Best Vietnam War Movie

I like Platoon, and I apologize to no one for that.

I'd pick Deer Hunter here. The russian roulette scene has to make the short list of the most gripping pieces of cinema ever made.

 

I actually just got Hearts of Darkness on Netflix. Watching it tonight (watched the HBO Bird, Magic doc last night from Netflix). I saw Hearts of Darkness years ago and remember it being tremendous but I'm really looking forward to watching it again.

 

Tropic Thunder

 

You guys are all wrong. It's clear that when you combine technical cinematic brilliance, writing, a fair-and-balanced view of both sides in the conflict and, of course, great acting, the clear winner is ...

Missing In Action, Parts I-Infinity.

I'd probably go with Apocalypse Now as a distant second, but it has to be the extended cut.

Also, does Dead Presidents count? It's basically about Vietnam, its aftermath, etc. Not saying it's as good as some of the others on the list, but I like it.

 

Tigerland was damn good.

 

No love for The Thin Red Line?

 

Set in World War 2, wasn't it?

 

Yeah, calling that would be more of a stretch than the Killing Fields. And not to turn it into a World War 2 film thread, but Thin Red Line just moved a bit too slow for me.

 

I liked Off Limits with Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines. Really, I did.

Otherwise the Duvall scenes in Apocalypse Now do it for me. I never get tired of them.

 

Good call on Born on the 4th. Cruise was robbed of an Oscar for that movie. As much as I like Daniel Day-Lewis, Cruise should have won.

Tigerland is a great movie. Colin Farrell would have been a good name to put on the "Actors who you're surprised aren't bigger stars" thread. I've always thought he was great.

 

In general, I find movies with 12 different narrators a bit hard to follow.

 

MoPic was good.
I think Apocolypse Now Redux (the longer version) is better and fleshes out the story more.
Platoon was great and the more I think about it the more I like it. Elias and Barnes represented the duality of war. The brutal nature of it as well as the well-intentioned motives for getting in to one.

Surprised no one has mentioned Hamburger Hill.