My dad was a Vietnam vet. My brother and I saw this in the theater when it was released. We were in our mid/late teens and left the theater trembling and in tears. The film had a very divided reaction from the Vietnam veteran community. Ironically the ones who criticized it were largely unaware that Stone served two tours (he volunteered) in combat and was decorated for bravery. I've spoken to many vets who hated it when it came out but have since come to appreciate it. In 1986 the war and its complexities were still open wounds for many and it was difficult to grapple with them. One guy told me "I couldn't admit to myself at the time how true it was. My mind rebelled against the fact that I had seen and done those kinds of horrors."
"Platoon it made me just visibly nervous those guys out in the jungle on on ambush. The other part of it I was going God that wasn't happening sure wasn't where I was but that's Hollywood." "oh and no one smoked at night. I don't mean pot. cigarettes our guys didn't smoke pot you you're going to be out in combat with a guy that smokes pot. I don't think so. You aren't going to be with him, he isn't right. No one did that they do it in the movies." Source Vietnam War veteran Richard Tangel interview Vietnam Voices: 'You're alert all the time. If you're not alert, you're going to die' My dad is also a Vietnam Vet and he said these movies are pure BS. It's just to slander the vets that's all.
@cyclone8974 loads of Americans were taking some sort of drugs so your talking shit. I believed that 1in5 were addicted at some time during their tour.
Over 50 years for me. I was a survivor. My brother & many brothers in arms are heros. They did not make it home, but they are in my thoughts daily. Thank you for reviewing this film.
I grew up in the 80s, and a lot of kids had fathers who'd been in Vietnam. One of my friend's dad had been a tunnel rat, because he was short and slim - so much so that when my friend and I were around 14 years old we were almost the same height as his dad. I remember the man as being exceptionally quiet, and he had this half intense, half lost look about him. My friend always said that we needed to be very, very quiet whenever he was around, and we always played outside, never in his house. About ten years after I graduated high school I ran into some folks who had kept up with my friend and his family. Turned out that my friend's parents got divorced just a few years after we all graduated, and his dad took his own life not long afterwards. War will always collect its bloody toll, even many long years after it is "over".
Oliver Stone was the officer on the radio in the bunker that got blown up. The purpose of the towels or scarves was two-fold; 1st, to keep insects like the airborne ants that flew from the trees above down onto our necks. 2nd was to control the sweat.
Great reaction Ames like always, Platoon is the landmark definition of a war film. Pulse-pounding sequences stacked on well-performed portrayal of soldiers (Sheen, Berenger & Dafoe) as well as a couple of heart-wrenching scenes that would be somewhat difficult to view. The film is Oliver Stone's most significant to date, especially since it's based off his own personal experience in the Vietnam War. And some fun facts about this movie a number of actors who eventually became very famous, such as Johnny Depp, but others didn’t have much luck in auditioning. Ben Stiller walked into the audition room, but was turned down by Oliver Stone before he could even talk. The director said Stiller was “too cute” to be in such a gritty movie. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were specifically chosen Whenever being cast in movies, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were usually subjected to typecasting - Berenger typically played the good guy, while Dafoe was the villain, But Oliver Stone decided to reverse this and chose Berenger to be the ruthless and harsh Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes, while Dafoe played the caring and heroic Sgt. Elias. The actors were able to showcase their full acting ranges, and both received Oscar nominations for their performances. Keep up the amazing work.
I remember my first introduction to Willem Dafoe as the uber bad guy in the almost forgotten To Live and Die in L.A. It was amazing to see him transform into the good guy in this one.
I served as a fire platoon leader in the Army so I understand a green lieutenant, often little more than a college kid who went through ROTC and an officer basic course, faces challenges as a new platoon leader but the failures depicted in this movie on Wolfe's part are unforgiveable. Fortunately in the real world platoon sergeants are highly experienced professionals who are almost invariably very supportive of new platoon leaders, helping them develop into competent junior officers; not pathological monsters like Barnes.
@@dritzzdarkwood4727read into these killings. Unfortunatelly it wasnt just a green LT, the problems run deeper. It started from an abrasive battalion commander and trickled down. Like Napoleon said, there arent bad soldiers, only bad commanders.
I was 17 when this movie came out. This is the only movie my dad ever took me to see. He was in vietnam and he never talked about it. Maybe this was his way of doing it. This movie will always get me. Thanks for the reaction.
This was the first film of Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. There's also Born on the 4th of July and Heaven and Earth. All 3 are excellent films even though they pushed all my anxiety buttons. haha
Show me one actor in this movie that didn't act his ass off. But, yeah - Tom, Willem, and Charlie are very prominent here, but I also remembered Whitaker, Depp, and when I first saw "Scrubs" I was yelling int my screen towards Dr Cox "I loved you in Platoon!"
This movie is part of Oliver Stone's informal trilogy on the Vietnam war, the other two being "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) with Tom Cruise in the lead as real life veteran Ron Kovic - incidentally Tom Cruise's best performance in my opinion - and "Heaven & Earth" (1993) about a young Vietnamese woman trying to survive the war. That one stars Tommy Lee Jones with not just his best scene ever, but one of the greatest and most chilling performances in a scene ever. 😮
I remember seeing this at its release. There were many vets in the theater. I can't tell you how many were brought to tears as well as those that walked out, they were traumatized. This film at that time was like no other war film seen before.
@@GyvonJante Can you believe that I just found out he was in The Thing?? He looks so young and serious in The Thing that I guess it made me perceive him in a very different way (he's usually this very likeable guy that brings joy to a movie) to the point of not recognising him 🤣
Great review, and commentary. For my part I was visiting Washington (I am from Ireland) and I went to the war monument, and there was a candle lit commemoration of the soldiers that died in Vietnam. I very innocently and perhaps naively approached a man, he told me was a veteran, I wasked was it bad, and he said yes. In that one word I didnt need to know anymore, the look on his face was of pain.
The one soldier that you thought was really calm during the firefight was Dale Dye. He spent several tours overseas during the war in the Marine Corps. He's the only actor to appear in all of Olivrt Stone's Vietnam trilogy films: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993)..
They ran out of budget for the final fight, and couldn't light the set, so they shot off every flare they had to provide light during the battle, making it look even more chaotic.
Dale Dye has done a lot of military consulting on movies. One thing i wondered if Ames would recognize is that he is the actor who plays Col. Sink - Winters’ commander in Band of Brothers.
he was more than just an actor in the movie, he was the military consultant and even made the cast do a quick bootcamp and made them camp out in the jungle and would throw ambushes at them. Thats why it feels like there is a real camaraderie between the actors. Dye would also do this for the cast of Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers.
One thing you may not be aware of is that Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran. The final scene with Dale Dye it's perhaps one of the most moving scenes because of the thousand yard stare. Only a veteran would recognize it, once you have it you never lose it, enough said.
This is a rough movie to sit through, but like most movies that show harsh reality, it’s ultimately rewarding. Thanks for being one of the best reactors on UA-cam
This movie is a bunch of things Oliver Stone experienced during his tour in Vietnam. Charlie Sheen's character is Oliver Stone. He and other crew had flashbacks while making the movie. Oliver Stone had a major flashback during the village scene where he had an emotional breakdown and they had to stop for the day.
@bloodymarvelous4790 there were many village massacres throughout Vietnam. There a video where he said he watched fellow soldiers raping women and a couple kids, and he almost killed a dude to get him to stop. He didn't say where it happened just that it happened and then said I don't like to talk about that stuff on camera so they moved on.
Was gonna say there were MANY My Lai’s. Operation Speedy Express - became army policy to declare certain areas as free fire zones and basically anything you shot was fair game including civilians all so that the media could celebrate the “all important” body count of enemy killed. As brutal as it was the village actually got off rather easy. They were a confirmed VC village, were clearly giving material aide and comfort to enemy forces, had killed an American soldier (ie Manny), resisted lawful search and inspection. The fact that the village had kidnapped and killed an American GI would have been enough to revoke the villages protection under 1954 Geneva Conventions. Not saying it wasn’t brutal, but there were many villages that had suffered waaay worse for less.
There is a making-of video of this that is fantastic. Dale Dye (played one of the officers) was a Marine Vietnam vet and also technical consultant. He and Stone contrived to put the cast through an abbreviated boot camp to get them in tune with the character. This included carrying gear up and down mountains to wear them out, sleeping in the rain, and having actual midnight "ambushes" perpetrated on their camp to rattle them. The strung out look they had was real. Another interesting thing was that some of the porters they used for gear hauling was also employed by Francis Ford Coppola when he filmed 'Apocalypse Now' in the Philippines. One remembered meeting Charlie Sheen when he was with his father, Martin, on the set for that movie. They both would reprise their roles to an extent in an epic cameo scene in "Hot Shots: Part Deux".
I like how Platoon's reputation for being such a dark and emotional film made The Naked Gun movie even funnier with the scene that has Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley on their date coming out of the theatre laughing hystercally like they had just watched a comedy but they had watched Platoon like it didn't even phase them!
I remember seeing this in the theater with 3 other people. We were supposed to go out afterwards for drinks but all of us were not in the mood after seeing this film.
Btw, often overlooked in this film as being a bit goofy, but John C McGinley has been a jobbing actor for 35 years and largely overlooked. His role in Scrubs, as Dr Cox his comedic timing is on point, but also there are moments where his talent absolutely shines through during more emotional parts of that role. Very underrated in my humble opinion.
Saw this in the theater when it first came out. When it was over and a packed house walked out into the lobby where the next group was waiting it was complete silence.
Its inclusion in "Platoon" and "The Mission" really pushed it into the popular conscious to the point where I believe the young people now use it as a meme. BTW Ames, you really need to react to "The Mission"; it's masterpiece. Some of the best cinemetography of the 80s, compelling script, Roland Joffe directed, Ennio Morricone score, starring De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn...
@@fusiliers It started to be noticed in pop culture with "The Elephant Man", though. I didn't know it was also used in "The Mission"... Are really sure of that?
@@georgezee5173 Good catch! Although I've seen the movie at least a dozen times, it's been a few years since the last viewing. My brain conflated Barber with Morricone's "Ave Maria Guarani".
2:42 The "Someone once wrote..." lines are one my favourite lines from any movie. The whole monologue is great too. 6:10 In the commentary Stone talks about this incident with the real life counterpart to Junior. Both said they didn't fall asleep so he decided to go with the version where he (Taylor) didn't fall asleep. 6:51 When I first saw this, I always thought that VC was waving at Taylor, which makes no sense, but that's what I thought. I'm guessing you were confused too, lol
@@christopher3391that part kind of weirds me out. He was an officer. I suspect that scene was likely a very real fear for him back then. Perhaps even the fate of other officers he knew.
@@ben2741Oliver Stone was never an officer. He was grunt in the 25th ID and later transferred to the 1st Air Cav in a LRRP unit. I'm not sure of his rank, but I doubt he made it past E5
I think Mr. Stone said in an interview once; that the part where Sheen makes the one legged guy "dance" while firing toward his feet is something Oliver Stone actually did while in Vietnam. However, It was an older man and he had both legs..
I admire your take on this movie and how you explained your experience. Aside from the horrors, Oliver Stone really captured the internal perspective of how soldiers from different parts of the country and all walks of life collide when we’re all stuck together and serving overseas. Love and hate.
there's an amazing movie called Courage Under Fire with Denzal Washington and Meg Ryan. It takes place during Desert Storm. I was a 19K for 22 years and whoever did the tank fire commands and uniforms was spot on to a T!
François Truffaut, who you might recall as Claude Lacombe from _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ , once said that there's never been a true anti-war film, because even the most critical film can inadvertently glorify it through depictions of heroism, bravery, and resilience. This is particularly noticeable in _Platoon_ . Here we have a film where war is unequivocably depicted as Hell, twisting and corrupting them into monstrous killing machines, capable of committing unspeakable atrocities - yet the action is thrilling, & you cannot help but admire the courage of these men under fire. It's one of the strange dichotomies of war & peace. _Platoon_ is definitely one of the roughest war films I've seen, not far off from _Come and See_ and _Fire on the Plain_ when it comes to unrelenting horror in the midst of warfare.
Those spot-on comments and predictions... you SURE you've never seen this? :) Platoon was my introduction to Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings". It instantly became one of my absolute favorites. It fits the tone of this movie to a tee, as it does with the original Homeworld.
My father was a Choctaw Indian who had never left the reservation until the war. He became an Army Engineer in WW2 and had to bury hundreds of thousands of concentration camp victims with a bulldozer. He came home a violent alcoholic and was till the day he died. My older brother is a decorated Army Veteran and came back from Vietnam so messed up and full of rage that I had to physically prevent him from killing every person with an oriental face that he saw. He now lives in the desert by himself and does nothing but stay high and drunk. I haven't seen him in years What a waste. I got out of the Army in 1972 and joined the peace movement, but it was too late for him. My ex Marine brother in law was my best friend. He did 3 tours in Vietnam (13 months for Marines) and now lives in the woods somewhere in Washington state. They all needed help that they never got. Please help your veterans to get over their trauma. They deserve more for their sacrifices.
Damn. That's rough. My Grandfather fought against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in WWII and had a very similar outcome. l'm an Australian, but l would love to see President Elect Trump to ask actor Gary Sinise who has done amazing work building state of the art homes for severely wounded veterans through the Gary Sinise foundation and also entertaining troops abroad with his band, to oversee a reformation of Veteran Affairs. All veterans should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity when they return from active duty and need physical or mental help.
I took courses strictly on the Vietnam War when I was in college, and here’s something for people to keep in mind… They implemented the draft for this war, but they made a couple of exceptions: if you were in college and if you had a doctor’s note saying you had conditions or injuries. This made it to where it was a war of the poor and middle class. The rich were able to send their kids to college or have a doctor friend makeup a note for exemption. When these kids got there, their tours were a year at a time. Some did multiple tours. The only way to go home was in a body bag or if you were wounded in combat so many times (I think it was three or if a wound was debilitating). They spent 24/7 in these excruciating hot jungles with very high humidity and just swarmed by bugs. They would go into villages that they knew the Vietcong were in and ask where the weapons were hid. The villagers would lie, even though everyone knew the weapons were there. A lot of times they’d have some child come out of nowhere with a rocket launcher and surprise attack them. So they were going absolutely insane. They were stuck in this war completely against their will, couldn’t trust anyone, sleep deprived, exhausted, seeing the complete worst in humanity, and fighting for their lives. They got hooked on hard drugs at night because they knew that the military wouldn’t send them home. A lot of them felt they were sent there as a death sentence, so might as well do drugs. If they survived and were sent home they were welcomed at the airport with hippies spitting in their faces and calling them “baby killers.” Society was protesting the war, and instead of supporting the troops they were condemning them…. Some fuckin war, right?
I don't quibble with the REASONS for the war-- possible false-flag initiation aside-- it's the fact that it BECAME a "managed" war-- not enough will to win, and JUST ENOUGH to lose... which suggests to me that WARFARE in the modern world means the WHOLE CONCEPT of war... and SOME wars-- aren't meant to be won, they're meant to be CONTINUOUS. Read Michael Lind's book, "Vietnam: The Necessary War and then get back to me if you if you disagree with his thesis.
You forgot the fact that men whose IQ had previously been too low to serve in the military were drafted and died at 3x the rate of normal soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any nation do in a time of war.
So much bullshit. Like "implementing a draft' when modern conscription was initiated in 1926 and continued unabated through 1973 because there has only been 17 years the US was involved in some conflict or another; only two of which occurred AFTER 1940 (both under Jimmy Carter). Then there's that myth of gangs of hippies hanging out in airports to harass returning veterans. No documentation of it ever having happened has been found despite concerted efforts to find some. There's only been anecdotal stories which were rare until the Bush era when our government needed to pump up support for Desert Storm and villainize the people protesting the war. In reality there is AMPLE evidence of guys returning from Vietnam who ended up JOINING and being EMBRACED by the hippies anti-war movement. Ron Kovic, as just one example. A vet who was actually spit on by a pro-war Nixon supporter. And the notion of a child using a rocket launcher is BEYOND absurd. Carrying a grenade or other small IED, sure. And let's be COMPLETELY honest. The US were the villains here. We invaded them and, unlike the Japanese in 1941, they never attacked us; they only ever defended themselves FROM us. Even the Gulf of Tonkin event has turned out to be bullshit. I did notice you never once mentioned the truly brave and heroic people who risked their freedom and comfort to defy their draft notices by going underground or fleeing to Canada. Thanks to President Carter for pardoning all of them in 1977. On the whole, it kind of feels like you're just paying lip-service to the veterans while using them as human shields to defend the war-machine by regurgitating its easily disproven propaganda intended to glorify war service and denigrate those who oppose war, especially the veterans.
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 don't forget that men who previously couldn't serve in the military due to having too low an IQ were made eligible for the draft in high numbers. They died at 3x the rate of the other soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any country do in a time of war.
Just remember that Hamburger Hill is a movie that even goes harder than Platoon. It does not shy away from showing you what high velocity rounds do to a human.
Hamburger Hill was my dad's favorite of the '80s Vietnam movies. He an infantryman humping an M-60 while serving in Vietnam. Thankful he shared some of his stories with me.
Your reactions to this movie are genuine and I feel what you are feeling. My uncle was a lieutenant and saw heavy action. The only thing that kept him sane was his jeep that he fixed repeatedly and a good wife and farm waiting if he made it back home. There are no good guys in any war. We did a lot of bad things but don't think the enemy was any better. Everyone under my uncle kept at least 1 extra granade handy becaue getting captured by the enemy was simply not an option.
The 80s saw a string of Vietnam movies, and as a kid growing up in that decade, they were compulsive viewing. I think it was in the late '80s, early '90s there was a tv series called Tour Of Duty that I watched avidly. One particular episode focussed on a special unit, the Tunnel Rats. Guys that were small whose job it was to infiltrate the Viet Cong tunnels. I can't imagine a more thankless task.
I was 10 years old when this movie came out and my parents brought me to see it. I did not want to go because I had no idea what the movie was. It became my favorite movie. I think it taught me so much at a young age and actually led me to do a lot of research on my own. I ended up finding out about the prisoner of war and killed in action foundations to which I still have a bracelet that I wear for this day. Movies like this and schinder's list saving Private. Ryan etc should be mandatory in schools
As a combat vet I usually hate war films, but this is one of the few I think that captured something realistic, mainly in the way people fall into certain cliques among the platoons etc and it can have a profound impact on your experience in a combat zone. It helps that Oliver Stone is a vet and has seen it all firsthand
Based on Stone's own experiences in Vietnam. Taylor is his alter ego. The ambush part where Taylor destroys a foxhole with a grenade was the moment when Oliver Stone won the Bronze Star with V for valor. Also the ending battle happened for real, except that Stone didn't have a big role in it, he was just hunkered down in a trench and didn't fire a shot, because they knew there's an airstrike coming to their own position. Elias and Barnes are also based on real people. The real Barnes was also scarred from the face. The real Elias died in a friendly fire incident some time after Stone had left Vietnam, in unclear circumstances. Also some of the grunts are based on real people. Before the movie had a theatrical release, Stone invited his old platoon mates into his apartment, where they would see the movie. Lots of people there recognized themselves from the film. When Stone was filming the "Dance MFr dance" scene, they had to stop a take because it made Stone break down into tears. Apparently reminding him of something similar that happened for real. Possibly even something he did, he never disclosed why. The village massacre scene didn't happen to Stone like this, it's likely a reference to the famous My Lai incident. But there was lot of suspicion between villagers and US troops. Because some of them were indeed VC collarborators or even members The man who plays Cpt. Harris is Dale Dye, who was also a Vietnam veteran IRL. He worked also as the military advisor for this. Sources: Joe Rogan's podcast where Stone was visiting, some other old Platoon interviews... and Stone's book.
My dad did a year in country and he said this movie was spot on. Towards the end of his life he really struggled with his time overseas. He was never a believer in god but as he got closer to dying he was worried about being judged. Not for the lives he took but for the things that he couldn’t stop.
The company captain with the southern accent is Captain Dale Dye, USMC Ret. You have seen him before as Colonel Sink in "Band of Brothers, and in "Saving Private Ryan", and "Starship Troopers".
The black dude who says "Politics,man,politics" when they're getting ready to go on patrol near the beginning of the movie and is partnered up with Sheen for the last battle is played by Corey Glover. He would soon after become the lead singer in the all black members rock band Living Colour. Odds are you've heard their biggest hit,"Cult of Personality" as some point in your life. Their "Open Letter To A Landlord" is my personal favorite.
When Platoon came out, I saw it in the theater. Every so often a Viet Nam Vet would scream out at the screen. It was said that this movie was so realistic of what it was like in Viet Nam, the only thing missing was the smell.
This movie came out during my first 6 months in the Army. They made us watch it, scared the heck out of me. I survived 2 combat tours diring my 14 years in the military before I got hurt. A lot of the conflict between soldiers due to stress is real. Still a great movie. ❤
It's worth noting that Oliver Stone IS a Vietnam veteran, the "Charlie" (I've only just noticed that weird coincidence!) Sheen character being loosely based on himself
I worked at a sweatshop job for 17 years that had A HIGH turnover rate. After a while, I adopted a similar feeling about new guys; since they weren't likely to last long, I didn't bother to learn their names until they'd been there at least six months. The newbies were all just, Dude.
I was 11 years old when I first saw this movie . Was supposed to go to school the next day. But this movie caught my attention late that night. When Elias death came on I cried so much my dad came crushing the door when he saw me just me sitting there and saw what I was watching. Just sat down next to me.
Sadly, the violence committed at the village is somewhat of a reference to events that happened at a place called My Lai. The government initially tried to cover it up but eventually the story got back to the American public. Only one person (a Lieutenant) was convicted of crimes and he passed away not long ago.
Platoon was filmed in the Philippines. Luzon for the jungle scenes, Cavite for the river and village scenes, Manila for the air base, and Mount Maquilling for the forest scenes.
Rhah told Chris, "The Only Thing That Can Kill Barnes Is Barnes." At the end, Chris's face was scarred, like Barnes's. So he had become Barnes, and thus he was able to kill Barnes.
A friend of mine is a Vietnam Veteran, we met because we go to eat at the same Diner. Ironically the waitress there is a Vietnamese woman who was born after the war was over. I asked him if he had seen this movie, and how true and realistic was it. He said out of all the Vietnam movies, This one gave him flashbacks and it was the closest. He got shot multiple times and wounded by shrapnel from a grenade exploding behind him. Tore up his right thigh. But he survived and spent months getting fed through a tube, which was another type of hell.
Excellent movie. Another one worth watching is "Born on the 4th of July" with Tom Cruise, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Oliver Stone also plays a role.
LT Wolfe gave Red Leg the wrong coordinates during the ambush and called the fire mission short. The arty rounds landed on their own guys. Happened frequently I'm Vietnam
Another great reaction Ames, one of the three Oliver Stone's Vietnam films based on his own experience in the 25th (Tropic Lightning) Division. The other two films are great too, Born on the 4th of July with Tom Cruise portraying the life of Ron Kovic and Heaven and Earth; the story of Vietnamese woman Le Ly Haslip with Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S Ngor (the Killing Fields), Joan Chen and Hiep Thi Le. ✌️❤️
Chris is basically Oliver Stone. Oliver Stone said both Barnes and Elias are based on real people that he knew that were in two different platoons in the LRRP, Elias was an Apache Indian who was sadly killed after Oliver left Vietnam.
Oliver Stone served in Vietnam in the 25th Infantry Division. Some of the movie scenes are his personal experiences, while others come from other sources.
Tom Berenger is, I think, a criminally underrated actor. Besides the obvious tough guy roles he can be really funny. You should watch and react to Rustler’s Rhapsody. A really great Western Comedy. Berenger is hilarious.
Both Apocalypse Now and Platoon are difficult movies to watch. The hardest Vietnam war film to watch is The Killing Fields (1984) Some reaction channels just stop watching because of the brutality and cruelty. If you decide to watch be prepared. It's an unforgettable film and an incredible ending.
@@tsrgoinc Thank you. I was about to make the same comment. It's annoying when people make such inaccurate comments without checking historical facts first.
@@cliffwheeler7357 I actually was going to respond but since both of you assumed I'm connecting the Vietnam war with The Killing Fields film. I will point out that The Killing Fields was released DURING the 80s era of Vietnam war movies. Historically separated but connected in the film era. I may have to hand out crayons and blank papers next time. Cheers!
Thank you for your honest opinion of this movie, Ames. I totally understand why you say you hate it but you also love it. I almost feel guilty now that I loved this movie for all the war action and adrenaline rush scenes when it came out in theaters. But back in the 80's there were so many BS Vietnam war movies like the Rambo and Chuck Norris movies that were made for a cash grab at peoples' need to see depictions of that war. A lot of those movies were hollow and unrealistic, so many of us were shocked at the realness of Platoon. We loved it. But the realness was not a glorification of the violence. It was the opposite. It was a message of anti-war. Oddly enough, back then some people said the movie was anti-American because the US was going through a lot of propaganda proxy wars under Reagan and a lot fell under the "right or wrong my country" kind of thinking. Now that some time and events have passed since the movie came out, we can see it through a different perspective that is more objective without getting too jaded.
Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen read letters home aloud in intro's to son's "Platoon" & Dad's "Apocalypse Now" 'Nam War epics as Stone's tribute to Coppola: '78 & '87!
The part after they kill Manny, and the platoon descends upon the village, is a call back to the Mi-Lai massacre. After the Tet offensive, it was the lowest moment of the war for the U.S.
People say this is the most realistic VN movie. It's based on Stones actually experience in the war. Another good VN movie from this time period with multiple future stars in it is Hamburger Hill. Its part Platoon, part Full Metal Jacket but closer to Platoon.
The village massacre is reminiscent of the real massacre of My Lai by US forces in 1968. Wiki: "At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12".
The Vietnam war was the hardest on the troops because they were actively hated when they got back home. Most of then didn't chose this war it was chosen for them and when they got back home a lot of people just generalized all Vietnam veterans as being murderers and baby killers and rapists. So just think of how fucked that would be to go through a year of hell because your country demanded it of you just to get home and be spit on and assaulted by civilians who actively hated you. Even if you didn't do any of that crap but just did your time in the nam. Oliver Stone was in the nam and that is why this one is so authentic. This was the first time veterans got to relate to a movie about the war they had to suffer through and it was a cathartic experience for a lot of them. Not only because of the hate they got but because this war was lost. Not much honor in losing a war. This is the quintessential lesson that people need to learn about war is it isn't something you chose to get into lightly and if you do get into one you MUST get into it to win it.
Most reactors miss the shot in "The Naked Gun" in which Frank Drebin and his new love Jane exit a movie theater laughing hysterically, and the camera pans up to show us that they've been watching "Platoon."
There are various Vietnam films showing the American war. Platoon was one of those that showed a turning point in the war before things took a real downturn. If you look at the difference between Mel Gibson's we were soldiers, platoon, full metal jacket, And a few others they show the progression or rather digression that the Americans made throughout their war. At first trying to fight a traditional Army V Army War and then slowly adjusting to a war that they knew they couldn't win against a professional and well trained enemy. Their adjustment or lack of it in tactics over the first four years of the war sealed their fate. in contrast looking at two Australian films about the same war a few angry shots and danger close so shows a very different side of the same War. of course that should never have been fought in the first place.
You could also react to Casualties of War from 1989 with Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox and Ving Rhames. Flags of our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are great movies too.
He woulda been wrong and the 58,220 who died there would agree. That political war had our warriors fighting a motivated and well trained enemy with both arms tied behind them to an ankle. We may have lost a battle here and there, but we definitely didnt "get our asses kicked".
Ames - I saw "Platoon" in the theater when it first opened with my Dad who was a WW2 vet. My Dad evidently had some ptsd come back because he was deadly quiet, and the only thing he said was "War is Hell". Later in college and work I met many former Vietnam Vets who all would open up and tell me their stories. Much of the mise en scene in "Platoon" captured that. While "Platoon" is the big breakthrough film for Oliver Stone and the movie was praised for it's authenticity in recreating the war experience (especially in the sound design) the plot of the good Sargent being murder by the bad Sargent and subsequently being murdered by the young protagonist solider (Charlie Sheen) was noted as a flaw and many vets that I knew hated that part of the film. Stone's film "Born on the 4th of July" is a far better film than this. I've never been a fan of Oliver Stone's films because they are excessively violent and almost always portray superiors such as military officers or politicians or wall street managers or organizations as evil and weaving conspiracies. This gets a bit pedantic when you see several of his films. But as a Director Stone can get great performances - such as the best performance ever from Tom Cruise in "Born on the 4th of July".
This was Oliver Stone's telling of his experience in Vietnam. Vietnam was originally a French colonial Civil War. France asked the US for assistance and Eisenhower and then Kennedy sent intelligence and special forces personnel. The Kennedys, realized that the war was a response to political corruption and indifference, therfore decided to pull out. The assassination of JFk and RFk, prevented that and LBJ committed all the armed forces, eventually spreading the war to Laos and Cambodia. Sheen also stars with his dad in the Oscar winning Oliver Stone movie, Wall Street.
I remember seeing this movie in the theatre with my Dad in 1986 when I was 12. There were a couple of elderly ladies sitting close to us that left about 45 min in, they couldn’t watch anymore. At the end of the movie there was just silence as everyone gathered themselves before leaving. Such a powerful experience I will never forget.
It was shot in the Phillipines, as were a number of Vietnam movies. They had a military dictatorship at the time which was basically sponsored by the U.S. because, you know, anything but Communism. And their military had a load of old American military equipment which they would loan out to productions, the helicopters being the most obvious.
I have watched all Oliver Stone productions, even the most recent 'controversial' films, some of which should be shown in schools so that we understand that war is dumb and not some video game. Great react and thanks for dragging up the memories of some of my elders that went and never returned.
In The Naked Gun, this was the film that Frank Drebin and Jane go to on a date and come out of laughing uproariously.
Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture.
RIP Tony Todd, 1954-2024.
Aaaannnd this is how I found out Tony Todd died....
Damn, I didn’t know he died. Shit.
@@petercastaneda5338couple days ago
@@somebodytoknow7408 Damn.
Tony Todd was a great guy, may he rest in peace
My dad was a Vietnam vet. My brother and I saw this in the theater when it was released. We were in our mid/late teens and left the theater trembling and in tears. The film had a very divided reaction from the Vietnam veteran community. Ironically the ones who criticized it were largely unaware that Stone served two tours (he volunteered) in combat and was decorated for bravery. I've spoken to many vets who hated it when it came out but have since come to appreciate it. In 1986 the war and its complexities were still open wounds for many and it was difficult to grapple with them. One guy told me "I couldn't admit to myself at the time how true it was. My mind rebelled against the fact that I had seen and done those kinds of horrors."
Left the cinema trembling in tears wow what a drama queen,
"Platoon it made me just visibly nervous those guys out in the jungle on on ambush. The other part of it I was going God that wasn't happening sure wasn't where I was but that's Hollywood."
"oh and no one smoked at night. I don't mean pot. cigarettes our guys didn't smoke pot you you're going to be out in combat with a guy that smokes pot. I don't think so. You aren't going to be with him, he isn't right. No one did that they do it in the movies."
Source Vietnam War veteran Richard Tangel interview
Vietnam Voices: 'You're alert all the time. If you're not alert, you're going to die'
My dad is also a Vietnam Vet and he said these movies are pure BS. It's just to slander the vets that's all.
@cyclone8974 loads of Americans were taking some sort of drugs so your talking shit.
I believed that 1in5 were addicted at some time during their tour.
@cyclone8974 Sorry but that's dumb. The idea that Stone made Vietnam movies to slander HIMSELF is pure conspiracy theory nonsense
@@patrickflanagan3762 I agree some people can't help but talk pure shit
Over 50 years for me. I was a survivor. My brother & many brothers in arms are heros. They did not make it home, but they are in my thoughts daily. Thank you for reviewing this film.
I'm sorry about what you had to experience and everyone you lost. Thank you for your service.
I was so impressed with Charlie Sheens performance. He nails every emotion. Probably his best work
Filmed in the Philippines on Luzon.
I grew up in the 80s, and a lot of kids had fathers who'd been in Vietnam. One of my friend's dad had been a tunnel rat, because he was short and slim - so much so that when my friend and I were around 14 years old we were almost the same height as his dad. I remember the man as being exceptionally quiet, and he had this half intense, half lost look about him. My friend always said that we needed to be very, very quiet whenever he was around, and we always played outside, never in his house.
About ten years after I graduated high school I ran into some folks who had kept up with my friend and his family. Turned out that my friend's parents got divorced just a few years after we all graduated, and his dad took his own life not long afterwards.
War will always collect its bloody toll, even many long years after it is "over".
That’s awful… 😭
"There is many a boy here to-day who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." - William Tecumseh Sherman
He also said to a woman writing to him about his campaign “Get you a good husband and mind your own business” 😂
At that time, he was right.
@@petercastaneda5338 it's a timeless statement...
Yup, get a good husband and mind your own business.
Oliver Stone was the officer on the radio in the bunker that got blown up. The purpose of the towels or scarves was two-fold; 1st, to keep insects like the airborne ants that flew from the trees above down onto our necks. 2nd was to control the sweat.
Great reaction Ames like always, Platoon is the landmark definition of a war film. Pulse-pounding sequences stacked on well-performed portrayal of soldiers (Sheen, Berenger & Dafoe) as well as a couple of heart-wrenching scenes that would be somewhat difficult to view. The film is Oliver Stone's most significant to date, especially since it's based off his own personal experience in the Vietnam War.
And some fun facts about this movie a number of actors who eventually became very famous, such as Johnny Depp, but others didn’t have much luck in auditioning. Ben Stiller walked into the audition room, but was turned down by Oliver Stone before he could even talk. The director said Stiller was “too cute” to be in such a gritty movie.
Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were specifically chosen Whenever being cast in movies, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe were usually subjected to typecasting - Berenger typically played the good guy, while Dafoe was the villain, But Oliver Stone decided to reverse this and chose Berenger to be the ruthless and harsh Staff Sgt. Bob Barnes, while Dafoe played the caring and heroic Sgt. Elias. The actors were able to showcase their full acting ranges, and both received Oscar nominations for their performances. Keep up the amazing work.
I remember my first introduction to Willem Dafoe as the uber bad guy in the almost forgotten To Live and Die in L.A. It was amazing to see him transform into the good guy in this one.
Movie was pure BS
"War is when the government tells you who the enemy is.. revolution is when you decide that for yourself"- Ben Franklin
@@Tune-O-matic And this is the same guy who wanted the national bird to be a turkey.
Military schools use the actions of Lt. Wolfe in this movie as an example of how NOT to act and handle subordinates as an officer.
I served as a fire platoon leader in the Army so I understand a green lieutenant, often little more than a college kid who went through ROTC and an officer basic course, faces challenges as a new platoon leader but the failures depicted in this movie on Wolfe's part are unforgiveable. Fortunately in the real world platoon sergeants are highly experienced professionals who are almost invariably very supportive of new platoon leaders, helping them develop into competent junior officers; not pathological monsters like Barnes.
Cool.
Doesn't really compute with the Fallujah killings of 17 civilian protestors in 2003.
82nd Airborne wasted those people...
@@dritzzdarkwood4727read into these killings. Unfortunatelly it wasnt just a green LT, the problems run deeper. It started from an abrasive battalion commander and trickled down. Like Napoleon said, there arent bad soldiers, only bad commanders.
Finally people are starting to react to Platoon.
But not a single person to react to Gary Cooper in "Sergeant York" or John Wayne in "The Green Berets"
I was 17 when this movie came out. This is the only movie my dad ever took me to see. He was in vietnam and he never talked about it. Maybe this was his way of doing it. This movie will always get me. Thanks for the reaction.
I think sometimes there’s a difference between a film one can enjoy, and a film one can appreciate. Thank you for sharing.
This was the first film of Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy. There's also Born on the 4th of July and Heaven and Earth. All 3 are excellent films even though they pushed all my anxiety buttons. haha
Tom Berringer's performance!!
Sniper is good too
@@John-m2d6y great actor, he was great at playing hardasses
Show me one actor in this movie that didn't act his ass off. But, yeah - Tom, Willem, and Charlie are very prominent here, but I also remembered Whitaker, Depp, and when I first saw "Scrubs" I was yelling int my screen towards Dr Cox "I loved you in Platoon!"
@ I’m sure everyone gave it all they had knowing this was an important subject
@@Lord_Legolas_Greenleaf Substitute too
This movie is part of Oliver Stone's informal trilogy on the Vietnam war, the other two being "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) with Tom Cruise in the lead as real life veteran Ron Kovic - incidentally Tom Cruise's best performance in my opinion - and "Heaven & Earth" (1993) about a young Vietnamese woman trying to survive the war. That one stars Tommy Lee Jones with not just his best scene ever, but one of the greatest and most chilling performances in a scene ever. 😮
TC's 2nd best performance. Personally, I find his performance, especially the death bed "confession" with Jason Robards in Magnolia, as TC's best!
The problem is, when the thin veil of humanity is stripped away by war, and the horrors you see, you can become a monster.
Your mixed emotions here are spot-on, Ames. You absolutely get it as intended.
Thanks for watching 🥹
Yeah it's hard a movie to react to imo she did great tho
I remember seeing this at its release. There were many vets in the theater. I can't tell you how many were brought to tears as well as those that walked out, they were traumatized. This film at that time was like no other war film seen before.
This was "original" Saving private Ryan"
King getting out and yelling out goodbye always had me smile thay he got out. My favorite character and actor! 😊
Kieth David! Awesome actor!😊
@@GyvonJante Can you believe that I just found out he was in The Thing?? He looks so young and serious in The Thing that I guess it made me perceive him in a very different way (he's usually this very likeable guy that brings joy to a movie) to the point of not recognising him 🤣
He was also Mary's stepfather in "There's Something About Mary."
Almost 40 years before I realized "Francis" is also the lead singer of Living Colour
Corey Glover! Great frontman to an underrated band!!!
Haha. Same!
I was today years old when I learned this and I've also seen this movie many times 😅
@@Masterdebater1313 damn right, hell of a voice
"cult of personality"!!
Great review, and commentary. For my part I was visiting Washington (I am from Ireland) and I went to the war monument, and there was a candle lit commemoration of the soldiers that died in Vietnam. I very innocently and perhaps naively approached a man, he told me was a veteran, I wasked was it bad, and he said yes. In that one word I didnt need to know anymore, the look on his face was of pain.
Translator = Written
Interpreter = Verbal. 😊
My wife works in the courts and goes nuts when she hears these things.
I love your reaction vids btw 👍🏼👍🏼
The one soldier that you thought was really calm during the firefight was Dale Dye. He spent several tours overseas during the war in the Marine Corps. He's the only actor to appear in all of Olivrt Stone's Vietnam trilogy films: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993)..
They ran out of budget for the final fight, and couldn't light the set, so they shot off every flare they had to provide light during the battle, making it look even more chaotic.
Dale Dye has done a lot of military consulting on movies. One thing i wondered if Ames would recognize is that he is the actor who plays Col. Sink - Winters’ commander in Band of Brothers.
he was more than just an actor in the movie, he was the military consultant and even made the cast do a quick bootcamp and made them camp out in the jungle and would throw ambushes at them. Thats why it feels like there is a real camaraderie between the actors. Dye would also do this for the cast of Saving Private Ryan and Band Of Brothers.
@@DirtnapJack this was Dye's second film. His first was Invaders From Mars.
One thing you may not be aware of is that Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran. The final scene with Dale Dye it's perhaps one of the most moving scenes because of the thousand yard stare. Only a veteran would recognize it, once you have it you never lose it, enough said.
This is a rough movie to sit through, but like most movies that show harsh reality, it’s ultimately rewarding. Thanks for being one of the best reactors on UA-cam
This movie is a bunch of things Oliver Stone experienced during his tour in Vietnam. Charlie Sheen's character is Oliver Stone. He and other crew had flashbacks while making the movie. Oliver Stone had a major flashback during the village scene where he had an emotional breakdown and they had to stop for the day.
The village scene is based on the My Lai Massacre. Oliver Stone wasn't there when that happened.
@bloodymarvelous4790 there were many village massacres throughout Vietnam. There a video where he said he watched fellow soldiers raping women and a couple kids, and he almost killed a dude to get him to stop. He didn't say where it happened just that it happened and then said I don't like to talk about that stuff on camera so they moved on.
Was gonna say there were MANY My Lai’s. Operation Speedy Express - became army policy to declare certain areas as free fire zones and basically anything you shot was fair game including civilians all so that the media could celebrate the “all important” body count of enemy killed.
As brutal as it was the village actually got off rather easy. They were a confirmed VC village, were clearly giving material aide and comfort to enemy forces, had killed an American soldier (ie Manny), resisted lawful search and inspection. The fact that the village had kidnapped and killed an American GI would have been enough to revoke the villages protection under 1954 Geneva Conventions. Not saying it wasn’t brutal, but there were many villages that had suffered waaay worse for less.
Vietnamese civilians were killed by Americans and The V.C. both.
@@bloodymarvelous4790Things like that happened all the time in Vietnam, My Lai wasn’t an isolated incident.
There is a making-of video of this that is fantastic. Dale Dye (played one of the officers) was a Marine Vietnam vet and also technical consultant. He and Stone contrived to put the cast through an abbreviated boot camp to get them in tune with the character. This included carrying gear up and down mountains to wear them out, sleeping in the rain, and having actual midnight "ambushes" perpetrated on their camp to rattle them. The strung out look they had was real.
Another interesting thing was that some of the porters they used for gear hauling was also employed by Francis Ford Coppola when he filmed 'Apocalypse Now' in the Philippines. One remembered meeting Charlie Sheen when he was with his father, Martin, on the set for that movie. They both would reprise their roles to an extent in an epic cameo scene in "Hot Shots: Part Deux".
I like how Platoon's reputation for being such a dark and emotional film made The Naked Gun movie even funnier with the scene that has Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley on their date coming out of the theatre laughing hystercally like they had just watched a comedy but they had watched Platoon like it didn't even phase them!
I remember seeing this in the theater with 3 other people. We were supposed to go out afterwards for drinks but all of us were not in the mood after seeing this film.
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings is used with such amazing effect in this film.
Btw, often overlooked in this film as being a bit goofy, but John C McGinley has been a jobbing actor for 35 years and largely overlooked. His role in Scrubs, as Dr Cox his comedic timing is on point, but also there are moments where his talent absolutely shines through during more emotional parts of that role. Very underrated in my humble opinion.
The industrial band Ministry used a lot of sound bites from this and Full Metal Jacket.
Saw this in the theater when it first came out. When it was over and a packed house walked out into the lobby where the next group was waiting it was complete silence.
The opening music is Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings". It's considered probably the saddest music of the 20th century.
Its inclusion in "Platoon" and "The Mission" really pushed it into the popular conscious to the point where I believe the young people now use it as a meme.
BTW Ames, you really need to react to "The Mission"; it's masterpiece. Some of the best cinemetography of the 80s, compelling script, Roland Joffe directed, Ennio Morricone score, starring De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn...
@@fusiliers It started to be noticed in pop culture with "The Elephant Man", though. I didn't know it was also used in "The Mission"... Are really sure of that?
@@georgezee5173 Good catch! Although I've seen the movie at least a dozen times, it's been a few years since the last viewing. My brain conflated Barber with Morricone's "Ave Maria Guarani".
Kevin Dillon used to play pool in a bar I ran. Super nice dude.
The guys who play the best assholes usually are very nice people in real life.
VICTORY!
How were his calf implants?
He was also good in the remake of "The Blob."
2:42 The "Someone once wrote..." lines are one my favourite lines from any movie. The whole monologue is great too.
6:10 In the commentary Stone talks about this incident with the real life counterpart to Junior. Both said they didn't fall asleep so he decided to go with the version where he (Taylor) didn't fall asleep.
6:51 When I first saw this, I always thought that VC was waving at Taylor, which makes no sense, but that's what I thought. I'm guessing you were confused too, lol
Oliver Stone is a Vietnam veteran.
He was actually in the movie, in the bunker that was suicide bombed.
@@christopher3391that part kind of weirds me out. He was an officer. I suspect that scene was likely a very real fear for him back then. Perhaps even the fate of other officers he knew.
@@ben2741nope. Enlisted.
@@ben2741Oliver Stone was never an officer. He was grunt in the 25th ID and later transferred to the 1st Air Cav in a LRRP unit. I'm not sure of his rank, but I doubt he made it past E5
I think Mr. Stone said in an interview once; that the part where Sheen makes the one legged guy "dance" while firing toward his feet is something Oliver Stone actually did while in Vietnam.
However, It was an older man and he had both legs..
I admire your take on this movie and how you explained your experience. Aside from the horrors, Oliver Stone really captured the internal perspective of how soldiers from different parts of the country and all walks of life collide when we’re all stuck together and serving overseas. Love and hate.
there's an amazing movie called Courage Under Fire with Denzal Washington and Meg Ryan. It takes place during Desert Storm. I was a 19K for 22 years and whoever did the tank fire commands and uniforms was spot on to a T!
François Truffaut, who you might recall as Claude Lacombe from _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ , once said that there's never been a true anti-war film, because even the most critical film can inadvertently glorify it through depictions of heroism, bravery, and resilience. This is particularly noticeable in _Platoon_ . Here we have a film where war is unequivocably depicted as Hell, twisting and corrupting them into monstrous killing machines, capable of committing unspeakable atrocities - yet the action is thrilling, & you cannot help but admire the courage of these men under fire. It's one of the strange dichotomies of war & peace.
_Platoon_ is definitely one of the roughest war films I've seen, not far off from _Come and See_ and _Fire on the Plain_ when it comes to unrelenting horror in the midst of warfare.
Those spot-on comments and predictions... you SURE you've never seen this? :)
Platoon was my introduction to Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings". It instantly became one of my absolute favorites. It fits the tone of this movie to a tee, as it does with the original Homeworld.
A lot of canucks crossed the border and fought in Vietnam. Thanks for your post, today especially. ❤
My father was a Choctaw Indian who had never left the reservation until the war. He became an Army Engineer in WW2 and had to bury hundreds of thousands of concentration camp victims with a bulldozer. He came home a violent alcoholic and was till the day he died. My older brother is a decorated Army Veteran and came back from Vietnam so messed up and full of rage that I had to physically prevent him from killing every person with an oriental face that he saw. He now lives in the desert by himself and does nothing but stay high and drunk. I haven't seen him in years What a waste. I got out of the Army in 1972 and joined the peace movement, but it was too late for him. My ex Marine brother in law was my best friend. He did 3 tours in Vietnam (13 months for Marines) and now lives in the woods somewhere in Washington state. They all needed help that they never got. Please help your veterans to get over their trauma. They deserve more for their sacrifices.
Thank you for sharing this story sir.
Damn. That's rough. My Grandfather fought against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in WWII and had a very similar outcome. l'm an Australian, but l would love to see President Elect Trump to ask actor Gary Sinise who has done amazing work building state of the art homes for severely wounded veterans through the Gary Sinise foundation and also entertaining troops abroad with his band, to oversee a reformation of Veteran Affairs. All veterans should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity when they return from active duty and need physical or mental help.
“War don't ennoble men, it turns 'em into dogs. It poisons the soul.”
― James Jones, The Thin Red Line
It's pronounced "Will-um" DaFoe. This is probably his most iconic role. SGT Elias was a great character.
I took courses strictly on the Vietnam War when I was in college, and here’s something for people to keep in mind…
They implemented the draft for this war, but they made a couple of exceptions: if you were in college and if you had a doctor’s note saying you had conditions or injuries. This made it to where it was a war of the poor and middle class. The rich were able to send their kids to college or have a doctor friend makeup a note for exemption.
When these kids got there, their tours were a year at a time. Some did multiple tours. The only way to go home was in a body bag or if you were wounded in combat so many times (I think it was three or if a wound was debilitating).
They spent 24/7 in these excruciating hot jungles with very high humidity and just swarmed by bugs.
They would go into villages that they knew the Vietcong were in and ask where the weapons were hid. The villagers would lie, even though everyone knew the weapons were there. A lot of times they’d have some child come out of nowhere with a rocket launcher and surprise attack them. So they were going absolutely insane. They were stuck in this war completely against their will, couldn’t trust anyone, sleep deprived, exhausted, seeing the complete worst in humanity, and fighting for their lives. They got hooked on hard drugs at night because they knew that the military wouldn’t send them home. A lot of them felt they were sent there as a death sentence, so might as well do drugs.
If they survived and were sent home they were welcomed at the airport with hippies spitting in their faces and calling them “baby killers.” Society was protesting the war, and instead of supporting the troops they were condemning them….
Some fuckin war, right?
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 let’s hope to God nothing like it ever happens again.
I don't quibble with the REASONS for the war-- possible false-flag initiation aside-- it's the fact that
it BECAME a "managed" war-- not enough will to win, and JUST ENOUGH to lose... which suggests to me that WARFARE in the modern world means the WHOLE CONCEPT of war... and SOME wars-- aren't meant to be won, they're meant to be CONTINUOUS. Read Michael Lind's book, "Vietnam: The Necessary War and then get back to me if you if you disagree with his thesis.
You forgot the fact that men whose IQ had previously been too low to serve in the military were drafted and died at 3x the rate of normal soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any nation do in a time of war.
So much bullshit.
Like "implementing a draft' when modern conscription was initiated in 1926 and continued unabated through 1973 because there has only been 17 years the US was involved in some conflict or another; only two of which occurred AFTER 1940 (both under Jimmy Carter).
Then there's that myth of gangs of hippies hanging out in airports to harass returning veterans. No documentation of it ever having happened has been found despite concerted efforts to find some. There's only been anecdotal stories which were rare until the Bush era when our government needed to pump up support for Desert Storm and villainize the people protesting the war.
In reality there is AMPLE evidence of guys returning from Vietnam who ended up JOINING and being EMBRACED by the hippies anti-war movement. Ron Kovic, as just one example. A vet who was actually spit on by a pro-war Nixon supporter.
And the notion of a child using a rocket launcher is BEYOND absurd. Carrying a grenade or other small IED, sure.
And let's be COMPLETELY honest. The US were the villains here. We invaded them and, unlike the Japanese in 1941, they never attacked us; they only ever defended themselves FROM us. Even the Gulf of Tonkin event has turned out to be bullshit.
I did notice you never once mentioned the truly brave and heroic people who risked their freedom and comfort to defy their draft notices by going underground or fleeing to Canada. Thanks to President Carter for pardoning all of them in 1977.
On the whole, it kind of feels like you're just paying lip-service to the veterans while using them as human shields to defend the war-machine by regurgitating its easily disproven propaganda intended to glorify war service and denigrate those who oppose war, especially the veterans.
@@TheConstructiveCritic888 don't forget that men who previously couldn't serve in the military due to having too low an IQ were made eligible for the draft in high numbers. They died at 3x the rate of the other soldiers. It's one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard any country do in a time of war.
"Casualties of War" and "Hamburger Hill" next.
Just remember that Hamburger Hill is a movie that even goes harder than Platoon. It does not shy away from showing you what high velocity rounds do to a human.
Casualties of war an absolute ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ brutal disgusting movie
Coming Home
I think Casualties Of War will give Ames a breakdown: how about Born On The Fourth Of July and Hamburger Hill..?
Hamburger Hill was my dad's favorite of the '80s Vietnam movies. He an infantryman humping an M-60 while serving in Vietnam. Thankful he shared some of his stories with me.
Your reactions to this movie are genuine and I feel what you are feeling. My uncle was a lieutenant and saw heavy action. The only thing that kept him sane was his jeep that he fixed repeatedly and a good wife and farm waiting if he made it back home. There are no good guys in any war. We did a lot of bad things but don't think the enemy was any better. Everyone under my uncle kept at least 1 extra granade handy becaue getting captured by the enemy was simply not an option.
The 80s saw a string of Vietnam movies, and as a kid growing up in that decade, they were compulsive viewing. I think it was in the late '80s, early '90s there was a tv series called Tour Of Duty that I watched avidly. One particular episode focussed on a special unit, the Tunnel Rats. Guys that were small whose job it was to infiltrate the Viet Cong tunnels. I can't imagine a more thankless task.
I was 10 years old when this movie came out and my parents brought me to see it. I did not want to go because I had no idea what the movie was. It became my favorite movie. I think it taught me so much at a young age and actually led me to do a lot of research on my own. I ended up finding out about the prisoner of war and killed in action foundations to which I still have a bracelet that I wear for this day. Movies like this and schinder's list saving Private. Ryan etc should be mandatory in schools
As a combat vet I usually hate war films, but this is one of the few I think that captured something realistic, mainly in the way people fall into certain cliques among the platoons etc and it can have a profound impact on your experience in a combat zone. It helps that Oliver Stone is a vet and has seen it all firsthand
Based on Stone's own experiences in Vietnam. Taylor is his alter ego.
The ambush part where Taylor destroys a foxhole with a grenade was the moment when Oliver Stone won the Bronze Star with V for valor. Also the ending battle happened for real, except that Stone didn't have a big role in it, he was just hunkered down in a trench and didn't fire a shot, because they knew there's an airstrike coming to their own position.
Elias and Barnes are also based on real people. The real Barnes was also scarred from the face. The real Elias died in a friendly fire incident some time after Stone had left Vietnam, in unclear circumstances. Also some of the grunts are based on real people. Before the movie had a theatrical release, Stone invited his old platoon mates into his apartment, where they would see the movie. Lots of people there recognized themselves from the film.
When Stone was filming the "Dance MFr dance" scene, they had to stop a take because it made Stone break down into tears. Apparently reminding him of something similar that happened for real. Possibly even something he did, he never disclosed why. The village massacre scene didn't happen to Stone like this, it's likely a reference to the famous My Lai incident. But there was lot of suspicion between villagers and US troops. Because some of them were indeed VC collarborators or even members
The man who plays Cpt. Harris is Dale Dye, who was also a Vietnam veteran IRL. He worked also as the military advisor for this.
Sources: Joe Rogan's podcast where Stone was visiting, some other old Platoon interviews... and Stone's book.
Rest in peace also to the Vietnamese who lost a massive amount of people civilians included. And may their children grow up in peace & prosperity 🇻🇳
My dad did a year in country and he said this movie was spot on. Towards the end of his life he really struggled with his time overseas. He was never a believer in god but as he got closer to dying he was worried about being judged. Not for the lives he took but for the things that he couldn’t stop.
The company captain with the southern accent is Captain Dale Dye, USMC Ret.
You have seen him before as Colonel Sink in "Band of Brothers, and in "Saving Private Ryan", and "Starship Troopers".
The black dude who says "Politics,man,politics" when they're getting ready to go on patrol near the beginning of the movie and is partnered up with Sheen for the last battle is played by Corey Glover. He would soon after become the lead singer in the all black members rock band Living Colour. Odds are you've heard their biggest hit,"Cult of Personality" as some point in your life. Their "Open Letter To A Landlord" is my personal favorite.
When Platoon came out, I saw it in the theater. Every so often a Viet Nam Vet would scream out at the screen. It was said that this movie was so realistic of what it was like in Viet Nam, the only thing missing was the smell.
This movie came out during my first 6 months in the Army. They made us watch it, scared the heck out of me. I survived 2 combat tours diring my 14 years in the military before I got hurt. A lot of the conflict between soldiers due to stress is real. Still a great movie. ❤
Dale Dye was a Marine that served in Vietnam. Working on this movie brought some bad memories back
It's worth noting that Oliver Stone IS a Vietnam veteran, the "Charlie" (I've only just noticed that weird coincidence!) Sheen character being loosely based on himself
I worked at a sweatshop job for 17 years that had A HIGH turnover rate. After a while, I adopted a similar feeling about new guys; since they weren't likely to last long, I didn't bother to learn their names until they'd been there at least six months. The newbies were all just, Dude.
I was 11 years old when I first saw this movie . Was supposed to go to school the next day. But this movie caught my attention late that night. When Elias death came on I cried so much my dad came crushing the door when he saw me just me sitting there and saw what I was watching. Just sat down next to me.
Sadly, the violence committed at the village is somewhat of a reference to events that happened at a place called My Lai. The government initially tried to cover it up but eventually the story got back to the American public. Only one person (a Lieutenant) was convicted of crimes and he passed away not long ago.
Platoon was filmed in the Philippines. Luzon for the jungle scenes, Cavite for the river and village scenes, Manila for the air base, and Mount Maquilling for the forest scenes.
Rhah told Chris, "The Only Thing That Can Kill Barnes Is Barnes." At the end, Chris's face was scarred, like Barnes's. So he had become Barnes, and thus he was able to kill Barnes.
A friend of mine is a Vietnam Veteran, we met because we go to eat at the same Diner.
Ironically the waitress there is a Vietnamese woman who was born after the war was over.
I asked him if he had seen this movie, and how true and realistic was it.
He said out of all the Vietnam movies, This one gave him flashbacks and it was the closest.
He got shot multiple times and wounded by shrapnel from a grenade exploding behind him. Tore up his right thigh.
But he survived and spent months getting fed through a tube, which was another type of hell.
Excellent movie. Another one worth watching is "Born on the 4th of July" with Tom Cruise, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Oliver Stone also plays a role.
LT Wolfe gave Red Leg the wrong coordinates during the ambush and called the fire mission short. The arty rounds landed on their own guys. Happened frequently I'm Vietnam
Another great reaction Ames, one of the three Oliver Stone's Vietnam films based on his own experience in the 25th (Tropic Lightning) Division. The other two films are great too, Born on the 4th of July with Tom Cruise portraying the life of Ron Kovic and Heaven and Earth; the story of Vietnamese woman Le Ly Haslip with Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S Ngor (the Killing Fields), Joan Chen and Hiep Thi Le.
✌️❤️
I was born around the end of this war, and I never knew my father because of it. War reaches so many, directly and indirectly.
I watched this in the theater at 14. I had already watched the Thing at like 10, so Platoon didn't shake me that much, but it was intense.
Chris is basically Oliver Stone. Oliver Stone said both Barnes and Elias are based on real people that he knew that were in two different platoons in the LRRP, Elias was an Apache Indian who was sadly killed after Oliver left Vietnam.
Oliver Stone served in Vietnam in the 25th Infantry Division. Some of the movie scenes are his personal experiences, while others come from other sources.
Tom Berenger is, I think, a criminally underrated actor. Besides the obvious tough guy roles he can be really funny. You should watch and react to Rustler’s Rhapsody. A really great Western Comedy. Berenger is hilarious.
Both Apocalypse Now and Platoon are difficult movies to watch. The hardest Vietnam war film to watch is The Killing Fields (1984) Some reaction channels just stop watching because of the brutality and cruelty. If you decide to watch be prepared. It's an unforgettable film and an incredible ending.
The Killing Fields is not set during the Vietnam war, its in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge uprising under Pol Pot!
@@tsrgoinc Thank you. I was about to make the same comment. It's annoying when people make such inaccurate comments without checking historical facts first.
@@cliffwheeler7357 I actually was going to respond but since both of you assumed I'm connecting the Vietnam war with The Killing Fields film. I will point out that The Killing Fields was released DURING the 80s era of Vietnam war movies. Historically separated but connected in the film era. I may have to hand out crayons and blank papers next time. Cheers!
Thank you for your honest opinion of this movie, Ames. I totally understand why you say you hate it but you also love it. I almost feel guilty now that I loved this movie for all the war action and adrenaline rush scenes when it came out in theaters. But back in the 80's there were so many BS Vietnam war movies like the Rambo and Chuck Norris movies that were made for a cash grab at peoples' need to see depictions of that war. A lot of those movies were hollow and unrealistic, so many of us were shocked at the realness of Platoon. We loved it. But the realness was not a glorification of the violence. It was the opposite. It was a message of anti-war. Oddly enough, back then some people said the movie was anti-American because the US was going through a lot of propaganda proxy wars under Reagan and a lot fell under the "right or wrong my country" kind of thinking. Now that some time and events have passed since the movie came out, we can see it through a different perspective that is more objective without getting too jaded.
Charlie Sheen & Martin Sheen read letters home aloud in intro's to son's "Platoon" & Dad's "Apocalypse Now" 'Nam War epics as Stone's tribute to Coppola: '78 & '87!
Don’t forget hot shots “I loved you in Wall Street!’ 😉
@watts18269 Yup! Dad on 'Nam fast-attack river boat as in "Apoc' Now" to son on dock as 'Rambo':
"Hot Shots: Part Deux"! 👍😜👍
The part after they kill Manny, and the platoon descends upon the village, is a call back to the Mi-Lai massacre.
After the Tet offensive, it was the lowest moment of the war for the U.S.
People say this is the most realistic VN movie. It's based on Stones actually experience in the war.
Another good VN movie from this time period with multiple future stars in it is Hamburger Hill. Its part Platoon, part Full Metal Jacket but closer to Platoon.
The village massacre is reminiscent of the real massacre of My Lai by US forces in 1968.
Wiki: "At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12".
The Vietnam war was the hardest on the troops because they were actively hated when they got back home. Most of then didn't chose this war it was chosen for them and when they got back home a lot of people just generalized all Vietnam veterans as being murderers and baby killers and rapists. So just think of how fucked that would be to go through a year of hell because your country demanded it of you just to get home and be spit on and assaulted by civilians who actively hated you. Even if you didn't do any of that crap but just did your time in the nam.
Oliver Stone was in the nam and that is why this one is so authentic. This was the first time veterans got to relate to a movie about the war they had to suffer through and it was a cathartic experience for a lot of them. Not only because of the hate they got but because this war was lost. Not much honor in losing a war. This is the quintessential lesson that people need to learn about war is it isn't something you chose to get into lightly and if you do get into one you MUST get into it to win it.
Most reactors miss the shot in "The Naked Gun" in which Frank Drebin and his new love Jane exit a movie theater laughing hysterically, and the camera pans up to show us that they've been watching "Platoon."
There are various Vietnam films showing the American war. Platoon was one of those that showed a turning point in the war before things took a real downturn. If you look at the difference between Mel Gibson's we were soldiers, platoon, full metal jacket, And a few others they show the progression or rather digression that the Americans made throughout their war. At first trying to fight a traditional Army V Army War and then slowly adjusting to a war that they knew they couldn't win against a professional and well trained enemy. Their adjustment or lack of it in tactics over the first four years of the war sealed their fate. in contrast looking at two Australian films about the same war a few angry shots and danger close so shows a very different side of the same War. of course that should never have been fought in the first place.
You could also react to Casualties of War from 1989 with Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox and Ving Rhames.
Flags of our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are great movies too.
Its pretty crazy to me that Tom Berenger didnt win an Oscar for best supporting actor.
He was scary good.
SSGT Barnes was the only man who was trying to win the war. He was surrounded by people merely trying to survive it. It pushed him over the edge.
I once met a US Veteran living in the U.K. who served in Vietnam. As he put it “We got our asses kicked”.
He woulda been wrong and the 58,220 who died there would agree. That political war had our warriors fighting a motivated and well trained enemy with both arms tied behind them to an ankle. We may have lost a battle here and there, but we definitely didnt "get our asses kicked".
Tom Berenger worked opposite to Charlie Sheen in the Major League movies and Tom also made the movie The Last Of The Dogmen. You may like that flick.
Ames - I saw "Platoon" in the theater when it first opened with my Dad who was a WW2 vet. My Dad evidently had some ptsd come back because he was deadly quiet, and the only thing he said was "War is Hell". Later in college and work I met many former Vietnam Vets who all would open up and tell me their stories. Much of the mise en scene in "Platoon" captured that. While "Platoon" is the big breakthrough film for Oliver Stone and the movie was praised for it's authenticity in recreating the war experience (especially in the sound design) the plot of the good Sargent being murder by the bad Sargent and subsequently being murdered by the young protagonist solider (Charlie Sheen) was noted as a flaw and many vets that I knew hated that part of the film. Stone's film "Born on the 4th of July" is a far better film than this. I've never been a fan of Oliver Stone's films because they are excessively violent and almost always portray superiors such as military officers or politicians or wall street managers or organizations as evil and weaving conspiracies. This gets a bit pedantic when you see several of his films. But as a Director Stone can get great performances - such as the best performance ever from Tom Cruise in "Born on the 4th of July".
The tagline of the movie poster said "The first casualty of war is innocence."
The village scene is one of the most heart wrenching scenes ever filmed. It’s brutal!
Corey Glover the dude that stabbed himself at the end is also the lead singer of the band Living Color. I believe he is Danny Glover's son as well.
This was Oliver Stone's telling of his experience in Vietnam.
Vietnam was originally a French colonial Civil War. France asked the US for assistance and Eisenhower and then Kennedy sent intelligence and special forces personnel. The Kennedys, realized that the war was a response to political corruption and indifference, therfore decided to pull out. The assassination of JFk and RFk, prevented that and LBJ committed all the armed forces, eventually spreading the war to Laos and Cambodia.
Sheen also stars with his dad in the Oscar winning Oliver Stone movie, Wall Street.
I remember seeing this movie in the theatre with my Dad in 1986 when I was 12. There were a couple of elderly ladies sitting close to us that left about 45 min in, they couldn’t watch anymore. At the end of the movie there was just silence as everyone gathered themselves before leaving. Such a powerful experience I will never forget.
"His dad did Apocolypse Now."
More importantly he did Hot Shots: Part Deux. It will make more sense when you see it.
Gotta watch Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” (1987) with both Sheens before the ultimate movie, .. “Hot Shots”, though.
“I loved you in Wall Street!”
It was shot in the Phillipines, as were a number of Vietnam movies. They had a military dictatorship at the time which was basically sponsored by the U.S. because, you know, anything but Communism. And their military had a load of old American military equipment which they would loan out to productions, the helicopters being the most obvious.
Most of us count initially. You train to do it and get psyched up to go do it the first time. And in the heat, the adrenaline is crazy
I have watched all Oliver Stone productions, even the most recent 'controversial' films, some of which should be shown in schools so that we understand that war is dumb and not some video game.
Great react and thanks for dragging up the memories of some of my elders that went and never returned.