Soon, the soldiers realize that their lives are at risk for nothing - there are no buildings or airfields to destroy, no oil or mineral mines to take over, and no end to the war. The soldiers see that they are enduring disease, bug bites and fatigue in an operation against jungle fighters who pose no threat to the United States. The soldiers see that there is no military strategy - just endless walking through the jungle. Very easy for the soldiers to revert to an attitude that nothing matters. The soldiers are not the evil ones, but the American politicians who drafted the soldiers and sent them to Vietnam for no purpose with no strategy.
My father (rest his soul), a Vietnam veteran, said that he'd seen many Vietnam War movies---but this one----this one made the hairs in the back of his head stand up. The body bags at the airport, the midday hump thru the jungle on patrol. Some of this movie took him back there. Oliver Stone and his advisor Captain Dye really brought their horrific war experience to the screen.
I've listened to many interviews of vets made by Billings Gazette here on youtube, and some of the jobs those guys had were insane.
I don't remember the name, but the "helicopter bait" guy was a stand-out. Just flying zig-zag over jungle, hoping for somebody to shoot at his chopper, then drop a smoke and a frag and get out before AF levels the place.
@@maintaint3003 Yup! That mission evolution was demonstrated in the John Wayne movie the Green Berets. The movie is piss poor at showing what the war was really like (more of a propaganda film), but helo bait was shown in that movie too. Those pilots had serious guts!
Barnes didn't just kill Elias to kill him, he killed him because he knows he fuc*ked up bad and was standing right there when Elias told the commander he would testify to what happened there.
The Military legal system as written is a lot hasher than the civilian legal system. If Court-martialed and convicted He's facing either Life imprisonment or an execution.
That's why Barnes also hesitates before he shoots Elias, he doesn't necessarily want to kill him but needs to get rid of the "evidence" and then he gets drunk after.
But now Charlie Sheen knows what he did to Barnes, AND what he did at the village. He's already made his choice when he shot Barnes, and now Charlie Sheens the "Evidence".
In Vietnam "Fragging" happened a lot more frequently than previous US wars and was named such as Hand/Frag grenades were commonly used when killing a superior. It'd leave less evidence of friendly fire with no bullet, casing, or your gun smelling like it was recently shot. And you could always use the excuse of a random grenade or lucky mortar round.
Most Fraggings were either because a unit got a new inexperienced leader and they knew he was going to get them all killed, a unit got an overly gung-ho commander and they knew he was going to get them killed. Or the unit had a passive commander that got them too laid back and used to being safe, then he gets replaced and the new commander wants them to start doing more patrols and stuff like they'd usually do, and someone's terrified enough of going back to the danger that they get rid of him to try and stay away as long as possible. The Fragging could be from a lone wolf, or with multiple people knowing about it. And there were also Fraggings to avoid being Court-martialed for crimes like drug use, etc.
Back to Barnes being afraid of a court-martial, unfortunately IRL the US Military Legal system is a lot more hit and miss, and it's usually miss when it's something big like that. You could spend years in prison for disobeying an order, hitting an officer, or getting a DUI; but stuff like in the movie is usually covered up. So Barnes probably could've done nothing and gotten away with it.
The Massacre in the movie is partially based on the My Lai Massacre, where all the same stuff happened but much worse and on a much larger scale. It was covered up for over a year before it finally got out, even then it was only because a couple of servicemen sent letters describing what they saw to 30 congressmen of which all but one ignored them with that one starting an investigation; eventually a journalist started hearing things and it came out. Of the 100+ soldiers and officers that were there only 26 were charged with crimes, of those all but 1 were acquitted or had all charges dropped. Most of the defendants successful defenses revolved around "I was just following orders", this was very controversial as just 20yrs prior for similar crimes they'd told the Nazis at Nuremberg that following orders wasn't a valid excuse and given them lengthy imprisonment or the death penalty.
The one guy eventually charged was a scapegoat, he participated claiming he thought those were his orders, his commander was also Court-martialed and denied giving those orders and got acquitted of all charges. Several months later he admitted he'd suppressed evidence and lied to the investigator about the amount of civilian deaths.
None of the higher-ups were ever held seriously accountable, their only punishments being some demotions, reassignmens, and dishonorable discharges. Even the scapegoat they pinned it all on went from originally being convicted to life imprisonment with hard labor, to only 3 days later being released to house arrest to await sentencing. His sentence was eventually commuted to 20 years, then 10, before finally being commuted a third time all the way down to 3 years of house arrest.
Of all the people involved, they blamed it all on just one man and even then, he got off extremely light. There were some soldiers there that didn't participate, but didn't speak up or try to stop it either just like in the movie. The most any of them did was one guy purposely shot himself in the foot so he wouldn't have to participate. There was a US Army helicopter crew that saw what was happening, called for medics, and tried to help the wounded managing to save 15-30+ people.
The scapegoats apologized unprompted since for his part in it and says he's ashamed and regrets everything that he did(Not that it means much), I only mention it because I don't know if any of the other's ever apologized; and if not that's interesting.
I'm a pretty patriotic person, love the military when it's not being stupid, support the troops and all that. But how can we expect our adversaries to be honorabe and held accountable, when we don't even hold our own side accountable when they do heinous shit.
The VC also carried out a lot of civilian Massacres, executing entire villages women children and all, I assume committing some SA while doing it. That's not an excuse for us to do it too.
War is War, and War is Hell; but believe it or not even War has Rules.
Your hatred for Barnes showed what a great job Tom Berenger did in this movie. 1st class acting.
The Platoon's translator (Lerner) was played by a *very* young Johnny Depp.
OMG, I just watched your Full Metal Jacket vid yesterday, suggested Platoon (not on Patreon) as being right up there as one of the best war movies, and this was posted just a few hours later!! Nice!!
Don’t know if anybody mentioned it already but, at the end after he kills Barnes, Chris was about to kill himSELF with a grenade. He’s sitting there about to pull the pin when the commando reinforcements arrive on the swastika APC. Chris quickly drops the grenade to the side, maybe ‘cause there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for him now... but I’ve always thought it’s just because in the moment he didn’t want to take any innocent bystanders with him.
It happens so quick that most people miss it. I only caught it 20 years later.
Mỹ Lai massacre. March 16, 1968.
If you read about that event, you will understand this film better.
Howdy from north Texas once again! Another great reaction y’all! I’d like to throw in my vote for The Unforgiven with the great Clint Eastwood and the equally great Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman... keep up the great work!!!
Thanks for the support and the recommendation!
Oh fuck I just saw that movie a few weeks ago! Fucking amazing!
Love Unforgiven!!!
My favorite Tom berenger movie is one mans hero from the year 1999.
I saw this movie theatrically 2 days before I shipped off to boot camp. Check out The Boys in Company C if you can, it’s a awesome underrated Vietnam movie similar in structure to Full Metal Jacket.
One of the drill instructors in the movie looks familiar.
Check out 'Cadence' if you haven't. Stars Charlie Sheen as well.
@@glenwoodreid5910 DI Loyce also played DI Hartman in full metal jacket
I scrolled through most of the comments but didn't see this mentioned; it's been stated that Oliver Stone wrote Platoon as a more realistic counter to John Wayne's goody-goody, straight-up patriotic movie, The Green Berets. I always found that fascinating because I love both movies.
Loosely based on Oliver Stone's Vietnam experience. This was one of the first Vietnam flicks that wasn't patriotic propaganda.
@@markhamstra1083 sort of. Apocalypse Now isn't really a Vietnam movie. It's Joseph Konrad's Heart of Darkness set in Vietnam and the story is total fiction, 100%.
The Deer Hunter I agree is not propaganda, but it still presents the Americans sympathetically as 'good guys in a bad situation'. Up until Platoon and Full Metal Jacket no American war movie had ever been willing to present an American as the bad guy. Platoon crossed that line in multiple ways that even now few movies do- the child rape scene in particular. It's one thing to kill unarmed civilians- this happens all the time in war, usually by accident but still often intentionally (bombing especially). You can be a 'good guy in a bad place' and still kill civilians by accident in war and see that viewed as the lesser of some evils. Even when the captain sends orders to torch the village, that can be explained on a strategic or tactical level as negating resources to the enemy- it's certainly not 'good'... but it can be justified at some level (though many would still consider it a war crime).
Raping children, as first depicted in Platoon.... that's something else entirely. That is an unambiguously criminal, evil, wrong thing to do.
@@markhamstra1083 I did say "one of"/ The other two explored concepts like psychological trauma and were set in a war but wasn't really about the average grunt's experience. Platoon was the first to do this in a traditional war setting.
A rather early one was "Go Tell The Spartans (1978)" starring Burt Lancaster
Nothing is better than Thin Red Line
War movie recommendation, Paths of Glory - one of Kubrick's early films and one of his best. Keep up the good work!
Yes please no one on UA-cam has reacted to Paths of Glory.
I love Keith David's (King) supporting role in this film. The exchange at the end with Charlie Sheen (Taylor) is fantastic.
Chris Taylor: It's the way the whole thing works. People like Elias get wasted. People like Barnes just go on making up the rules any way they want. So what do we do? Sit in the middle and suck on it. We just don't add up to dry shit, King.
King: Whoever said we did, man? All you got to do is make it out of here, and it's all gravy. Every day, the rest of your life, gravy.
This is the first of Oliver Stone’s Vietnam Trilogy. The next 2 are “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Heaven and Earth”